Good carts with SME V

Dear @fsonicsmith :  The VPI tonearm that you used was an unipivot design with not very good stability when your today Reed is a gimball design with very good stability.  Even the " humble " Jelco tonearm outperforms  that VPI design.

Today and vinatge non-unipivot tonearm designs works fine but are the it self cartridge tracking habilities whom defines how good or not pick-up that LP grooves information. The tonearm is part og that tracking " game " but the main responsability comes from the cartridge it self.

As all in audio every single link in the audio system chain is important but there are different levels of importance down there, at the end the tonearm is a slave of the cartridge.

Now, that Shure you mentioned is not a low compliance cartridge and that JICO after market stylus is a good repacement for it, as an after market  is manufactured at a market price point.

Today and vintage MM/MI cartridges are very good performers if you have the knowledge to play with. Does not outperforms top LOMC cartridges but made pretty good quality performance and listening times.

Here you can read about:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/who-needs-a-mm-cartridge-type-when-we-have-mc


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Dear @o_holter : "  But I love the Io’s rich sound and am willing to live with some tube noise.  ""

""  Bigger, bolder, better able to tackle dynamic music."""   

tube noise means higher distortion levels and that rich sound means " tubey ". Live MUSIC and what's in the recording and LP recorded grooves is way different to all those.

"" to polite the Cadenza Black.... ", not really problem is that you are accustomed to a " fake " sound, to much make-up when does not exist in the recording or live events.

As @nkonor I told you months ago that the weak audio item in your system is that IO: no matters what, period.

Again, forgeret rigth now for that cartridge/tonearm resonance frequency that has you: terroryze " when it's not exactly as you said.

Remember your Atlas thread where you insist on that resonance frequency issue that in reality you don't have it?.
In that thread my very first post was that because your Atlas had over 1,500 hours the problem belonged there and only at the ""  "" and after " thousands " of posts from other gentlemans you, by facts you experienced " was convinced that the problem was in the cartridge it self.

Now, you don't need to change your arm and if you like the Lyra signature then you can go with the Kleos that was the first Lyra design with the new  design characteristics where came the Atlas and Etna.
The Benz Micro is a great option too over the Koetsu and near to the Lyra.

But if I were you my focus will be in two subjects: a change in the phono stage and that Lyra fix your Atlas. No you don't need a different tonearm, your experiences with told all of us that the culprit was just from began the cartridge it self.

@lewm , it's almost ridiculous ( even that we all know it. ) to think that we will change the resonance frequency changing the counterweigth position and its weight. That's why almost never helps to change the resonance frequency say from 6hz to 8hz or from 12hz to 10hz.
The inertia moment is directly proportional to the distance of the weigth and that's why as far away from the fulcrum we change the weigth as higher or lower can be that resonance frequency value along a compliance that we can't really change.

Sometimes we want to invent the " black thread " when already " invented ".


Anyway, @o_holter  you already have the Atlas where I think no one can buy it from you so to fix it is the best way to go and in the mean time you have the Titan i and you can send the Clavis DC to Andy for retip with boron cantilever and I'm sure you will like it. Repeat, you don't need to change the SME 5.



R.