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What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

Thinking about the possibility of searching for a new tonearm. The table is a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse. Cartridge currently in use is a Transfiguration Audio Proteus, and it also looks like I will also have an Ortofon Verismo if a diamond replacement occurs without incident. 

The V is an early generation one but in good condition with no issues. Some folks never thought highly of the arm, others thought it quite capable. So it's a bit decisive. 

The replacement has to be 9 to 10.5 inches. I have wondered if Origin Live is worth exploring? Perhaps a generation old Triplanar from the pre owned market?

 Any thoughts on what are viable choices? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

neonknight

Showing 1 response by wspohn

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
579 posts
 

I tried several arms when I got into the hobby, several decades ago, but at that time I judged the SME V to be the best choice and I still use them on a Sota Cosmos and a VPI TNT V in two of my systems. 

Setting up amd trying different arms with the same tables and cartridges is a lot of work and once you reach a conclusion you aren't anxious to do it all over again.  I certainly agree that there are other arms out there that may be superior but I long ago stopped searching for the audio golden grail.

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