Hey neon, I feel your misery. The problem is that for the suspension of the SOTA to work normally, the arm has to be within a certain weight range. I use a CB on my Cosmos and I am in no hurry to move on. I have also installed the Kuzma 4 Point 9 on a Cosmos with excellent results. The 9 " Origin Live arms fit really well, but their customer service has received more than a few negative comments. There are also several Clearaudio arms that will fit. The Verismo on an SME V is not the greatest match without adding a significant amount of mass to the headshell. I have an MC Diamond which is way heavier than the Verismo and I still have to use the brass mounting plate! The Lyras are a great match for the SME, but you are ready to move on. I would like to try mounting a Reed 2G on the SOTA. It is lighter and more compact for a tower arm and I really like the bearing arrangement and the magnetic anti skating mechanism. The problem is once you buy it you are committed and it might require some modification to the plinth for clearance, something not many are willing to do. I keep thinking I'm going to build a custom plinth for the Cosmos. If I get down to it I might make use the old one as a guinea pig.
Elevating the arm board won't work because you can only lower arms so far and somehow I do not think a Rega arm is your cup of tea.
If you have a Thrax CB you might want to get in touch with the man himself and put yourself on the waiting list for one of his hand made wood CBs. I must warn you that I have been on that list for 2 years.