Thank all of you guys for your time to expound a bit on your opinions.. It sounds like it's pretty much a buyer's market and there are several arms that will work well. I normally am able to avoid being swayed by hype, but I'll confess, the Origin Live ads with "soundbyte" style quotes threw me...I was all set to buy an SME M2-9, an arm that I've heard from several people is a very good arm and an exceptional value. Then, on the Origin Live site, I saw the quotes from reviews stating that various arms were "the finest arm built to date", and "the SME V sounds monochrome by comparison." I find this stuff hard to believe. I have no doubt that Origin makes some fine arms, but really? An SME V sounds monochrome by comparison? Geez. And the one that really queered the deal, really made me doubt the choice I had made, was the statement made by the guy who started ADC saying something to the effect of "all the wasted years listening to SME." I gotta think this is nonsense. So-though I may buy an SME arm after all that, I'll always be wondering if an Origin Live Zephyr or an Encounter might've been a better choice. I guess I should know better, as to this date one of the nicest setups I've heard was a Jelco 750D on an old Sota Sapphire with a like-new Shure V15Vxmr on it. Almost NOBODY talks about the Jelco arms, and the apparent quality of their arms seems to be quite high. Sota's tables are venerable pieces of kit and several reviewers reference turntables, but they certainly aren't new and "in vogue." And the Shure cartridge-out of production for years now. From what I've seen, SME doesn't use defamatory quotes about other makers. Nor does Rega, or Jelco for that matter. I guess that should tell me the real story right there!
So I guess I should just pay my money and take my chances. I'm sure it's not going to suck. Thanks again, fellow "Goners!