Rega arm vs Sumiko

I really like the MMT arm. I've owned many of them. I've also owned a lot of the Regas. If you got the Rega upgraded with new wiring, (Incognito) and a new counterweight, (Groove Tracer) it would be close with the Rega maybe a little better. These upgrades would run about $450 or so.

Exactly, a waste of money.

Agree - don't bother with the Rega. You would have to make a major upgrade to extract significantly more of what your table will have to offer after being refurbished. Look at stuff in the $1K+ range new for ideas and also consider cartridges. Good luck & happy listening!

PS - The Sota people are great to work with.

IMO the Rega will not be an upgrade. You should look for a SME 309, IV, or V. Any of those would be an upgrade, although probably more expensive than the Rega.

I never noticed the degrade that a detachable headshell supposedly causes,
I used to keep three or four headshells with different carts for different music when I had a nice Sony DD table, lots of fun!