Sota Sapphire VI Turntables with Origin Live tonearm

@dodgealum , I am just parroting what I have heard from several different sources, at least 4 that I can remember. Where there is smoke.

Here is an example of customer service. I was having difficulty getting cartridge mounting plates for my Schroder CB tonearm. One dealer wanted $125 for each plate and two others could not find a source. Finally I emailed a Schroder dealer in Europe. The very next day I get an email from Frank Schroder apologizing for the problem. The US market is handled by Thrax who has been lax at supplying spares. Frank was ... not happy. He sent me four plates for $200. 

I have a Audiomods Series V Micrometer and a SME Series IV.

These are on the Subs Bench and I no longer use them, I don't foresee a period when I will use them again.

As a Tonearm they look great and have real presence, but they do not create a performance that is engaging, the listener can hear the music fine, but my own perception is that there is a divide between presentation and the listener.

In certain experiences the recollection is that the performance has had the perception of being compartmentalised and is my mind today a detractor when perceived as being present.

Once a Tonearm is encountered that conveys the perception, that the musicians thoughts and pleasures felt while performing are seemingly present in the mix, and being projected to the listener, other Tonearms can quickly become an item that does not have an attraction, for this reason the two referred to Tonearms are no longer in use. 

A friend had my SME IV on loan along with a loaned Origin Live Tonearm for a period of time, they own a High End Linn Arm as well, neither of these arms were selected for the newly acquired SP10R, the Tonearm selected was a 12" Glanz, I fully understand the reasoning for the choice, it is to my ears a arm that allows a listener to be absorbed into the replay and is a very engaging arm.

Others may vehemently disagree with my assessment, but I am the one with the Tonearms removed from service, and I fully understand the reasoning for this decision.

As in all, a suggestion offered as a guidance toward a Brand or Model is all well and good, but the real decision, remains with the ears of the end user.

In todays market place, there are a much wider range of Brands offering designs and options that are worthy of being learned about and being demonstrated if possible.   

@pindac, I hate to seem like the cretin I am but I never knew a tonearm could "create a performance that was engaging," Silly me, and I thought it was the musicians that did that. Go figure.

As far as distortion from the original waveform goes, any of which I shall define as sonically unfavorable, you have to consider the cartridge and tonearm as one device. This also assumes it is attached in rigid orientation to the platter and is isolated from any extraneous vibration.

There are deviations from the original waveform that some people find pleasurable. I do not but, that is just me. A turntable, tonearm and cartridge should add absolutely nothing to the sound, that waveform. Anything they add is distortion pleasurable or not. That fact that the best tables can get reasonably close is amazing in and of itself and surely if you had to live with distortion it might as well sound good but, I would never say they, "create a performance that is engaging."

It was Kurt Vonnegut who remarked in, I believe it was Galapagos, that "the problem with humans is their brains are too big."  

A said " Others may vehemently disagree with my assessment "

All disagreements are welcome, and I have no need to defend my ears as the Judge on the matter, or my brain either.

The concern is not only a limited to minimising the effects of extraneous vibration, there is plenty to be concerned produced when the integral vibrations are considered, a Bearing Housing assembly of parts can be a environment that is able to allow the Stylus to encounter many unwanted conditions that are transferred as a result od the condition of the bearing housing assembly.

Much of the attention I have put onto a TT, is addressing the Bearing Housing assembly of parts, to the point the entirety is modernised.