What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

@mijostyn  I stand by both the following statements, both relating to the mentioned TT.

The SOTA Cosmos Eclipse is as exposed to the accusation of being a inferior design as all the others 'thrown under the bus'.

What I feel confident in saying is that the design used in your case, with whatever tonearm of a 9" - 10.5" Dimension, will be capable of producing an " endless experience of Successful Replays "

@lewm I don't do 'Angry', I do attempt Fair Play  to all. ( I persevere in my supplied content, as I know there are other who read Audiogon, and will never post and maybe never join. I think it's Fair they are seeing content where they are not left feeling ridiculed and shot down for choices that may have been made.  The usual Gon in-house Thread Development are what they are, no beef from my side their).

In the case of this thread I have made it known I have experience, (some regular) of TT / Tonearm Interfaces created using a variety of methodologies and using a variety of Materials used for the Structures Produced for mounting the Set Up.

I have made it known I am Wed to the Rigid Coupling Concept and have my own particular disciplines in place towards how I want to see it present. (which is the adoption of minimal parts in the assembly that can be used to create a structure that assists with the Functioning Mechanical Parts, as well as having inherent properties for being efficient at the management of Transferred Energies). 

I have made it known that I don't carry a prejudice towards other methods used to create a TT/Tonearm Interface, and from my assessment, all variants encountered of a TT/Tonearm Interfacing that has been experienced in use, each are in my view capable of producing a Successful Replay.

Even if I am choosing not to use a particular type of Set Up. I am not and will never, be the one, whom will be telling the end user of a TT>Tonearm in their own home, that their methodology for using it is a disaster.

@whart , go ahead and swing away whart. To start things off I do not have a problem with linear tracking. It would be the ideal way to do it. The problem is many of the designs cause more harm than good. Arms that are essentially pivoted arms that are jockeyed across the record on transports with modern controls could work fine. There is one German arm that does that and some older Japanese designs. It is an expensive stunt to do well as the mechanics have to be extremely precise and quiet. The German arm is some $200,000. The best current designs are the Schroder LT and the Reed 5T. The LT in particular is a brilliant design. Air bearing arms fail because of their extremely high horizonal masses and the rushing air tends to cause high frequency noise. They are extremely sensitive to level and tend to skate in one direction or the other depending on which way they are leaning. They are actually more sensitive leveling devices then the bubbles people use to level them. They are a very unfavorable platform for a cartridge. Yes, they work, but there is a strong tendency for reviewers and turntable engineers to avoid them for a reason.  The amount of tracking error in a well designed and set up pivoted arm is inaudible. The cartridge is a very sensitive device. It is also a mechanical device that has to operate within certain limits to perform at it's best. 

Your turn.  

@neonknight , Great, we have the same table. The Verismo is a fine cartridge. It will work on the SME but you probably want to add some weight to the head shell and keep the counterbalance as far back as possible. I have the MC Diamond which is a very similar cartridge but even less compliant. I would not put it in the SME but it works in the Schroder fine. I am not familiar with the ZYX. Do not let the high VTFs of the Ortofons bother you. Their stylus has a much higher contact area than most. I think you might also want to look at Lyra and My Sonic Lab cartridges. They are a little more compliant than the Verismo and would probably be a better match with the SME. I am not totally sure you can tune the SME to such a low compliance. If you can then it is not a problem. 

I developed a technique for getting warped records to seal. You might know it already but I'll tell you anyway. Load the record. Start the turntable and immediately press the lead in bulge down on opposite sides of the record using only the edge of your fingernails. Let the record spin under your fingernails for two full revolutions and let go.  It seems once you are use to perfectly flat and dampened records it is disturbing when you hear a warped one. 

Back to @whart , I've been up all night. Hard to sleep when you can't breath. Pardon my typing if it is worse than usual.

As for high mass turntables. I have nothing against mass as long as it is isolated. Mass alone does not isolate a turntable from the environment. This is easy to demonstrate. You can get an accelerometer app on your phone that will detect seismic activity. Put the phone of your massive turntable and jump up and down. Even if you are on a concrete slab the detector will still register. Put it on a Sota, Basis, SME, Avid, Dohmann, or Michell and There is much less vibration detected. Most people do not notice this environmental rumble as their speakers do not put out much below 40 Hz. Those with powerful subwoofers will notice it. It increases distortion and robs power. It can also make your house shake. I know a person who put his Kuzma Stabi XL DC on a MinusK platform and he swears by it. Michael Fremer has his Continuum on a MinusK platform and is also sold on it. These platforms are very floaty and a PITA to use. You have to be very delicate with them or you get the entire mess bouncing. They must really think they notice and improvement to put up with them, real or not. 

Mass can improve the performance of a given turntable. But it is totally unnecessary if a turntable is properly designed and suspended. I think the Rega Rp10 makes that case nicely. For DIYers it is easy to add mass to an older design to improve performance but it is not a panacea.

As an aside, I build my own subwoofers. each enclosure of the last set I built weights 200 lb and they are not that big! They performed better than the previous set but not as good as I would have hoped for. The enclosures still resonate and shake. I am current building the next set. Each one will be a lot lighter, about 75 lb. I am pretty certain they will outperform to old ones. They are harder and much more expensive to build. You only live once.

@pindac , right.

@mijostyn In this Thread/Pantomime there are the usual Villains, Hero's and Loveable Types.

As in all Pantomime's, Shouting at the Performers is expected, you certainly are accustomed and seemingly quite comfortable with being a Member of the Performance and Participating as the Audience in this type of Theatre. Especially, when the content is for pure entertainment purposes and no more.   

In a Pantomime there is the very enjoyable interaction where the Audience get their chance to thoroughly enjoying the moment of 'Booing of the Stage' the Villain.

@mijostyn You've had plenty of well deserved Boo's from @pindac for one Season.