EMT 927 vs. Micro Seiki 5000 or 8000 - different?

Geoch,
As far as I know, the only SAEC arm with remotely normal offset angle is the 8000, with the 317 coming next. I too would trade the 317 for the 8000 any day of the week, but I don't know of any 8000 owners who would make the trade. The 8000 is the most sought-after SAEC arm I know of. FWIW, the 407/23 does not have the 'right' angle for anything other than SAEC's special geometry, but it does sound nice - especially with the SAEC headshell.

The 407/23 is manufactured especialy to hit the market outside the Japan, after Allen Wright's recommendation when he was the SAEC's importer for Australia. The 23 is refered to the offset angle that indeed is the right equivalent of the arm's eff. length by the Baerwald alignment.
But what about the other models of the SAEC's geometry ?
How one can align the cartridge & what cartridges are accepted in general ? Have you ever notice any problems with resonances or whatever the Dertonearm has refered ?

Geoch, that is interesting. I am not sure it is completely accurate. The 407/23 was offered in Japan for a couple of years before Allen Wright became the Australian distributor, and I see far fewer 407/23s outside of Japan than in Japan. I am almost certain it was not specially manufactured for non-Japanese markets. It is possible that the '23' came from Allen Wright, but I am not even sure of that. Perhaps it had the name 407 (without the 23) when it was first sold. I do not know and the only way to confirm that would probably be to check an old copy of Stereo Sound.

Personally, I had always assumed the 23 was for ~23cm length (the way the 506/30 has a ~30cm length). It is true that at 233mm, to get Baerwald alignment, it almost has to be 23 degrees offset angle, but that won't get you the cart straight in line with the headshell. And there is no way that the 506/30 is going to have a 30-degree offset angle...

I am not sure of your question. You can twist the cart in the headshell on all the SAEC arms (and it might make more sense to change the mounting distance too) to bring them to Baerwald. All but the 317 have original mfr geometry specs which are more aggressive than Stevenson alignment as far as I remember.

I have not had the problems Dertonarm has mentioned. I can understand the concept, but I think that the change in resonance from setting the cart off-line in the headshell is going to be substantially less of a problem than one's choice of headshell, one's cart match, and/or the resonance inherent in the arm itself.

Excellent ! Great news.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts about this.
My 308SX comes with the ceramic 18gr ULS-3X headshell & I can't figure the possible cart compatibilities.
Can you help please ?
Are there any known things that you suggest to avoid ?
Have you noticed any particular preferences ?

With ongoing apologies to Thuchan for dragging his thread off-topic... the 308SX is supposed to use a "cart" (which includes the headshell") of 23.5-33.5g. I have never seen a number for effective mass but have always had better luck with low-ish compliance carts. It sounds nice with a Koetsu wood-bodied cart, I have enjoyed it with the FR PMC-3.