I just got back into analog.....

That's a big jump back into vinyl. I have a Lyra Skala that sings on my IV.Vi. There's probably others in the Lyra line that'll work. I'm using a lowly Sim Audio LP 5.3 phono preamp, probably hard to beat in it's price range.

Good luck,
Mike

Thanks for the response. I'll look into their cartridge line a little more. I was considering a koetsu, but I don't know what to use as a setup or phono stage.

You may want to consider the Shelter Harmony cart if your considering Koetsu. It's very musical and a little easier to drive. .5mV versus .3mV with the koetsu. Imo, you need to step up to a stone body koetsu (considerably more expensive) to compete with Shelter's Harmony reference cart.

Hai i just have the sme 20/3a running since 4 months coming from a scoutmaster vpi.
My advice is after having owned 4 low output mc s in my own system and having listened to many others .
Don t bother with them , just buy a london moving iron cart , a super gold for example or the jubilee or ref , much more live sounding dynamic and you dont need sut s , just a mm stage

greetz hj

Thanks hj. I've owned several Decca's over the years, but I wasn't sure how they would track in the SME. Does the dampening help them? How is the noise/ hum level on the SME?