VPI Aries 2 , SME IV and Benz Micro Ruby 2 .

Loontoon,
I agree that the Koetsus I've heard were biased toward the warm or smoothed side of neutral. As you say, one either likes listening to that or not. Your deduction that a ZYX either, "...does have a sound, or so severely lacks any sound that it confuses those who hear it." was perceptive. In my experience the latter is the case, although "severely" might imply coldness to some; that is not the case.

Gfloyd53,
You'll find the ZYX reviews and comparisons mentioned by Nrchy next to my signature. They include direct comparisons with Shelter 901, Koetsu Urushi and RSP.

If you're looking for top to bottom coherency, balance and natural, seamless integration a ZYX can provide it. They demand very careful setup, but if you are willing to do that you'll be listening to instruments and voices more and to your stereo less.

I haven't heard one on an SME so I don't know about any synergy issues. The mass/compliance specs are fine, FWIW.

Doug

Dear Gfloyd: With that tonearm the Celebration is very hard to beat.
The Ruby 2 is a very good sounding cartridge but in the SME IV the Celebration in my opinion is a better choice. The 901 has nothing to do against the Celebration.
Why don't you read two professional reviews on the Celebration by Stereophile and The Absolute Sound: these magazines review the SME 30 TT with the Celebration matched to a SME V.

If you want something different, you have to go for the Dynavector XV-1, Allaerts MC2, Lyra Titan, Transfiguration V/W, Van denHul Colibri, Ortofon 7500. All these top cartridges mate well with the SME IV.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Thanks Loontoon, Dougdeacon and Rauliruegas,
Everyone else--I don't consider this thread finished. Feel free to join in. Rauliruegas, I have those issues and am currently reading the reviews. One of the magazines even has a review of the Benz Ruby 2 right after the Celebration review. Thanks again.

What about with a Mark Levinson 320s with phono?

Gfloyd53,

I don't see any phono stage specs for the 320s on the ML site. The key questions are:

GAIN
How much phono stage (not line stage) gain does it have?
It may have selectable phono gain settings.
If so, find out what all the choices are.

IMPEDANCE
What input impedance does it have at the phono inputs?
It may have selectable impedance settings.
If so, find out what all the choices are.

I wouldn't expect any serious cartridge compatibility issues with a reasonable quality SS phono stage, but I've been surprised before. Play it safe. Ask ML for the gain and impedance specs before choosing a cartridge.

Doug