Dgad, I find the discrepancy between the specs on your box and what's published on the vdH website very strange. I would call or email Andre at the USA vdH office in California, give him the serial no. of your cartridge and ask him to check it with the factory and get back to you.
On the other hand, if you use the standard multiple of 25x the (36 ohm) internal resistance, you could still wind up at 500 ohms be in the load range I suggested (although I would've guessed more like 900, but whatever....)
You are correct about the effective arm mass issue, but not to worry, the resonant frequency for the compliance of the Condor will still be well below 20Hz. There is an interactive graph at www.cartridgedb.com if you want to check it.
The anti skate dial of the SME V does indeed correspond to the vdH specs, except that the markings on the dial don't go low enough! Here's a better way to do it (you'll need good light, but it's very easy):
Set anti skate to zero. Viewing the cartridge from the front and just slightly above, note the position of the cantilever relative to the pole piece behind the coils. Then gently lower the tonearm to the record somewhere in the middle of the first band. Watch the cantilever carefully, just as the stylus goes into the groove. The cartridge body-and-headshell will tend to move toward the middle of the record, pulling inward slightly on the cantilever, and when you lift the stylus up out of the groove, the cantilever will return to center. Do this a few times until you see what I'm talking about. Then begin adding anti skating force a little (1/10 gram) at a time until there's no movement of the cartridge/headshell relative to the cantilever, whether the stylus is in or out of the groove. That's the correct setting. Soloist vocals should be solidly between the speakers. You can fine tune it by ear, but the visual adjustment is extremely accurate once you get the hang of watching for movement/no movement.
Regarding ground loops: they should produce a continuous 60 cycle hum in one or both channels. Is that the problem? or are you getting buzzing, and pops when you turn the lights on and off? The latter is usually due to radio frequency interference (RFI) produced in this case by arcing in the switches and fluorescent starters. This noise can picked up even by your dedicated lines or by phono unterconnects because it is sent out like a radio signal from those devices, and is best eliminated by stopping it at the device(s) rather than trying to filter it out afterward. Usually, you can replace the switches with noise-free ones that have a capacitor across the switch contacts. I think there's a remedy for the fluorescent lights too, but you'll have to ask an electrician.
