Ideal TT & Arm for the following top cartridges...

If your friend can spare you with his Whest. You can try using Tranny TemperV with Moerch DP-6 arm.
The best combo still the Miyabi 47lab with Triplanar7 mounted on Spacedeck and ASR Basis Exclusive.
Koetsu Coral with Triplanar7 and ASR (loading 65ohm) gives interesting result as well.

Ebarker2 - I have no direct experience with the MC2 Finish. I just missed the chance to try it with the Wavestream Kinetics and I am kicking myself for not prioritizing it.

However, I thought it would be worthwhile to mention that an MC2 Finish owner, who has tried many arms, does not recommend the Schroeder or any wood tonearms with this cartridge. It just happens that the Allaerts distributor also represents Schroeder. However, this does not necessarily mean that this is the best arm to use. If you have extensively listened with other arms and settled on the Schroeder, then please detail your findings.

As to DC kickback, please pardon the following rookie-like questions. Exactly how does one know or measure if they have this or not? Besides melting the coils on the cartridge, how does it manifest itself through the system? In other words what early symptoms, subtle or otherwise, should one be looking for?

Brizonbiovizier - We used two phonostages when we evaluated the Brink cartridge (and arm). First was the ASR Basis Exclusive and the other is the EAR 88pb. With the ASR we preferred a loading of 350 Ohms and with the EAR we liked 500 Ohms.

The the amps were Rowland 302 and speakers were the mid line Avalons with ceramic drivers.

Cmt_cra,
The Finish is certainly worth prioritizing. An exceptional cartridge by any standards. I disagree with your friend. I don't think its so much a question of 'wooden' tonearms or who distributes what. To my ear there is a natural synergy between the Shroeder and Allaerts (though it is true that they both require considerable patience and work to get the best out of the combination). I have heard the Finish in my own arms (6 or 7) and in a few more elsewehere, and would always choose the Schroeder as natural mate. It also likes a good air bearing and the Sme V or 312 (if they are rewired). As a combination the Schroeder / Allaerts can sound flat if not carefully set up. The Finish can sound v. odd and even thin, white/ wintery with wrong SUT or phono.

You can measure DC kickback when switching on a phonostage but it's a complicated matter, and its not clear exactly how many millivolts will initiate damage (40mv?). The symptoms are a loss of some volume or signal in one channel (usually the right) which means a rebuild. The main thing is to be safe than sorry, and i would contact Jan Allaerts directly to ask about specific phonostages. The Tron Seven is completely safe with it, and sounds excellent. The TEAD Groove SRX needs to warm up 2 hours before connection and will sound leaner but incredibly fast. The Kondo SFZ step up/M77 is amazing but needs a resistor to bring it up to 845 ohms. It can be dangerous to feed the Finish an incorrect load as it can snap the very thin/delicate gold coil windings. After all this though it can reward with really wonderful sound.

Ebarker2 - Thanks for the detailed and insightful response. I'll just let my friend chime in about the Schroeder/Allaerts when he has time. I'll email him offline to prompt him to do so.

As to DC kickback, is it generally safer to turn on the phonostage first before connecting the ICs (or tonearm wire to the RCA junction box)? As a general precaution I often mute the preamp when turning on/off the tt motor or when cueing/lifting the cartridge. From your explanation I assume the risk to connecting the ICs (or tonearm wire for the VPI JMW arms) to a phonostage that has been on for a considerable amount of time, is far less than having the IC connected when first turning on the phonostage. Is this summary correct?