SOTA NOVA, HR-X VPI, Technics 1200G recommendations?

The effective mass of my SME 309 tonearm with removable headshell  is less than the effective mass of the SME IV or SME V fixed tonearms.  Hmm.  Generalizations can be dangerous.  I agree that fewer connections between the phono cartridge and preamp is better but unless you are soldering the tonearm lead wires to the phono cartridge pins and to the preamp input leads, it is somewhat of a moot point.  1.5 meters of litz lead wire has a resistance of about 10.8 milliohms,.  Each connection has a resistance of 0.5 milliohms.  My tonearm has 5 connections to the preamp vs 3 for the SME IV or V or 1 extra milliohm.  7.5% more resistance using a removable headshell.  But a fixed tonearm with no connections- solder joints only would reduce the resistance between the phono cartridge and preamp by 25%.

I don’t think resistance, pure and simple, is the main possible issue with physical connections in the signal path. For one thing because each physical connection also has capacitance and/or inductance. For another, because very often the first gain device, tube or transistor, in a phono stage will be preceded by a series resistance in the 20 to 200 ohm range, to prevent oscillation. Such a resistance would swamp out any resistance of the preceding wiring system. Fairly high resistance ICs (Magnan, etc) were once in vogue, too. Yet I am agreeing that physical connections should be eliminated whenever possible and practical.

 
I heard some people say that TP tends to sound more muted than FR-64s. I guess this will depend on the cartridge match. But, do you think there is any validity in this point about TP?

Reed 3P does look a lot like TP and easy to adjust everything.How about a comparison between these two?

I must admit the comparison between a high class toneams is very subjective and should not be taken seriously (at least for beginner), unless a buyer compare by himself in his own system with his own records. The key point is a CARTRIDGE, it must be the same cartridge and turntable and each time it must be perfectly matched cart and tonearm.

TriPlanar, Reed, Kuzma, Schroeder, Durand ... are all high class modern tonearms, they are all must be great, the rest is personal preferences.

All these tonearm are extremely expensive!

There are absolutely amazing tonearms from the golden age of analog that cost 50-70% less compared to new high-end tonearms. Sometimes it’s hard to detect why they are cheaper than new high-end tonearms.

I remember I was in the situation like Jay many years ago, the starting point for me was Technics EPA-100 with ZYX AIRY III MC (and Technics MM carts like 205c mk4) and then modern Thomas Schick 12 inch tonearm and SPU cartridges (then some vintage MC and MM). Schick tonearm is so beautiful that it was hard to resist, the price was more than affordable. The next step was Reed 3p "12 Cocobolo (I don’t know any other tonearm in the universe that allow me to adjust absolutely everything on the fly including azimuth). But to get Reed for affordable price (demo unit) I decided to travel to Vilnius, Lithuania to meet up with the Reed Team in person! I bought their used demo version with huge discount! Normally I would never buy a tonearm like Reed, because official retail price was something like EUR 5000!

If the budget is not a problem my advice is to buy one modern and one vintage tonearm and compare by yourself with appropriate cartridges.

This hobby is about fun after all, there are so many great tonearms and cartridges out there.

No. There is no validity to the notion that the TP sounds muted compared to the FR64S. In fact, the idea is ridiculous without regarding the particular cartridge.