What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

@neonknight 

Mass on counterweight: I used a small disc that was part of a footer (cone + disc) with a center cavity that fits on top of the c-weight screw head. A coin with a hole might work too. So with a little bluetac it is stable. 

Effective mass: not sure! Seems to be a quite complex calculation (google effective mass, here and on  vinylengine). Some argue that  the c-weight mass adds ca 10 percent of the total added effective mass (90 pct at the headshell).

It is a fairly easy to experiment with, with coins of different sizes and bluetac in between. If I understand @JCarr right, the effective mass should be 16-18g (including the 10-11g of the SME V itself). So far I am positive, yesterday I even wondered if my horn speakers now sound a little bit more electrostat-like.

@neonknight Yesterday I was at a Local HiFi Group Meeting, which took place at a New to the Group Members home.

The Scheu > OL Conqueror IV > Sumiko Pear Wood was brought along for the Analogue Presentation.

The day was filled with first time encounters, the Amp's in use were Monoblock Devialet with B&W 800 D3 Diamond Speakers.

The sound of the Amp' > Speakers is not my usual experience, and the Phonostage was the Amp's Built In device, again another unfamiliar device.

The Schue seated on IsoAcoustics Gaia III Footers, adorned with the Conqueror as a debut Tonearm, presented in a way that was very impressive and showed of the qualities that could be attained from being used with a unfamiliar System.

It would have been great to have heard the upgrade arm to the Illustrious, used in a more familiar set up and listened to the comments offered by those who know the Schue and System in use well. All present apart from the new member are familiar with the Schue in use, and were of the view, during its use in this system there was a very attractive presentation being encountered.

As has been written elsewhere (by me), the effect of CW mass on total effective mass is equal to the mass of the CW multiplied by the (distance from the center of CW mass to the pivot)-squared. So you cannot just say that CW is 10% of total effective mass, unless you’ve done the math.

I currently have an Origin Live Sovereign with dual arm boards.  Mounted I have the OL Conqueror mk4 and the OL Enterprise mk4. Both arms do have enough actual weight that the floating SOTA arm board would require careful balance consideration.  Previously I have owned the OL Encounter mk3c and an OL Illustrious mk3c. The Illustrious  performance could satisfy your pursuit to exceed the SME V in my experience.  

@lewm - I am just following advice from @jcarr that experimenting with more mass may be useful, and that Lyra carts often sound progressively better up to 16-18 g. 10 pct at the c-w is obviously a rough approximate, very dependent on the pivot to c-w distance, etc. Have you tried this, on a SME V? In my case, tweaks come and go, sometimes they stay - so we'll see.