SME V tonearm versus Rega tonearms on Michell Orbe

The Rega is no match for an SME. Rega tonearms are entry level. SME is the real thing. Just my.02.

Hmmm, you are contemplating putting a multi-thousand $ cartridge on an arm that costs a few hundred $? Doing just the opposite makes far more sense. If you are looking to stay with UK arms, the Naim ARO may very well be your best choice....otherwise the Graham 2.2 or Triplanar are the way to go. I found the SME to be too much in the bass and lower mids when I was comparing arms a few years back...and this was on a VPI TNT.

I use an OL RB250 on a Gyro II SE with a Benz Ruby 2 cartridge and the sound is the best I have heard (compared to any other TT system I have used). There is an unmistakable synergy going on with this combo that is captivating. It easily outperforms my former VPI Aries with JMW 10 arm, flywheel, PLC, and ClearAudio Gamma cartridge. I would expect properly set up Regas to work great on the Orbe as well, but I can't say that it would beat an SME V. It is doubtful, but I haven't made the comparison and you never really know how well a certain combination will perform until you try it and hear it in your own familiar system. My Michell/Rega/Benz sounds scary-good -- of that I am confident. Good Luck! :)

Koetsu cartridges work phenomenally well with the SME 5 tonearm, but I have only tried the combo on two SOTA turntables and then on an SME 20 table, which I am presently using. There certainly was no extra bass on any of those, but I don't know the table you have in mind. I can't imagine using a Koetsu cartridge with a Rega arm--a no-compromise cartridge with a good bang for the buck arm sounds like a waste of cartrige dollars.