SAEC WE-308 L or a new tonearm?


Dear fellow hobbyists,

I found a good deal online for a second hand SAEC WE-308 L , but refurbished. I was just wondering, what your advice would be. So, assuming it has been recently restored, would you recommend buying such a tonearm, vs maybe spending 1500 eur on a new tonearm, such as Ortodon 210 or Groovemaster. What would be your considerations?

thanks!


ek1977
Pass on the SAEC arm. Why? Because its offset angle is too small to achieve accurate alignment. 
A Jelco for less than $1k would be a better choice than the other two tonearms you mentioned.
I have had Saec in the past, the build quality was better than the listening result.
I prefer another arm if vintage, or new one of the Origin Live products.
The Groovemaster is vastly superior to any Jelco you can buy. I've been using it with Ortofon SPU's, Denon 103R and some vintage MM carts. Check out the Groovemaster thread on What's Best Forum, there's a lot of good information there. 
Dear @jeff1225  : Yes and the Kuzma 4Point or the Durand is better than the Jelco and the one you are talking about.

As @roberjerman posted: Jelco for less than 1K and for that price is really good performer.

Did you in your system comparison between Jelco and the GM?. Jelco manufacured tonearms for Koetsu, Audioquest, Ortofon and several other audio manufacturers and its tonearm is very well damped by silicon oil and I can see that the GM it's not. WBF is not the best reference you can think and probably with way different room/systems and sound priorities than the OP and he talks of 1.5K euros and the GM goes oever 1.8 euros and higher depending is lñength, mount mechanism and even headshell where all these has an additional cost/price. 

@ek1977 , the Origin Live advise is very good one. It's a low profile company with excellent quality levels and worth to try it, you can't go wrong with.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
@rauliruegas the 4Point is an excellent arm but is 4X the price of the Groovemaster. Also, you are limited by its lack of a SME bayonet mount. 
Dear @jeff1225  : I'm not against the GM only that exist other very good alternatives and Jelco is an alternative.

Every audio item in the market were designed and manufactured at an specipic price point so you can't think that the Jelco comes with silver internal wiring because it's not that way but if you own a Jelco you can improve it re-wiring internally with silver wire as the headshells wires too.

R.
@rauliruegas 
the latest GM comes with silver wire and a titanium arm. I really think it’s an amazing value. 
What is your favorite Jelco model? 
Hello!
EK1977 you have one of the fines tonearms, congratulations on your find.
I have just completed my project mounting a SAEC W-308L tonearm on to my Thorens TD124II. Mounted a Denon 103R as advise by a Japanese friend who mention goes very well with the Denon 103 with a resonance freq of 10.8Hz.
I was amaze at the reproduction was jaw droping, it was one of the fine combination I have on any in my arm collection. e.g SME 3009 improve, 3009R, 3012R, SME V. Linn Itok, Basik, Akito, Graham 1.5T, 2.2 and Phantom II.Jelco 250. And with a 5mm over hang 0 error. And turntable e.g Garrard 301,401, Lenco L75, SME 20A, Sota SapphireV, Linn LP12 and Basik, Michell GroDec.
Saec works for low compliance cartridges better than any Jelco. Jelco more universal.  

Thumbs up for Groovemaster the last alive manufacturer which tonearm doesn't look like Harry Potter wand.
For 1500 EUR you’d better look for some other Japanese vintage tonearms, one of them is Technics EPA-100, another one is Lustre GST-801, you could find used samples withing 1500 EUR