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SME III Tonearm: Classic or Dinosaur?

At 14, I killed myself delivering papers and mowing lawns to buy my first Hafler amps and Magneplanar MG-1b's and I lucked into a deal on an SME III tonearm on a Kenwood KD-500 with a Grado Signature cartridge. I thought the SME was the most exotic piece of gear in the world with its fluid dampening system and pulley mounted anti skating (?) device, and with fond memories was very excited to see one for sale recently. Does anyone know how this arm might compare with tonearms of today, especially the newer SME's? Could this work reasonably well or am I just being sentimental?
cwlondon
gregm
3,405 posts
 
Ditto, above, regarding cartridge mass. Very fond memories of the arm on a TD 126 + Grado (yes, me too!).

Cheers!
joysjane5ba1
7 posts
 
You can add mass to the SME III to get the frequency resonance to it's optimum. This way you can adjust the system frequncy resonance regardless of mm or mc. This is an awesome arm! If you have the chance to put it in your system... go for it! Parts supply is deminishing from SME for the series III. Soooo, be advised.
gabe
2 posts
 
How you increase the SME 3009 mass.I would like to do it too.Gabe to Joysjane
joysjane5ba1
7 posts
 
There are cartridge ballast weights available through flatearthaudio.com. I will e-mail you with the particulars.
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
A true classic, the very best SME ever made and one of the very finest pivot arms on the planet IMHO.
Totally agree that SME went a wrong way after it.
I bought one in 1987 to fit my very compliant Shure V15V-MR. I couldn´t find better arm on the market.
Especially in the mid range the SME III shines, very nuanced, smooth and musical. Also the highs such as cymbals etc are extremely enjoyable. Huge soundstage.
The S-shaped wand with internally teak damped 4.5 gram titanium-nitride wand fits the fuzziest carts. Simply adding mass a few grams (two options) on the headshell it fits also less compliant carts. Also you can adjust counterweight mass to fit different compliances. Knife edge vertical bearing and mechanical anti skate adjustment are simple and work just fine.
Fluid damping also reduces resonances. The design is not too complicated so it works nicely.
British engineering of the highest quality from the golden era, a State of the Art product indeed.
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