SME is leaving the OEM and aftermarket/retail tonearm business.
While I agree that there are better arms "now" available, IMHO, without SME, our current state of the art in tonearms would be much different. SME has been around since 1959 and has advanced the tonearm design quite a bit in that time. I bet if you ask some tonearm designers where they learned about the trade, they will say from SME. |
Tend to disagree with some on the SMEs. I've owned the IV and the V and found them to be excellent. They exude a quality and precision that makes them a joy to set up and use, and I had great experiences with many cartridges on them over the years. Best in the world? I am not sure there is anything in audio that I would claim emphatically so, but they are undoubtedly great performers. To each their own. |
Audiotroy, no they are not. It depends on the cartridge. But I do myself prefer the 4 points. I have a 9 and a 14. The SME 5 would be wonderful for high compliance cartridges but there are not many of those left. So for most of the cartridges we like today you are right. I like the Triplanar but do not like unipivots. The Graham is the best unipivot available because of its magnetic stabilization and build quality but I think the 4 point 9 is a better arm at a fraction of the price. If you have a Koetsu or an Air Tight the 4 point 14 is an arm you have to hear. |
oscar44 Tend to disagree with some on the SMEs. I've owned the IV and the V and found them to be excellent. They exude a quality and precision that makes them a joy to set up and use, and I had great experiences with many cartridges on them over the years.Same here. I've used an SME V for years and it's the best pick-up arm I've ever had. In my system it replaced a Fidelity Research FR-64FX, which is also an excellent arm. But I think the SME is better, and it is also more versatile. |
@mofimadness said the most salient point insofar as they took the arm so far forward. They don't go well with Linn Sondeks and other 3 points due to their weight (talking about the iv and v) but they are a great choice for Roksan, Point triangle and many other decks. Arms are so deck and cartridge specific it's a bit unfair saying it did not go with a certain deck. The build quality and repeatability of set up are both superb as is their customer support. They probably sold more that most high end arm manufacturers combined - that is testament to this. Also bear in mind that the likes of: Schroeder Kuzma 4 point DaVinci Vertere Breuer some are multiples the price to the SME V which is made as good or better than its competition. The SME V remained relatively affordable for a pretty long time - they have suddenly become quite inflated unfortunately - but hey so is all of the high end in audio. I must say that it is a bizarre decision to stop the sale of something unless it is not profitable. |
The Sme production are like the best weapons, well built, excellently finished, solid and durable, produced with constant performance and where possible they also build the screws inside the factory (has anyone ever visited the factory?) and the spare parts can be found for many many years reassuring the owners; can we write all this for other builders who do little or nothing on their own? |
has anyone ever visited the factory? Here is a video tour by analog planet shaking camera The Sme production are like the best weapons, well built, excellently finished, solid and durable, produced with constant performance and where possible they also build the screws inside the factory Well, what's the difference between solid and very well build Reed tonearms for example and SME ? Reed does not have their own factory, but the build quality is second to none, made in Lithuania, not even in England. And Reed also design their own turntables. You don't have to own a factory to made amazing tonearms and stuff, the fact that SME own their own factory does not make their tonearms any cheaper, they are actually very expensive, pretty much like everything from England. There are many more amazing tonearms on the market from the small manufacturers like Schroeder in Germany, i also remember Da Vinci tonearms. Those 3 (Reed, Schroeder, Da Vinci) are the arms that not only sound great, but they also looks great (unlike SME). |
@lohanimal They don't go well with Linn Sondeks and other 3 points due to their weight (talking about the iv and v) but they are a great choice for Roksan, Point triangle and many other decks. You are absolutely right, Just switch to a SMEV from a Roksan Tabriz Zi and its a big improvement on my Roksan Xerxes 20. |
@chakster bear in mind SME have been consistently producing arms for over 50 years - can anyone else claim this? no waiting list like a Schroeder. DaVinci is very costly like Schroeder too. Any SME arm ever made can and will be serviced and restored by SME both within a reasonable time and price. The point is not just about putting down the SME or any other arm for that matter. The issue is that the arm has been taken off the market and it has a set of specific strengths that people can no longer benefit from which is a shame. Hell, I have other arms that I like more and which work better in my set-up but it does not detract from what is a defining product being taken from the market. You look at many extraordinary turntables and they so often sport an SME arm - this goes back decades - nobody else can claim this to the extent that SME can - save perhaps Fidelity Research. I do agree that british products are expensive though. Funny thing is that I've never been blown away by their own turntables |
snackeyp, it all depends on the cartridge. With most modern moving coil cartridges a Tri Planar arm will sound better unless some mass is added to the SME. If you set the resonance frequency of both arms to be exactly the same with the same cartridge installed they are going to sound identical. IMHO the SME V 12 is the best arm made for most modern cartridges. When it comes to the Koetsu's and Air Tight's the Kuzma 4 point 14 has to be heard. Best bass definition I have ever heard come from a turntable set up. If you are looking for dependable, durable, well made turntables and arms it is hard to beat SME. If you are buying these devises for looks you are in the wrong hobby. There is an inherent beauty in precision. |
@lohanimal with all my respect to SME engineering this is the sort of the arm i have never even wanted to buy, never ever. It is true that vintage turntables on used market often comes with an old SME, but this is the first thing i would immediately remove and sell to put much better japanese vintage tonearms instead. New SME must be better, but at their price there are so many tonearms to choose. In terms of design i just don't like SME on any turntable, so ugly in my opinion. |
The Da Vinci arm is a very nicely made waste of time unless you want to rig your own anti skating device which for that kind on money is unforgivable. There are many great arms that do not have that problem and for less money. If you already have one rig an SME style hanging weight anti skating device. You can get the weight on Amazon then just fashion a stainless wire with a loop to hang the weight from and mount a pin on the counter weight side of the arm. Now your nice looking Swiss arm doesn't look so nice but works a lot better:) |
