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What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

Thinking about the possibility of searching for a new tonearm. The table is a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse. Cartridge currently in use is a Transfiguration Audio Proteus, and it also looks like I will also have an Ortofon Verismo if a diamond replacement occurs without incident. 

The V is an early generation one but in good condition with no issues. Some folks never thought highly of the arm, others thought it quite capable. So it's a bit decisive. 

The replacement has to be 9 to 10.5 inches. I have wondered if Origin Live is worth exploring? Perhaps a generation old Triplanar from the pre owned market?

 Any thoughts on what are viable choices? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

neonknight

Showing 2 responses by thekong

thekong
203 posts
 

@whart my experience using the Rockport arm is exactly the same as yours, a bit more complicated to setup, but no problem with lower compliance cartridge once setup ! I also have a set of Airline sitting in the box, which I will setup in the coming months. :)

Have a Happy New Year !

thekong
203 posts
 

Hi @neonknight , so you are very experienced in vinyl playback!

 

Some background, I am a relatively early adopter of the SME V, got mine at around 1986 / 87, and paired it with the then current version of the Sota Sapphire with vacuum, a popular combo at the time. 

 

I am not sure about the vintage of your SME V, but I remember sending mine back to SME at around 2003 / 04 to upgrade the bearing, to ABEC 7 I believe. Not sure if they have done further upgrade to the bearing since then! So if your arm hasn’t got the upgrade, you may want to consider the option.
 

Personally, the SME V doesn’t fit with my preference, and if I have to choose a 9” arm, the Kuzma 4Point9, as mentioned by others, would be my top choice at the moment. However, if it is possible to fit the 4Point11 onto the Sota, I would pick that over the 9” !

 

Hope this help. Have a Happy New Year

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