What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

@neonknight, don’t be too quick to deem your thread “useless”. Putting aside the responses that you feel have strayed too far from your original question, you have received at least half a dozen opinions on arms that others feel “surpass the SME5”. Others have opined that not only is the SME5 a fine arm (I agree), that it is not easily surpassed. So, not sure why you feel there is no value to you in the responses to your thread. Having said all that, and putting aside my own recommendation, a sure fire way to surpass your SME5 and not take a chance on taking a sonic step backwards, is to heed Raul’s recommendation to have your existing arm rewired with AudioNote silver wire (or similar) in a continuous run to your preamp. The elimination of all those solder joints and dissimilar wire in your phono interconnect will most likely be a revelation. It was for me. Good luck.

Perhaps this is a good moment to share a bit of history of how I got here. Back in the late 1990s I decided to do vinyl again, and had good results with an unsuspended high mass table, an early Teres Audio with Eminent Technology II arm. I drifted away from vinyl a number of years and when I came back Teres was no longer available, so I obtained a Galibier Audio Serac and put a 12" Riggle arm on it.

After awhile I had the ability to explore different tables, and I kept the Galibier. I obtained and refreshed a Thorens TD 124 and put another ET II on it, very nice table. I also bought a restored Garrard 401 and put a 12" Project Evolution arm on it.

I sold the idlers to pay for some higher quality speakers, and bought my JBL 4365 with the proceeds. I explored direct drives a bit but was disappointed until I obtained a Technics SP10 MK II. Excellent table. I then bought a Denon D(75 in a VPI plinth with Acos arm. Finally I had a Brinkman Bardo that I put an Audiomods 6 arm on. I also obtained a Well Tempered Reference.

Eventually these tables got sold off. I wanted a reference level table, and when I was a young man the big 4 were Oracle, Linn, VPI, and SOTA. I started to research the SOTA and came to the conclusion that a Cosmos Eclipse was for me. I then sourced a SME V as that was considered one of the finest arms of that time, and I always had a hankering to own one.

I scratched a few other vintage itches there, such as the Koetsu Urushi, the Ortofon MC2000, and MC 3000 II & MC5000, Dynavector, Ikeda 9 Kawami, Shinon Red, and so on.

So this is how I came to owning a SOTA and SME V. I have affirmed that I love the Cosmos, and the MC2000, but the V I am unsure of. I eventually bought a second table. A Scheu Analog Das Laufwerk No 2, which is the company that the original Teres project was inspired by. I enjoy the table and use a pair of Dynavector DV505 arms on it.

So that is the story, and where the SOTA and SME pairing continues or is dissolved remains to be seen. Seems like the 9" Kuzma is a consideration. The Vivid arm is so unusual I am not sure it can be used on this table. Perhaps the V should remain, but I wonder about rewiring it as it is supposed to have a silver sourced wire already. But with the Transfiguration it does sound a bit constrained. Perhaps the Ortofon Verizmo would be different. I even gave consideration to putting the MC2000 on it, but original reviews done by JH reported that this pairing was tried with very unfavorable results. I wonder what makes Origin Live arms a viable consideration, exactly what have they done to raise themselves above the competition, as some of their arms are quite spendy.

Just a combination of my thoughts.

Oh for reference the system is JBL 4365 speakers, a pair of Velodyne HGS 12 subwoofers, Classe Omega monoblock amps, Trinov Amethyst pre-amp, Esoteric E-03 and Grahamm Slee Accession phono stages.

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

@neonknight The following is the statement made in my post on Page 1, after having given a description of how I have come to perceive Tonearms, Owned, Encountered and having Experienced in use, that share in using Rega Design and Geometry.

"When the IV and Series V have been compared to the Tonearm I am using now. The most noticeable difference is how constrained the IV and Series Five are perceived to be influenced, there seems to be too much imparted from the design as a control, which has come to be identified with as not for the better".

Your most recent statement suggests something of this nature is being perceived through pairing the V with Cart' only.

There is a lot of perceived unconstrained musical replays available, it will require a change of Tonearm Completely.

I am all for a Wire Change, I have recently discovered substantial benefits from being demo'd a Wire I am a advocate of used in a Wand.

The change of a Bearing is not going to offer too much, as I have been quite familiar with V/12 in use and this presents with the same perception of constrained, the V/12 has the ABEC 7.

The ABEC 7 was the bearing I was to have put into the IV with a exchange Wand Wire, prior to it being superseded as a Tonearm.   

The owner of the SME 20/12 is now using the SCHUE with a OL Illustrious>Sumiko Pearwood and OL Motor Upgrades, and is extremely impressed, and is certain in their assessment of the Sonics, it is a TT on Parity with or Better that the SME used for many years.

The SCHUE is imminently to be Trailed A/B against a New Belt Drive Model arrived to be demo'd within the HiFi Group.   

@pindac , Boo away friend.

@whart , Great job Bill, Putting the Kuzma on the MinusK is the way to go. Quite a chore getting the Kuzma on there and maintaining the balance on the MinusK. If you get an itch down the line you might have a look at the Dohmann Helix.

I believe Frank used an air bearing which diffuses the air through microscopic pores in the metal and not the much larger holes you see in most air bearing arms. this would put the whistle factor way up high, high enough to cause less if any issue. The demand for air is high with any air bearing device requiring a larger compressor. Does it have to run continuously? It is impossible to make them silent. The hush box is a good idea. The vacuum pumps used for vacuum clamping are much smaller. The Sota's pump is not dead silent, but very close. It sits on a ledge about 3" off the floor behind the records. You can't hear it at all. 

The Koetsu would be the best cartridge to use in that arm given it's very low compliance. I am wondering given the table is on a Minus K platform whether or not the position of the arm effects level. I would think the most effective way of finding level would be to counter balance the arm so that it floats horizontally then adjust level so that it does not travel on the beam. 

You did not make any comparison statement on the Airline vs the 4 Point. The 4 Point is one of my favorite arms. If you have to have a tangential tracker you might have a look at the Schroder LT, look mom, no compressor. 

Love the horns. They make a vivid visual statement. IMHO running only the subs on DSP might be a mistake. You need to use a measurement system to look at any group delays. If there are not any then you are good to go but if there are they should be eliminated, but the only way to do that is with a digital processor. The new top processors from Trinnov and DEQX are very powerful and run at high speeds. The improvement made in channel balancing and group delays far exceeds any detriment effect the digital processing might have.