advertisement


Your final turntable

They do though, some have quite obvious sonic 'character'
It's not possible for arms to have zero character but there are some that get close. Those with obvious character... it's fine if the owner wants to tune deck, arm, cartridge and phono stage but it does seem like an unnecessary balancing act when trying to achieve synergy.
 
I think all Hifi audio products have a 'sonic character', there's been many adjectives used and flowery prose to either describe this sonic character or lack of.
Tonearms as with any engineering topology or practice are inevitably flawed as all engineering is a compromise. No perfect solution will ever exist as the laws of physics cannot be changed.
Personally I think it's best to pick the 'flavour' you like. I like unipivots on high mass decks, a lot of guys on here like LP12s, Technics and Regas, all good, all different.
 
This gets back to our old friend of correctly matching components to suit the particular users tastes?

Example- l have an SME V on a tweaked Techie and boring/ grey unmusical would be the last thing l would call it...… different tastes etc.:)
A 1200g with an SME V on it is something I’m thinking about.
 
l was looking at the SME Model 10 and you are not the first poster to report it as 'joyless'- is there any ways of making it more musical?
yup, fit it with a decent arm and a joyful cartridge...it'll just show you what the cart sounds like...decks shouldn't BE joyful IMO, but be an accurate and neutral platform for the transducer...that way you get a choice, otherwise the deck just overwhelms the cart (and there follows marketing blurb about how carts don't matter)
 
Had a Dansette, a Pioneer PL 17D ?, a Dual 50?, a Systemdek, a Logic DM101, countless LP 12s, a few Xerxes, a fully Funked LP 12, numerous d.i.y Lencos. Heard NA's, Ravens,Dias,ART,Origin Lives, fettled loads of Garrards, STD's, Thorens, Regas, Projects, Aristons.

The stars.

Pagoda System Deck/Mission 774 and any cartridge you threw at it

Pink Link LP 12 , Syrinx PU 2 and Grado, a revelation re MMs

Fully Funk vectored LP 12/Zeta/Koetsu

Xerxes/Kuzma Stogi S/ZYX Airy

Half a dozen d.i.y heavy plinthed Lencos/Well tempered arm with any cartridge

Current and final Oracle Delphi Mk 11/ Kuzma Stogi ref/Koetsu

Why anyone would spend the price of a luxury car, let alone the price

Of a friggin house on a turntable escapes me.

Listened to tables where the cartridge cost four times the price

of my front end and thought why not buy a Rolex to flash, like

who gives a monkeys if you can afford a 4K disposable needle J

Many moons ago my flatmate destroyed a 200 quid MC the day after I installed it.

“It’s a friggin needle for a record player, why have me by the throat”

When told what it cost, never did replace it.

Sure many cleaning Ladies have had the same look on their faces!
 
When I had the Hyperspace , Hadcock combo, my youngest who was around 3 at the time, thought the Hadcock was a light sabre, decided he'd like to play with it, needless to say the WB Ply was toast, only other damage was one of the little silver tonearm wires pulled away from the little red 4 pin plug.
 
Lets see how long these other manufacturers last, Reed ,Thales to name a few.

Sme will still be here when the others have come & gone .

As I said in a previous thread there 12 inch R tonearm from years gone by still beats most of these so called super arms.

Sme is still sort after all over the world.

Do you know what has happened at SME in the last 12-18 months?

Regarding the 3012-R: I assume that is what you are referring too? If so then yes, it is a very good tonearm but suited to heavy cartridges like the Ortofon SPU. This tonearm will give you a big bold presentation but will fail to give the delicate and intricate sound a modern fixed headshell tonearm like a Schröder, Thales will provide. It also depends on what your system is and what type of sound you are looking for. The 3012-R/SPU works well with big horn systems. It's very good but not in the league of other top tonearms if we are talking "ultimates"
 
Tonearms really should not possess character IMO, they need to let the cartridge perform to the best of its abilities but not add or subtract anything.

That's why they were called "tonearms". In the good old days, you could select the tonearm to adjust the tonal balance of the sound...
 
Lets see how long these other manufacturers last, Reed ,Thales to name a few.

Thales has been around for quite a time and has grown the customer base and product lines steadily. They also recently purchased EMT I believe. Hopefully in rude health.
Obviously as I have a full Thales front end, I hope that stay around for the foreseeable.

Strikes me that a lot of mean spirited people on here want competitors to the (old) status quo - like SME - to fail. So there can be a few “told you so” type comments.
 
Thales has been around for quite a time and has grown the customer base and product lines steadily. They also recently purchased EMT I believe. Hopefully in rude health.
Obviously as I have a full Thales front end, I hope that stay around for the foreseeable.

Strikes me that a lot of mean spirited people on here want competitors to the (old) status quo - like SME - to fail. So there can be a few “told you so” type comments.

Yes, a fine collection of spirited, opinionated and sometimes quite argumentative experts.

Has Thales not been around for over 20 years?
 
Loricraft refurbished Garrard 301/SME 10/dv karat.

My first and last and always proper TT.

20190716-001146.jpg
 
Did your friend try the Graham on the Orbe, I always thought that may make a nice combination, possibly with a nice Transfiguration MC ?

After two plus years, he still has both combos, yet hasn't even transposed his Helikon (his spare) for the Titan i he already had on the Five. There was a vague idea to try the Five on the 20/3 (but not the Graham on the Orbe) but that hasn't materialised either, nor is likely to. No idea why he doesn't move the Orbe/Five on. I dislike superfluous kit just hanging around doing nothing but each to his own.

I have the Proteus, so am familiar with the merits of Transfig. cart's. He's a Lyra man (and I was some years ago).
 
Unfortunately, Transfiguration is no more, which is a massive shame.

Didn't know that, Graham. Great shame, as all their cart's, from Aria through Phoenix to Orpheus & Proteus were/are superb exemplars of transparency. Wonder why they've gone, as the son, I believe, took over (in the Proteus) in a similar way to Sugano of Koetsu.
 
I am increasingly impressed with Sony Biotracer tonearm on my PS-B80...zero play bearings, damped armtube and electromagnetic servo damped system resonance in both planes. Automatic cart balance and VTF application via a knob with a digital readout, making cart swapping a breeze.

Unfortunately, this high end technology from 1970s simply cant be replicated by current arm manufacturers.

I was going to write Sony for yuks to encourage them to bring a modern statement version of this table.
 
Last edited:


advertisement


Back
Top