Why SME tonearms is definitely not my kind of arms, i remember some users posted about this model many times on audiogon. You have to try Grace F14 or LEVEL II with BR/MR stylus on this arm to forget about Shure forever. There are many great tonearms designed for high compliance cartridges, many of them are underrated today, because high compliance MM/MI cartridges is definitely not a trend of today.
This has the feel of an arm that just came out, can’t believe it’s 40 years ago. Get your hands on one and see for your self what a quality arm feels like and sounds like. Worth ever penny and only going to go up in price. There are other classic SME arms from the 80’s that sell in the thousands but these can be had in the $500 range.
SME TONEARM SERVICE MANUAL MANUALS
Anyway all the manuals can be downloaded so there is no reason if you come across one you couldn’t get it to sing on your system. Ya the arm has all sorts of adjustments but most of us enjoy messing around with that sort of thing anyway, and every setting makes perfect sense and makes you think why don’t more arms give you that flexibility. The arm only has a moving mass of 5 gms, that is low these days but this combination works fantastic. I have a Grado Reference Series 2 that weighs 10 gms with a compliance of 20. I’ve been at this for 40 or so years and had my share of gear. I read all sorts of bad comments like its the Red Head of SME’s arms but there were a few that loved it and I’m here to say I’m in the love camp.
SME TONEARM SERVICE MANUAL PDF
NOTE To view PDF files the latest version of the official acrobat reader is required.Not much has been written about this old classic lately but I just acquired one and put it on an Oracle Alexandria. If you have additional documentation please consider donating a copy to our free archive. Please login or register a free account in the forum to download files III/IIIS mounting template (not to scale)
SME TONEARM SERVICE MANUAL MANUAL
Instruction/owners manual (alt scan) - PopeyeMills Stereo imaging was to a good standard and the bass registers reasonably detailed and extended - III £120, IIIS £90 HiFi Choice 1983 Downloads Null points: 60/117mm (original), 66/121mm (modified) ReviewĪn entirely different sort of sound and very distinctive in it's own right, the SME series III is a very interesting performer - Noel Keywood HFN 1978Ĭolouration was comparatively low and the overall sound pleasantly relaxed. Overhang: 16mm (original), 17.8mm (modified) SpecificationsĮffective length: 229mm (original), 233.2mm (modified) Please see the CA-1 instructions for identifying which version you have. Later, modified arm tubes used a revised geometry optimised for 12" records. 'S' models where a cut-down version without the expensive rack and pinion adjustment and with the fluid damping as an optional extra. The arm has a soft core and an internal fibrous lining which results in a natural damping of the vibration fed into the arm by the cartridge. It embodies a number of significant breakthroughs as well as evolutionary improvements over its distinguished predecessor.įor example: Nitrogen hardened titanium tubing having a wall thickness only twice the diameter of the average human hair provides a previously unattainable strength to weight ratio. The state of the art in independent tonearms, the SME series 3 precision pickup arm is the culmination of research and development extending over more than seven years.