Record Player
Well-Known Member
A fantastic article on the 3009 & 3012 SME Tonearms with technical data and their differences.
SME 3009 / 3012
SME 3009 / 3012
SME 3009 & 3012 Tonearms
- Thread starter Record Player
- Start date
shafic
Well-Known Member
Nice information! I am also looking for one SME.
hyeah:
hyeah:
reubensm
Well-Known Member
me too although I've decided to start with Jelco. Marketing and the Garrard 301/Thorens 124 has taken the SME desire to un-believable levels, but they are killer arms for sure.
Record Player
Well-Known Member
reubensm
Well-Known Member
Hmmmm, a 301 on its way?
yes, unless someone gifts me one
hyeah:for now, its the Lenco L75
not ruled out for the future, more inclined towards the 401 (better value for money I guess)
shafic
Well-Known Member
Hmmmm, a 301 on its way
Hmmm!! a 401 and a Quad II,if everything
works out!!Planning to give away some of my GEMS to make way for them.
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Record Player
Well-Known Member
Hmmm!! a 401 and a Quad II,if everything
Planning to give away some of my GEMS to make way for them.
Brilliant! But I'm sure its extremely hard to let go of those Gems. Always trying to find a way, where we can still hold on to those gems
.However, it would be lovely to see a new 401 owner here. Thought there are soo many in India, I don't see too many threads on 401/301 ownership reviews. I wonder!
kuruvilajacob
Well-Known Member
There are quite a few Garrard 301 owners on the Forum. I am fortunate to have 2 Garrard 301s and even more fortunate to have three SME 3012 arms.Garrard 301s are superb and 3012s are excellent tonearms if fitted with the right carts. But in the days to come, may not be easy to lay hands on these GEMS without parting with a tidy sum unless someone presents you one! Always possible
On the forum, malvai owns a 401, but he's hibernating nowadays
As does another member from Thane (or was it Kalyan?) whose name I forgot, and G401fan in Mumbai (2 of 'em, I think!). I'm sure there are more. Also, Gerry_the_Merry's primary 'table is a 301. Does Rajiv own a 401? I do know he owns a TD124, an LP12 and 301 too (I think).PS: vintage SME arms now cost a bomb. The last one I know that changed hands in Mumbai was a 3009 II Improved for what I thought was reasonable money.
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sachu888
Well-Known Member
FM bhaskarcan owns both 301 and 401
reubensm
Well-Known Member
its exciting to note that a simple mention of the 301 or 401 can trigger off quite a few posts. Yes, the Garrards are legendary and so is the TD124, but how about the Lenco L88?
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
The 3009 is a horribly complicated arm. Something or the other keeps going wrong with it. Recently I changed my plinth from a teak hardwood plinth of 25mm thickness to a sandstone plinth of 40mm thickness. But when i replaced the arm, I found that despite pillar being perfectly vertical, and arm base perfectly horizontal, the arm tube interferes slightly with the dashpot, which i had not moved. Altogether quite fragile. The SME V - now, that is a delicious thought - if only i could snag one from somewhere...
Record Player
Well-Known Member
You bet
. So is the reputation of Sir Garrard. But I would like to see some more reviews on the forum from these owners on their build experience, tonearms, listening expressions, mechanics Etc.I think one of the tricks is to re-wire the tonearm. 3009/3012s are quite old and the wires tend to be old and brittle. A new "loom" should ease many pains. I have been told that Raghu on the forum uses Sony headphone wires as replacement tonearm wire and they are excellent. No hum. They have replaced his earlier Cardas wires (which hummed). Another suggestion from Sachin was to use the wire from an old HP mouse (specifically HP
).kuruvilajacob
Well-Known Member
I have used headphone wires in one of my audiophile tonearms but never disclosed which one. Many who have heard the player has said it sounds fantastic with three dimensional sound reproduction. I never mentioned it on the Forum thinking that forum members may think I am a little crazy! But, the new headphone wire technology was not available in the days when tone arm wires were designed. There is absolutely no hum and more importantly,they are very flexible and thin at the same time well shielded.
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
I imported cardas wire and opened up the entire tonearm and re wired it myself. It was perfect. But there is a mechanical issue, and such issues keep cropping up with this arm more than with other arms.
kuruvilajacob
Well-Known Member
The mechanical issue may have been due to some mishandling from earlier user because, I have 4 SME arms and never has anything to complaint about
Is it something to do with the bearing? Is it anything that can be solved by some tender-loving-care-and-attention (TLC&A) over a weekend?
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
Of course...it is solvable. Except that there has been no mishandling, and this must have been the 100th time i have changed arms, and it is a different plinth, and all supporting measurements are correctly aligned...
You are welcome any time for TLCA. This weekend will be spent on putting a new power cord on my PC and new connectors on my speaker cable, after which my digital system will be frozen, and i need thereafter to give the cable a week to settle down (whenever I move it, and then re-install it, it takes a week before the usual sound comes back). Then onto vinyl...
Finyl Vinyl
New Member
On the forum, malvai owns a 401, but he's hibernating nowadays
PS: vintage SME arms now cost a bomb. The last one I know that changed hands in Mumbai was a 3009 II Improved for what I thought was reasonable money.
Back from hibernation myself. Been in touch with Malvai too over the last couple of months. Both our 401s and SME arms doing fine. Stevie, where are you? Need to do a listening now that I'm back in Bangalore. Don't have any of my vintage furniture anymore. Have no furniture at all, actually.
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