Sme 30/2

Figured I'd update everyone on my vinyl journey...
I've been without a rig for about 10yr. now. My last table was a Well-Tempered Reference with Reference Arm and Benz Ruby cart.. I loved that table and hated it as well. Seemed it constantly needed calibration, but I had done it so many times I got pretty efficient with it. I have about a 3500 LP collection.... with mostly 70's and 80's Rock/Pop. My Classical collection is only about 20% of that total and the rest Jazz. Even though I didn't have a table, I still bought vinyl.
I was getting more requests in the studio from labels and individuals to archive their vinyl. The labels would bring their one-off direct cut discs and I would have to rely on friends to help me out. A big thank-you should go out to Mike and Sean.

Last RMAF, I had the opportunity to snatch up either a Pro-Ject Signature or a SME 30/2. The Pro-Ject was sounding mighty fine with that Koetsu Azule cart. on it. I went home and did some research and felt for my needs, the SME would be the one I would choose. I felt it would be the least finicky and once it was set up, it would need minimal tweaking. The SME comes with the Series V arm.

Since I had less and less Post Projects to deal with and the mastering archival side of the business was backing up, I decided to change the Post room into a Tape/Vinyl Archival/Dup room. I am in the process of getting rid of all my Post equipment and turning the room into a tape/vinyl lovers dream. There is a large Producers bench/rack that was in the back of the room. It is large, massive and would be a good surface to do my work on. I decided to put the turntable on that. During my vinyl archiving, I will be listening through headphones so I won't have to worry about feedback or anything like that. I'm using the great Doshi 3.0 phono pre and have my sights on a Goldfinger and Coralstone. In the meantime, I had been given a cart. to play around with until I got my others. The cart. was pretty obscure but heard good things about it and was told it was solid. I had to do some research, but found that the Garrott Bros. P-88 was a highly sought after cart.
Over the course of a couple of months and many emails back and forth to PeterA, I got the table set up and dialed in. Thank-you so much Peter....!! I mounted the cart. and set the VTF, Anti-skating and pivot to stylus distance. I tried setting up the VTA/SRA as good as I could and loaded the cart. at 100 ohms. Sounded pretty good but I knew it had much more potential. Called up my friend Sean and he came over and did some final tweaking. Thanks to him, I now have a decent sounding rig. If I want to hear it in the big room, I have the option to run cables directly to the XP-30. Then I can crank it up as much as I want since it's in a completely isolated room.

Many thanks go out to the many members here on WBF that helped with this journey. I still need to get some accessories and also have my eye on the KLAudio cleaner as well. Hopefully I will soon have my new cartridges and can play with the big dogs instead of sit on the porch with the puppies. This thing is a work of art!!

Thanks guys... as Sean can atest, the room right now is pretty messy. I've ordered rack shelves for the producers desk for my phono pre and other archiving equipment.
I'll try pulling those O-rings out to see how it sounds. I know the table has a bubble level on the bottom frame, but then the top frame isn't level.... does it matter?

Also, how is azimuth adjusted on this? With shims between the cart/headshell? I'll probably get a Graham arm down the road to play around with.

All is good in vinyl land now.... my work is done.... NOT!!

PeterA said:

Hi Bruce,

You can adjust the height of each tower so that the top section is parallel to the bottom section. The key is to put a good quality level on the platter to confirm that it is level. I quickly check this about once a month. Regarding azimuth, there is no adjustability in the arm as Sean mentions. If you use shims, I would suggest that you do it at the headshell because the arm tower should remain vertical so as to not effect tracking. The lack of azimuth adjustability is a design flaw in my opinion. The arm also lacks easy VTA adjustment, but I think SME has opted for greater rigidity in both cases rather than adjustability or convenience.

You can try to improve alignment by ordering a MINT LP arc-type protractor once you have determined which cartridge you will use. I find this to be an improvement over the supplied SME protractor. What phono cable are you using? The belt can stretch, so check the platter speed about once a month and replace the belt about once a year. Also remember to no add more that ONE drop of oil to the motor once a year. Other than that, it should be good for years to come.

You may want to contact Frank750. He owns a 30/12 and Goldfinger cartridge. I also ordered a custom acrylic cover to keep the dust off of my table. I think both Larry at Paragon and Nick Doshi are SME fans.

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Thanks Peter... I never thought about adjusting the towers. I thought they had to have the correct spacing according to that little tool you get. I'll make sure to get extra belts and such. I'm making a list of the accessories that I need. My friend has my calibration LP, so I'll have to order the one that is recommended.
I'm using the stock phono cable now. Any other's I should look at?

Thanks Christian and Bruce... the very first titles I was rocking out to were Supertramp - Breakfast in America and Ella and Louis

PeterA said:

Bruce, I have an expensive Transparent phono cable which is excellent. I compared it to my former Hovland MusicGroove2 which was a very good value. Prior to that I had a Harmonic Technology phono and the stock cable. I've also heard great things from Ack about his MIT phono cable. There are many good ones out there and most are better than the stock cable. Replacing that would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Regarding the leveling of the table, I actually forget about the built in level on the lower platform and set the four towers equal using the supplied gauge per the instructions. Then I put a good quality level on the platter and use the four feet to make the table/platter level. Make sure there is good contact with all four feet, which is more critical if you use the ball bearing footer bottoms. You can experiment with the heights of the towers to alter the sound slightly.

You should add and remove counterweights so that they can be positioned as close to the pivot point as possible (almost all of the way in). I don't use any fluid in the damping trough and I set my anti-skate to equal the VTF setting. The Anti-skate is calibrated at something like 2/3 of the VTF so that the numbers on both dials match. SME designed this as the best compromise, but you may want to experiment.

Regarding the record clamp, don't over tighten it. Screw it down just enough so that the LP can not slip and the LP outer edge makes full contact with the platter. Confirm that the LP is not raised in the middle.
I know the SME is more set-and-forget than most turntables, however, cartridge set up and fine tuning can be very involved if you really want to optimize your table/arm/cartridge. If you have the time and interest, read as much as you can and perhaps contact a great set up guy like Dre_J? (sorry) on this forum. You can never learn or know enough.

You are going to have fun.

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That's for sure, I can never learn or know enough. I'm still learing things about tape and now vinyl is a whole 'nother monkey!
I'll experiment with one thing at a time. I'll do the level thing and then take out the o-ring on the feet and play for a few days.
I'll have to check out some of the cables you mentioned. The last cable I had was the HT Pro-silway (sp). I really liked that cable.
I'm sure I'll be picking the brains of the collective group here.

PeterA said:

Get an original copy of the Sheffield Drum Track. It is an acid test for system performance. If all is in order, you will be blown away (like in those old speaker ads).

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I remastered that album for FIM a few years ago. Would be interesting how the original pressing compares to what I did.

Many thanks!