Sme 3012 R

I know this old arm is good but I don’t know why David,Rockitman,Tang,Ron,Mike
Use or will use having top tonearm like Sat,EliteAxiom,Black Beauty,Durand

Why 3012 is so special?
I never had and I don’t understand
Only to know for my curiosity
Regards
Gian
 
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I bought a 3012R from German eBay a couple of month ago and finally installed it, when it came to adjust azimuth I got a surprise !
The locking screw was missing. Non to be found on eBay, so I contacted SME with little hope, as the arm has been out of production so long. They promised to get back to me. And they did !
View attachment 41222

Not a week later, great service !

Sweet, and SME is bringing this tonearm (3012r) back into production!
 
Sweet, and SME is bringing this tonearm (3012r) back into production!
Back by popular demand ! They should call it the DDK memorial arm, as David (with a little help from Ron and Steve) brought it back from the grave !
 
Back by popular demand ! They should call it the DDK memorial arm, as David (with a little help from Ron and Steve) brought it back from the grave !

You should also add that that guy with the Ferrari F12 has been driving the price up lately.

Tang:D
 
You should also add that that guy with the Ferrari F12 has been driving the price up lately.

Tang:D
Ferrariman has cornered the SME 3012R series 1 market singlehandedly. You mister Tang are responsible for the fact that no decent cartridge can be bought for under $10000 these days. Green Dragon/Red Chicken, you buy them all. Just say NO some times !:) At least Mike sells his nice expensive gear at a reduced price, when he gets tired of it, so the rest of us have a chance of trying it to. You and Ferrariman just buy new bigger homes when you run out of room for your equipment !
 
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Today I received the first ordered SME cable. Hum is gone, everything is fine!
Now I wait for second one. The "better" one will stay.
 
Today I received the first ordered SME cable. Hum is gone, everything is fine!
Now I wait for second one. The "better" one will stay.

I had an original NOS 3012R series 1 cable and it was defective (hummer) from the get go. These second gen SME cables seem to be good. I use a couple of them.
 
Today I compared the

Ortofon 8N TSW 1000

VPI JMW

SME old standard

Jelco red

RCA to RCA copper Phonocables, the old SME was by far the best, very low noise level, no hum, best staging, good resolution, neutral tone.
( The comparison was done on my Rigid Float Tonearm)

I assume, that there are better Phonocables out there, but the SME cable (vdh built) makes everything so good, that I am not going to actively surch for a better one.
 
Can the height of the cueing mechanism be adjusted? Given where I have set the height of the pivot, the needle is too low relative to the record before I drop it down. Can this be adjusted? If so, where is the set screw?
 
Can the height of the cueing mechanism be adjusted? Given where I have set the height of the pivot, the needle is too low relative to the record before I drop it down. Can this be adjusted? If so, where is the set screw?
Yes it can, there's a small tube on the collar around the shaft of the arm, you can loosen it with an allen wrench and then turn the cuing mechanism counterclockwise to raise it.
Refer to the manual!
david
 
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Yes it can, there's a small tube on the collar around the shaft of the arm, you can loosen it with an allen wrench and then turn the cuing mechanism counterclockwise to raise it.
Refer to the manual!
david

David,

Are you referring to the silver ring around the black shaft where the nut is accessible from behind?

If so, what am I turning counterclockwise?

DF96463B-819E-4124-9460-ACA27AD56CA1.jpg
 
Sorry for being lame but I lossen the nut and then physically slide the ring up? Your reference to counterclockwise is just to loosen the nut and the ring?
No you have to actually turn the tonearm with the armrest around, you'll see it's threaded.

david
 
Can the height of the cueing mechanism be adjusted? Given where I have set the height of the pivot, the needle is too low relative to the record before I drop it down. Can this be adjusted? If so, where is the set screw?

dminches, how does your SME 3012R compare to your Durand tonearm? Could you describe the differences you hear?
 
dminches, how does your SME 3012R compare to your Durand tonearm? Could you describe the differences you hear?

Peter, I really don't have any impressions to share because I have not listened to the same cartridge on both arms. Setting up the cartridge seems to take so long that the thought of removing it and setting it up on a 2nd arm is overwhelming.

If someone wanted to spend a day here and do it I would welcome it.
 

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