Sme 3012 R

BruceD · Jul 27, 2018

Tango said:
Yes. And in the same house as Vox Olympian!

Game set and match!

Back under my rock

BruceD

Tango · Jul 28, 2018

Dear All,

For those who are interested in the 3012R you may want to pull a trigger fast. The price is going to go up a few notches given there will be more super heavy weights from the Fareast hunting for those NOS.

Kind regards,
Tang

dminches · Jul 28, 2018

Tango said:
Dear All,

For those who are interested in the 3012R you may want to pull a trigger fast. The price is going to go up a few notches given there will be more super heavy weights from the Fareast hunting for those NOS.

Kind regards,
Tang

Where do you even find them now?

rockitman · Jul 28, 2018

dminches said:
Where do you even find them now?

Ebay for starters. I bought two of my five from eBay

Ron Resnick · Jul 28, 2018

Does any have any experience comparing the sound of a NOS 3012R tonearm to one rebuilt by SME Tonearms in Canada or by Analog Tube Audio in Germany?

pcosta · Jul 28, 2018

I personally would not buy anything from Alfred Kayser/SME Tonearms. He is a crook.

Tango · Jul 28, 2018

Ron Resnick said:
Does any have any experience comparing the sound of a NOS 3012R tonearm to one rebuilt by SME Tonearms in Canada or by Analog Tube Audio in Germany?

I contacted ATA once for rebuilding an EMT banana. Let’s just say I was not impressed by their response.

Kind regards,
Tang

ddk · Jul 28, 2018

Minor repairs are fine but you want your 3012-r in original spec, I haven’t found any after market parts that didn’t destroy the the essence of this great tonearm. The 3012-r is as close to perfection as you can get in the vinyl world swapping out parts will only mess with that!

david

miniguy · Jul 28, 2018

Were all 3012R arms made with steel or metal knife edges and saddles?

ddk · Jul 28, 2018

miniguy said:
Were all 3012R arms made with steel or metal knife edges and saddles?

The standard bearing is nylon with steel one optional.
david

miniguy · Jul 28, 2018

ddk said:
The standard bearing is nylon with steel one optional.
david

So is that nylon on nylon for the standard and steel on steel for the option?

Ron Resnick · Jul 28, 2018

ddk said:
Minor repairs are fine but you want your 3012-r in original spec, I haven’t found any after market parts that didn’t destroy the the essence of this great tonearm. The 3012-r is as close to perfection as you can get in the vinyl world swapping out parts will only mess with that!

david

Was the 3012R not built to a “price point” upon which after-market component substitutions couldn’t improve?

ddk · Jul 29, 2018

Ron Resnick said:
Was the 3012R not built to a “price point” upon which after-market component substitutions couldn’t improve?

Every commercial product is built to a price point but that doesn’t mean the product is compromised and one can improve performance by simply swapping out overpriced aftermarket crap. Of course as designers we can build money no object products but it has to be a different one, the serious manufacturers aren’t taking shortcuts to upsell junk to unsuspecting clients, we deliver finished designs. As far as the vinyl source goes sonically the absolute best you can do with the AS is the SME 3012-r stock with associated phono cable & headshell, the bottleneck is in the rest of the chain. Of course you’re welcome to try

!

“IMO” added here for those who need it!

miniguy said:
So is that nylon on nylon for the standard and steel on steel for the option?

Knife edge bearing is a one piece object that gets screwed directly to the arm tube wether nylon or in steel.

david

shakti · Jul 29, 2018

@David
do you prefer the Nylon or the Steel version of the knife edge bearing?
I did not had so far the chance to compare 1:1 this two versions.

ddk · Jul 29, 2018

shakti said:
@David
do you prefer the Nylon or the Steel version of the knife edge bearing?
I did not had so far the chance to compare 1:1 this two versions.

I like both, there's only a slight difference between the two which does not really affect the overall sound quality one or another IMO but with the steel (SME OEM part!) there seems to be a slightly more resolution in mid to bass frequencies, the tradeoff is the is a very slight amount of unwanted accentuation in high frequencies but it really is negligible in both cases and inaudible in most systems, so take your pick. Of course choice of cartridge will influence things too, a more bland cartridge like the Goldfinger will benefit from the steel bearing more than your Colibri.
david

Frank is here · Jul 29, 2018

Hi guys.....anyone forgotten the debate between some of us SAT owners [and designer] and so many others people re which is better sounding the ...9 or the 12

Opinions please re the SME 12R and its siblings or do we start a new thread so as not to sabotage this one.........cheers

ddk · Jul 29, 2018

FrankWies said:
Hi guys.....anyone forgotten the debate between some of us SAT owners [and designer] and so many others people re which is better sounding the ...9 or the 12

Opinions please re the SME 12R and its siblings or do we start a new thread so as not to sabotage this one.........cheers

There's no 9" vs 12" debate for the SME, it was settled many decades ago but if you still want to continue beating the same dead horse that go nowhere thread is still open

.

david

Frank is here · Jul 29, 2018

Sorry David....not intending to beat a dead horse or start a controversy if it has already been addressed...have not been following SME for a few years so am behind in this debate....will leave it alone.....

ddk · Jul 29, 2018

FrankWies said:
Sorry David....not intending to beat a dead horse or start a controversy if it has already been addressed...have not been following SME for a few years so am behind in this debate....will leave it alone.....

No problem Frank, I was just letting you know that we’ve been through all that before.

david

microstrip · Jul 29, 2018

miniguy said:
So is that nylon on nylon for the standard and steel on steel for the option?

As far as I know, no. The main pillar bearing (left) is always metal. The saddle (right) can be nylon or steel (manufacturer options). We can get aftermarket saddles in other metals, but as far as I know they are not loved by WBF people ...

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Sme 3012 R

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