SAEC tonearm second hand or an alternative new?

[Erik77]

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Dear fellow hobbyists,

I found a good deal online for a second hand SAEC WE-308 L , but refurbished. I was just wondering, what your advice would be. So, assuming it has been recently restored, would you recommend buying such a tonearm, vs maybe spending 1500 eur on a new tonearm, such as Ortofon 210 or Groovemaster. What would be your considerations?

thanks!

 

[jeff1225]

I’ve been extremely happy with my Groovemaster. Excellent build quality and it tracks extremely well.

 

[Solypsa]

Also terms such as "refurbished" carry wildly different interpretation. I'd find out exactly what was done.

I am biased as a dealer for AudioCreative but the Groovemaster really is a very fine tonearm...

 

[wbass]

I've been enjoying my Groovemaster 12-J, too.

 

[shakti]

The SAEC 308L is a nice arm, but far away from the performance of a FR64s or similar.

Groovemaster or FR64s are very heavy arms. If you want to listen to more modern cartridges with medium compliance,
I would go for

- Sorane TA-1 9"

or, if your turntable can host the length

- Sorane TA- 1L 12.7"

Sorane is a relatively new brandname from the OEM manufacturer of Dynavactor and Ikeda tonearms.

So you get a good quality for a fair price.

https://axiss-europe.de/wp-content/uploads/Sorane-Katalog.pdf

 

[djsina2]

@shakti have you tried the SA-1.2?

 

[shakti]

@shakti have you tried the SA-1.2?

The SA-1.2 will be my personal Christmas Gift. I will get one in the week prior Christmas (I hope)

 

[djsina2]

The SA-1.2 will be my personal Christmas Gift. I will get one in the week prior Christmas (I hope)

I got my personal Christmas gift SA-1.2 today. Look and feel is very nice for the money.

 

[shakti]

I got my personal Christmas gift SA-1.2 today. Look and feel is very nice for the money.

still waiting...

 

[stra57]

Dear All ,
help me understand what the second knife edge does?
Andrew

 

[mtemur]

Dear All ,
help me understand what the second knife edge does?
Andrew

There is only one knife edge bearing and its under the two mounting plates you circled. Those mounting plates are responsible to strongly connect armtube to knife edge bearing from left and right. The additional knife edges on the bearing facing up are for the two plates you circled and they ensure that there are only two contacts with the armtube in my opinion. I don’t think it’s an important feature. SME doesn’t have double knife edge and when you lift up the armtube you can feel knife edges separating from the bearing. This feature found on SAEC eliminates this situation making a more robust bearing while SME relies on gravity keep holding knife edge bearing in place.

 

[Tandem]

In spite of that, previously to build tonearms for Saec, its designer worked a lot on some kind of Ortofon copy tonearm for another company, then kept good ties with the company despite he left it (at that time, it was well seen to do that in order to keep your specialty skills and hone them even further). They even let him keep the 5mm overhang (and apparently, it got patented in the meantime by Sansui but I am sure this company developped the 5mm overhang).

Regarding the FR-64S, I found the WE-308L to work quite well with very heavy headshell (16g to 20g) but my gear must be far from Shakti, regardless, I love them both. You can go very heavy with the 308L with its additionnal weight. The FR-64S remain superior if you don't go heavy. I feel though that all others japanese tonerams benefits from using additionnal weight and going heavy as well, especially for the bass department.

 

[stra57]

Csak egy késéles csapágy van, és az a két rögzítőlap alatt, amelyet körbeírtál. Ezek a rögzítőlapok felelősek azért, hogy a karcsövet jobbról és balról erősen összekapcsolják a késéles csapágyakkal. A további késélek a csapágyon felfelé a két körbevont lemezhez valók, és véleményem szerint biztosítják, hogy csak két érintkezés legyen a karcsővel. Szerintem nem fontos tulajdonság. A SME-nek nincs dupla késéle, és amikor felemeli a karcsövet, érezheti, hogy a kés élei elválnak a csapágytól. Ez a SAEC-en található funkció kiküszöböli ezt a helyzetet, és robusztusabb csapágyat eredményez, míg a SME a gravitációra támaszkodva tartja a helyén a késéles csapágyat.

 

[stra57]

Dear Sir
I'm starting to understand the role of the second edge!
But if it wobbles on the bottom like the SME, then the upper knife edge moves along an iv at an angle! If it moves along iv, the "U"-shaped plate at the top edge cannot be firmly fixed!
I started to understand, but now I'm completely lost. Does anyone have a video of a picture that shows it from the side while moving?
Thank you Andrew