All of that imply that I need a much heavier counter weight. My Ortofon SPU bakelite headshell, alloy mount, dampening plate and cartridge come to a total weight of 32 grams ! My 'Improved' alloy SME wand tonearm (same material as the first generations) with a steel knife edge bearing double it's mass (from 6 grams to 12) with the dampening I did. Still in the making, it's having it's last layers of laquer. My new 185 grams taylor made dampened counterweight should arrive home by next week. Even brought up to 165 grams by me, it is still holding only by the very end of the Spider's thread. I just taylor made a heavier counter weight since the one I bought of 132 grams to replace the original one wasn't heavy enough. As I couldn't afford to just buy me a proper older SME tonearm, I ventured into a long step by step tweak venture. So, what I had in hand should either be changed or DIY tweaked to allow my cartridge perform as it should.
Oh well ! All for the best I believe or almost. Even the TD160 'Super' on my Thorens indication was misleading since I now know that it is actually a Thorens TD146 on the inside. I discovered during the tweaks that both had been actually tweaked more than once before me. I understood after a little while that there were many variations of both the SME and the Thorens. Not knowing anything about SME's nor about Thorens back then. On my side, I bought "blind" and in good trust (never trust a base/coke-head) on recommendation my SME on the Thorens it was fitted on. Still, I believe that with the right high compliance cartridge the 'Improved' SME tonearm should benefit from such a combination. It's generally admitted that the early versions were preferred and that's why SME returned after the 'Improved' generation to heavier mass wand tonearm with the 'R's stainless steel tonearm. You are one of the few people I have found to review the 3009 as working wonderfully. I probably could have spent a lot of time and money reworking and upgrading the arm, but I'm not sure the end result would justify the cost.
The very thin, brittle head shell wires were an indication that the arm probably needed to be rewired. I wonder what cart he could have used that would have counterbalanced that added weight? The extra weight glued onto the extension was 25 grams, and until I removed it the arm would not balance, even with my heavier carts. So you can find back the Denon DL-110 you once appreciated. So I just wish you good luck with the Sota Nova turntable plate purchase for your Jelco tonearm then. Since you've returned your SME, there's no more point in "arguing" over it. Still I understand the "simpler life" argument all the same and going for something else like a Jelco is indeed an easier and likely a safer bet. It's only recently that I've dipped into to the potentially very evolutive DIY side of my turntable and tonearm and I must say I do love it.
#ANTI SKATE WEIGHT SME TONEARM FULL#
But indeed, prior to that, my DL-102 was really not showing it's full potential. Well my converted SME S2 does work wonderfully with my Denon DL-102 cart after all those rewarding changes, improvements and upgrades on my original 'Improved' SME. The previous owner of your SME likely putted on a heavy low compliance cart and fixed-up that counterweight extension to balance the heavier cart.Īnd if your SME arm wand was to be dampened, it should have work nicer I believe. The SME 3009 SII (is for the fixed HS version & S2 is for detachable) 'Improved' tonearm was indeed intended for high compliance carts. Well, I probably could use my circular saw, but it wouldn't be pretty. I doubt I can drill into it, it is a factory version that has layers of metal and plastic. Is there a way to use my current armboard? So I'm thinking of going the new route - Jelco 750.
The Denon 110 had very weak bass, the Stanton 500 sounded distorted. The carts I have were likely too low compliance for this lightweight arm. Woodmakesitgood wrote:update - I was not satisfied with the 3009, so back to the seller it went.