Avid Volvare - SME IV arm or Tri-planar VII ???

Geoff Husband wrote an excellent review of the TriPlanar VII for TNT-audio, during which he made extensive comparisons with his SME IV.vi. While he and I hear some things quite differently, notably with regard to VTA/SRA, his review was fair, balanced and gave an accurate impression of each arm. Check it out here:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/triplanar_e.html

My partner and I are very sensitive to VTA/SRA and we adjust and record arm height settings for each record. The TriPlanar was thus a better choice for us, since its height adjustment is vastly superior to an SME's. But if you're a set-and-forget sort of guy an SME might better suit your style.

A TriPlanar will match a broader array of cartridges, since it comes with four different counterweights. It also adjusts easily for non-vertical styli, non-square cantilevers and non-standard cantilever lengths. SME pretty much assumes that your cartridge was perfectly built, sort of like their arms are.

They are different to set up but neither arm is easier, IMO, though an SME might seem less intimidating. The TriPlanar is designed in a way that almost demands active involvement (aka fiddling) by the user. While it responds to tiny adjustments with extraordinary subtlety, it takes time, thought and effort to do this well.

They're both great arms. Choose whichever one fits your style. You'll be happy.

...you both made comment as to the SME's "assumption" that the cartridge is perfect and I am a bit concerned as to cartridge matching... How significant an issue is this?

Unlike most arms, the SME IV's headshell does not have slots which allow you to angle the cartridge. It has two mounting holes. That's where the cartridge goes and that's that (unless you drill the holes out a bit, as some owners do).

Overhang is easily adjusted, since the entire arm slides in or out on a rail, but offset angle will necessarily be wrong if your cartridge:

a) has an off-line cantilever and/or,

b) has a stylus-to-mounting holes dimension different than whatever SME assumed when they positioned the mounting holes.

In either case your cantilever won't be tangent to the groove at the intended null points. The sonic result will be higher than intended tracing error distortion (channel information out of phase due to the cantilever being non-tangent over more of its arc, and/or non-tangent by a larger amount than designed).

How significant will this be? That depends on how far from SME's ideal your cartridge happens to be. There's no way to predict that. I can only tell you that if I mis-align the cantilever when mounting a cartridge the distortion can be audible, especially on inner grooves.

What cartridges (or manufacturers) would you describe as "perfectly built" lending themselves to being well suited and matched to the SME IV or V?

There's no such thing as a perfect cartridge. Of course I'd avoid brands known to have poor QC in this area. Shelter and VdH come to mind. Getting a square one of those requires some luck. FWIW, I've not heard of many problems with Dynas or Benz's.

Any mid-compliance cartridge should be a good theoretical match with an SME IV. Which brand and model to choose depends on your phono stage, budget, sonic priorities and musical tastes. I think that's a topic for a whole other thread.

P.S. If you do opt for an SME, I'd seriously consider trying to find a used one. They are beautifully built and should withstand anything short of outright abuse. The money you'd save might buy a cartridge upgrade.