Sme arm "Bridge Removal"

The Bridge Removal indeed refers to the brigde across the main bearing.

To understand why this has a sonic effect, one should know that the bearings are preloaded very high with SME IV,V,309 tonearms (and their siblings). And then the vertical bearing is very sensitive sonically, a lot more than than the horizontal bearing, in my experience. If you remove this bridge, you lower the preload, and thus gain treble air and lose some harshness. But, at the same time, you lose some bass power. From what I have tried, it is best to losen the screws of the bridge, then retighten it again. With this you lower the preload, but don't lose much bass power.

best regards, Hartmut

James,

as far as I know, there are no adverse effects when trying the Bridge Removal. You can remove the bridge, then reinstall it, and as a bonus, you have relieved some pressure from the vertical bearings (yes, those are for up and down movements of the armwand). There is enough bearing preload in the SME V tonearm, so you need not fear of bearing play.

best regards, Hartmut