You left out a major point of interest for me and others like me. In your new wiring, do the leads go directly from the cartridge pins all the way to the phono stage? And is this a change from previous? Because that sort of modification generally does make a big difference, especially with low output cartridges.
SME tonearm rewire - holy cow
A couple of months ago I bit the bullet and sent my vintage SME-3009 tonearm in for a complete refurbishing and rewiring. I researched various options and decided on Alfred Kayser at smetonearms.com in Canada. He was great to deal with and very knowledgeable and gave me detailed instructions on sending him the arm, promising that I would be very happy with the results and how he thought it was an upgrade worth making for my Kyocera PL-910 turntable.
I got the arm back this weekend and hooked it up and got everything dialed in. From the first listen I could hear more improvement than I could have ever hoped for. The rewiring resulted in a better tonal balance, richer sound, a beautiful and never harsh top end, and flawless tracking. I proceeded to listen to all of my favorite albums that I know well, and smiled ear to ear for hours while listening to each one. The wiring definitely made a substantial improvement, and the arm now looks brand new. They polished it, replaced a number of parts, and now the arm lift, arm lock, and VTA work much better than before. It’s like a whole new arm for my table, and what sounds like a world class arm, and has definitely taken things to the next level.
If you’re like me and don’t want to attempt this kind of precise rewiring job yourself, Alfred does an amazing job and improves the arm in other ways as well. I highly recommend Alfred if you’re in the market for any work or upgrade to a new or old SME tonearm.
And if I had the money to buy the gold 3009 tonearm on their website, I’d snatch it up tomorrow. That will have to be a post-winning-the-lottery purchase. For now, I’m thrilled that my PL-910 is singing like I’ve never heard it before.
I got the arm back this weekend and hooked it up and got everything dialed in. From the first listen I could hear more improvement than I could have ever hoped for. The rewiring resulted in a better tonal balance, richer sound, a beautiful and never harsh top end, and flawless tracking. I proceeded to listen to all of my favorite albums that I know well, and smiled ear to ear for hours while listening to each one. The wiring definitely made a substantial improvement, and the arm now looks brand new. They polished it, replaced a number of parts, and now the arm lift, arm lock, and VTA work much better than before. It’s like a whole new arm for my table, and what sounds like a world class arm, and has definitely taken things to the next level.
If you’re like me and don’t want to attempt this kind of precise rewiring job yourself, Alfred does an amazing job and improves the arm in other ways as well. I highly recommend Alfred if you’re in the market for any work or upgrade to a new or old SME tonearm.
And if I had the money to buy the gold 3009 tonearm on their website, I’d snatch it up tomorrow. That will have to be a post-winning-the-lottery purchase. For now, I’m thrilled that my PL-910 is singing like I’ve never heard it before.