A few more thoughts:
-I thank you bpoletti for talking about careful setup because I had taken the previous owner's set-up for granted in some ways due to the fact that I picked up the table and consequently didn't have to remove the arm. But when I took a closer look I realized the suspension was not properly adjusted. Very easy to do (as is pretty much everything with this table) but I was glad to have done it.
-I am not at all a fervent believer on either side of this highly polarizing debate, but I have to say... the speed controller seemed to benefit from a power cable upgrade (master coupler) and going into my power conditioner (RSA Elgar). Going to straight into the wall with a purple jellyfish, speed was drifting from one side to the next. With the SR going into the Elgar, steady as can be and spot on at 33.3.
-Based on what I've read it seems that among British audiophiles the SME is known for it's black backgrounds (and I can attest to that for sure - you ask yourself how much more black could it be and the answer is none... none more black) while Linns are known as the ultimate PRAT machines (they do love their PRAT those Brits). I have never owned a Linn so I can't comment other than to say that this 20/2 I'm listening to is the PRATtiest damn PRAT monster in PRAT town. I'm not sure I ever even understood the notion of PRAT before I heard this thing. Which makes me wonder if Linns possibly have too much PRAT? Can one ever have too much PRAT?
-Only thing I don't like about the tt so far is the clamp. Sounds livelier and more open to me without it. With the clamp there's a slight muffling effect and the (ample) bass gets a little slushier.
-Speaking of that ample bass, that is my main issue right now, more an issue I think with my speakers and my room than with the SME, although taken as a whole it is resulting in too much bass. I have a small almost square room (14x13) and Verity Parsifal Encore speakers which have rear-firing woofers that produce almost subwoofer quality bass (I've had people come in here to listen and assume I had a subwoofer). You can adjust the amount of bass you want with the Veritys depending on how closely you place them to the rear wall (closer, more bass) but given the size of my room I'm limited in my wiggle room there and have them out about as far as they can go now. With the VPI C3, not a bass shy deck by any means, I would now and then encounter boomy bass of the room mode variety. I was concerned about this being a problem with the SME having read that it produces heavy bass, and indeed it does. Tonally perfect I must add, to my ears at least, tight and amazingly well articulated at the lowest registers, that kind of "wow I never knew what he was actually playing during that passage before" type of articulation. But I am definitely encountering the "too much bass" phenomenon more often with the SME. I listen to primarily jazz and Brazilian music, and with the majority of my records the SME bass experience is exquisite. But it booms in here with more records than with the VPI. I've only had the deck a few days and I am still playing around with various parameters so we'll see. Someone I have made deals with in the past has a Triplanar Mk VII he's getting rid of and I admit I am tempted to try it. Seems like the go-to arm for many with the 20 tt who want to be able to adjust for azimuth and also according to reports has a milder bass presence.
