What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

With the present restriction to the SME Arms as a New Model, there is the situation where these designs do move to new owners without too much waiting.

Staying with the SME will not remunerate funds to enable an alternate Arm to be considered, with the funds raised from the SME Sale.

A Service won't do any harm, it will allow for it to be used once more in a improved condition, if it has a thorough cleaning of the areas that are needing to be mechanically free. It will also enable the assessment of the Arm to be a fairer comparison if the curiosity leads to experiencing other arms.

The SME V will enable the replay of music very effectively, it will even do that with a pride of ownership, as the aspired to Tonearm is present. 

If moved on for a Arm that is a better performer to your evolved preferences born from the period of new experiences encountered.

It will not take too many demonstrations to show where betterment is to be had.   , Betterment is  available, if using the accounts of others offering their subjective evaluations of other Tonearms impressions made in place of a V or IV.

The Arm will be easily forgotten, it is only the Ego Born from the period of making such a purchase that will be sticky for a while. The Marketing and Collaboration with HiFi Media proved to be very good at making the SME V one to be aspired to.

My IV is now viewed as a Cash Exchange for a Grandchild when Older if they do not want to keep it as a memory of GrandPops.

The fact the Media in the UK took to being a 'Duck to Water' on the Subject of Refurbishing Idler Drives and the SME V or IV were the Arms selected by the Companies and Media to be the tool to rein in the Noticeable imbalance of Bass, the Arms were furthered in appeal as a result of this use.

My closeness to this movement and extended communications about the Idler Drive TT, pretty much pointed to the Rega Arm, as being proven to do very similar for Bass Control to a Idler Drive by the DIY'ers, from the day.

As a Commercial Venture for the Idler Refurb, the end product was being claimed by the Companies to trounce all TT competition, the snobbery of it all, and support from the media on such claims required a SME Price Tag, to further substantiate the claims and worthiness of the TT for such an Arm.    

This mental manipulation of the Marketing and the period of time where Media Support was on offer for the V and IV used with the Idler Drive sticks in many minds, even through to the present.

I don't know of anybody who let the V or IV go, in either 9" or 12" that has pined for the return and rued the decision, in general there is decent remuneration and monies still spare, if a parity type arm is selected, a small top up in funds might be needed  to purchase a New Model that has a better presentation, but if still considering a used Model from many Brands, there should be funds available to cover the Purchase.

If I sold my IV, I would have approx' £1K profit if the funds were used to off set the against the purchase of the present used arm. 

I own a SME V on a SOTA Cosmos.

@neonknight I ran a Cosmos for quite a while with the SME5. Mine was an early Cosmos (serial number 0, the production prototype which was done entirely in white). The Cosmos had an excellent platter pad at that time, designed by Warren Gehl of Audio Research (before he joined them). This has been the most effective platter pad I've seen. I have one; Warren sold them directly prior to SOTA getting the contract for the product.

Some of the recordings I use for reference are ones I've made. So I know what they sound like since I was there.

Back in the old days when the SME5 was first made, there were only three top arms; the SME5, the Graham unipivot and the Triplanar. I tried all of them. The Triplanar proved itself the most versatile, being able to track a wider range of cartridges due to its greater adjustability. Since then the Triplanar has been improved and there are 3 models. I've yet to hear anything beat it. Its the only arm that can do what my master tapes do without coloration, showing that the LP was mastered properly. I've never been able to find anything that could make it mistrack. I've had mine about 15 years and I hear there's a new wire that might be a bit better, but I've not had much incentive to update- it works really well.

One thing this arm really taught me is its much more important that the arm be able to track the cartridge properly than ultimately what cartridge you actually have. Anyone who does not understand that will be doomed to spending more and changing out cartridges much more frequently.

Only a few months ago after you posted in other thread your Tri advice: Mike Lavigne said not reallly good tonearm and I know he knew why but you don't still today.

R.

Raul, that was not a constructive comment. It was a personal attack. You owe Ralph an apology. If you want to make a negative comment about the Triplanar, just do it.

@atmasphere To have owned an arm for 15 Years and thoroughly enjoyed it is a real blessing.

What is also quite interesting is that you deselected other Arms prior to your choice being made, that has proved to be a long-term relationship as the outcome.

I myself at times, get a motivation for probing the next ’what if’, and on occasion a new gem is discovered.

I would encourage a look into the Wire for the Arm that can be selected. If one can be discovered that is off interest, why not speak to the manufacturer about a Service for the Arm and to see if they would install a alternative wire to your choice. They may stipulate a dimension for the Wire, as a pinch point might be present in the wire route that may have a detrimental effect on the mechanical function of the arm.

Suppleness is the key, and a Silicone Sheath is a superb material to achieve this.

I am not aware of your Wire Preference for a Signal Path.

I have not got a great deal of interest in Silver Wire, I have it as a through wire Pin Tags to RCA Phono as a Silver Litz Wand Wire and have used it as a OCC Silver Wire Cable DIN>RCA .

The Cable is Superseded in use for a few years and the Tonearm is no longer used, unless to demonstrate the model to an individual with a interest in it.

To be fair to the Tonearm, it is the overall performance of the Tonearm that has been the main reason for it to be removed from regular use, how much of this is attributed to Silver Wire is not entirely sure.

Silver every so often has a presence that gets my attention, there is a SUT I intend on having a home demonstration from with Silver Coils, it will be a same Brand Copper/Silver A/B and then my owned Models in the Mix and a Head Amp.

My gut feeling from my own experiences is that there is something more to be offered from your Tonearm, and it might be a simple affair to find a very satisfying move to a betterment.

A incentive to update might be a retrospect incentive, when the impression is made from experiencing a choice for a change put in place.