Cabling for SME 3012 R
- Thread starter dminches
- Start date
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I use the cable that comes with it. I believe it is made by Van den Hul and according to ddk has the most natural sound. Iirc it comes in copper or silver. The Cooper is what David recommends
The arm I purchased did not come with a cable so I need to find something to use. Normally I wouldn't replace it.
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
If it were me I would PM David and get his recommendation. Ever since I bought the 3012R I have used my other arm and cartridge perhaps only 5% of the time. IIRC David prefers the stock copper (van den Hul I think) not silver cable that typically was supplied with the arm
I think dminches is talking about what kind of phono cable to use not the internal tonearm wire.
Tang
I should have been more clear. I am talking about the cable from the SME 3012-R to my phono pre.
I also have to buy a phono cable for the 3012R. Gian and I used to have MIT Max phono. Now we are making a trial on a very promising wild card Italian made cable called Kuro. It is made of solid core 7N copper with mumetal shield. Gian said it is a rare find. And not crazy expensive. He is sending one for me to try. Initially, I was thinking of Crystal Cable until Gian told me about this Kuro cable.
Tang
Tang
The above ebay link I provided is the wire that David K recommended if I wanted a pure copper cable.
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Before you commit to a phono cable, you may want to read Fremer’s comments about the D-501, in comparison to other phono cables in this review.
https://www.elusivedisc.com/Esoteric8NredphonocablesMFreview.pdf
I briefly went through the review. IMHO is reflects mainly the interaction of the cable with a particular cartridge I also own, the Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation, particularly with the capacitance, that affects significantly the sound balance of the cartridge. Capacitance sometimes varies a lot in these phono the cables. And no I would not want Fremer to rank the cables is such particular system - an useless effort for everyone except himself . Surely YMMV, shooting adepts will disagree!
I was particularly interested in his comment : "Along with listening and taking notes, I recorded each phono cable’s performance at 24 bits/88.2kHz using my BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder (decoded by the dCS Scarlatti’s DAC), so that I could later easily compare my notes with a second listen." IMHO this implies significant changes in the signal, otherwise they would be faded away by the digital loop.
I have been using the van der hul, which is ridiculously cheap, and amazed at how good it is
I have also used nordost Valhalla , which is better but the vdh is very musical and fulfilling, given the price it’s a no brainer to try
It’s low capacitance is a big advantage, I have made 2 looms, the other two tables run Valhalla
Recently I wired one of my two triplanar with pure silver wire sourced from Italy, great little company ,through to the step up, this has been excellent with the Monaco and step up
To me, it is always system dependent
Given the price the vdh should be your first try, I use the all copper not hybrid
I would not buy any ic u cannot try before hand in phono given their expense and system dependent
I have also used nordost Valhalla , which is better but the vdh is very musical and fulfilling, given the price it’s a no brainer to try
It’s low capacitance is a big advantage, I have made 2 looms, the other two tables run Valhalla
Recently I wired one of my two triplanar with pure silver wire sourced from Italy, great little company ,through to the step up, this has been excellent with the Monaco and step up
To me, it is always system dependent
Given the price the vdh should be your first try, I use the all copper not hybrid
I would not buy any ic u cannot try before hand in phono given their expense and system dependent
Which direction does the cable run? That is, on which end do the multiple ground wire connectors go, tonearm or preamp?
Left, right and signal ground to tonearm. Left, right, signal ground and chassis ground (4wires) to preamp.
This is an older thread with expired links.
Can anyone share some pictures and/or details on how to identify the SME (VDH) copper cable thats so often recommended here.
I'd very much like to ascertain whether it's the cable I currently have, or not.
Can anyone share some pictures and/or details on how to identify the SME (VDH) copper cable thats so often recommended here.
I'd very much like to ascertain whether it's the cable I currently have, or not.
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