Sme 3012 R

I know this old arm is good but I don’t know why David,Rockitman,Tang,Ron,Mike
Use or will use having top tonearm like Sat,EliteAxiom,Black Beauty,Durand

Why 3012 is so special?
I never had and I don’t understand
Only to know for my curiosity
Regards
Gian
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Francisco,

If you are still interested in getting the tonearm in Germany, I can try find the part number or David can help with the number for the NOS SME tonearm cable. I'm sure it can be sourced elsewhere maybe even from SME still.

Thanks - I already have three in storage! But only one has the original SME cable.
 
I am bummed....my bidding skills on eBay have lapsed. I missed out on an unused 3012R because I screwed up. The unit went for a lot less than I was willing to pay.....

I think this thread has convinced me that the 3012R is the way to go....dubbely bummed...so the search continues.
 
I was bidding on that arm too. But I already have two of them so I was not very aggressive in bidding either. Just wondering which guy hear got it?
 
The SME 3012R tonearm was a blind spot in my personal experience, as I never owned one. I knew this particular 3012 version only from friends, which are very happy with the tonearm. As my favorite Arms Fr64 and Ikeda 407 are very heavy, I decided to try out a 3012R, as this arm will fit better with some of my cartridges. As single SME 3012R are becoming relative expensive in Germany (may be a side effect of the AS turntable project...) , I started looking for complete turntables , having the tonearm fitted.

A 70 to 80kg heavy turntable with a solid steel, brass and gunmetal mix was offered with a SME 3012R for a "fair" price, so I bought the combination and tried it out. The original Pabst Motor was ok, but my Sperling Motor with a Micro Seiki SF-1L Kevlar belt played much better. I really start to like that heavy turntable, even in its blue color...,
I fitted a standard vdh Colibri (Yamamoto ebony headshell) to the SME 3012R, which was surprisingly good.

In Switzerland some of the SME Tonearm Cables are available, so I ordered one, as I like to try the arm in the original way.

Cable should be with me in the next days!

So far I like the sound of the new player in may set up. The sound ist not "better" than my SX Micro Seiki with FR tonearm, but different. Where the Micro FR combination gives you all the information, the mass player SME combination gives you more the flow of music . As this is an unusual sound from a vdh Colibri I will continue to use the SME 3012R in my set up, makes fun and fits to my vdh Colibries!

Tomorrow I will do the fine-tuning, but after the first day, I really enjoyed the music I was listening to (mostly Anne Brun today)

IMG_6971.jpg
 
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(...) A 70 to 80kg heavy turntable with a solid steel, brass and gunmetal mix was offered with a SME 3012R for a "fair" price, so I bought the combination and tried it out. The original Pabst Motor was ok, but my Sperling Motor with a Micro Seiki SF-1L Kevlar belt played much better. I really start to like that heavy turntable, even in its blue color(...)

You got my turntable ... :(:(:(

I have contacted the eBay seller to buy it some days ago when it was available, but the deal did not conclude as he was not willing to ship it to Portugal - it seems he had no boxes to ship.

Congratulations - it was really a bargain and I am happy it stayed with a knowledgeable WBF member. But this nice strong blue asks for a Kiseki Lapiz Lazuli, not for my black Agaat!

BTW, how does the bearing look like?
 
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The SME 3012R tonearm was a blind spot in my personal experience, as I never owned one. I knew this particular 3012 version only from friends, which are very happy with the tonearm. As my favorite Arms Fr64 and Ikeda 407 are very heavy, I decided to try out a 3012R, as this arm will fit better with some of my cartridges. As single SME 3012R are becoming relative expensive in Germany (may be a side effect of the AS turntable project...) , I started looking for complete turntables , having the tonearm fitted.

A 70 to 80kg heavy turntable with a solid steel, brass and gunmetal mix was offered with a SME 3012R for a "fair" price, so I bought the combination and tried it out. The original Pabst Motor was ok, but my Sperling Motor with a Micro Seiki SF-1L Kevlar belt played much better. I really start to like that heavy turntable, even in its blue color...,
I fitted a standard vdh Colibri (Yamamoto ebony headshell) to the SME 3012R, which was surprisingly good.

In Switzerland some of the SME Tonearm Cables are available, so I ordered one, as I like to try the arm in the original way.

Cable should be with me in the next days!

So far I like the sound of the new player in may set up. The sound ist not "better" than my SX Micro Seiki with FR tonearm, but different. Where the Micro FR combination gives you all the information, the mass player SME combination gives you more the flow of music . As this is an unusual sound from a vdh Colibri I will continue to use the SME 3012R in my set up, makes fun and fits to my vdh Colibries!

Tomorrow I will do the fine-tuning, but after the first day, I really enjoyed the music I was listening to (mostly Anne Brun today)

View attachment 41105
How do you like the SME cable from Switzerland ? I think it is the later model cable that is somewhat restricted in the treble, I’m not using mine at this time.
 
I bought a 3012R from German eBay a couple of month ago and finally installed it, when it came to adjust azimuth I got a surprise !
The locking screw was missing. Non to be found on eBay, so I contacted SME with little hope, as the arm has been out of production so long. They promised to get back to me. And they did !
8D5D0159-ABA6-47A5-8B6F-5964776AF852.jpg

Not a week later, great service !
 
Unfortunately the 2 SME cables I ordered are still not shipped, but will arrive hopefully soon, may be one of them will be the older (not vdh) version.

I have to fight some hum with MM carts, my colibri was without hum, so I hope, the SME cable will help.

at the Moment I installed a Rigid Float Arm as well. Very nice as well!

The previous owner's house was in a forrest, 20 min walking to the next road, only 4x4 was able to go there..., never seen before in Germany. Now I can understand, why he was unable to ship....

IMG_7039.jpg

IMG_7040.jpg

IMG_7041.jpg
 
Unfortunately the 2 SME cables I ordered are still not shipped, but will arrive hopefully soon, may be one of them will be the older (not vdh) version

All SME wires have been and are from Vdh, the ones from that vendor are earlier all copper ones pre "Hybrid" version which is a little on the dark side, so you should be fine.

david
 

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