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

 

Whatever works best!

david

I’m still looking for the original version. I found one from a dealer in germany, wired him money that was returned when he realized he did not have the cable anymore.

 

I’m still looking for the original version. I found one from a dealer in germany, wired him money that was returned when he realized he did not have the cable anymore.

I got my original cable from this guy. My 3012R arm didn’t come with one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-NO...243756?hash=item54569ae1ac:g:43QAAMXQIBBRC5GM

 

I got my original cable from this guy. My 3012R arm didn’t come with one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-NO...243756?hash=item54569ae1ac:g:43QAAMXQIBBRC5GM

He's apparently selling the same cable that Lagonda has but now I have my doubts about what he's selling. It's now about 10 years since he started selling these so called NOS SME phono cables, I bought several myself and led others to him too but there seems no end to his supply !

david

 

He's apparently selling the same cable that Lagonda has but now I have my doubts about what he's selling. It's now about 10 years since he started selling these so called NOS SME phono cables, I bought several myself and led others to him too but there seems no end to his supply !

david

It does seem like an endless supply. And the price has gone up.

Do you find them to be different than ones that came with the 3012R arms that you have acquired?

 

It does seem like an endless supply. And the price has gone up.

Do you find them to be different than ones that came with the 3012R arms that you have acquired?

There's an early version, thicker plastic cover than these that I like slightly better but nothing wrong with this generation wires either, if authentic.

david

 

There's an early version, thicker plastic cover than these that I like slightly better but nothing wrong with this generation wires either, if authentic.

david

Maybe mine is counterfeit, or maybe my ears are !

 

After re-examing my cable i see markings every 25 cm where the original labeling has been removed. And there is no gold lettering anywhere. I doubt SME would go trough the trouble of removing anything from the cable. I probably have a fake ! Maybe my ears are OK ? I hope !

 

After re-examing my cable i see markings every 25 cm where the original labeling has been removed. And there is no gold lettering anywhere. I doubt SME would go trough the trouble of removing anything from the cable. I probably have a fake ! Maybe my ears are OK ? I hope !

Where did you get your cable?

 

Where did you get your cable?

It came with a almost new arm with all accessories in original box, from a private seller in Germany. He had a collection of 3012r arms in gold,black and silver, having used them on Micro-Seiki and Transrotor TT’s.
Maybe he bought the cable separately, and passed the lemon on to me. I don’t know.

 

If you have no more letters on the cable, you may use it in the wrong direction? The cables have a more warm and a more shiny direction, please just try.

 

I have seen these SME plugs with "wavering" white and red plastic parts in recent cables, but never in vintage cables. My 3012 R cables have round "flat" plastic parts. A good friend has a surely genuine almost unused 3012 R - he got is new long ago, I will ask him.

Perhaps this eBay seller is getting the plugs from SME and manufacturing the cables. FIY my 1.2m - 4 feet cables have a capacitance of 275 pF - in these days of fake cables every audiophile should own a capacitance meter!

 

I also need a cable. The one I have must have a break in the cabling somewhere as the faintest touch cuts out a channel.

I also have a question for the experts. I installed my cartridge on the headshell that came with the arm. The 4 wires did not clamp on tight to the cartridge (even with gentle squeezing of needle nose pliers) so I decided to change to a separate SME headshell that I bought. This one is different:

- it is gunmetal instead of black
- it has a notch on the bottom as well as the top (where it connects to the arm tube) whereas the original only had one on top
- it is a full gram heavier!

Any insight or recommendations?

 

If you have no more letters on the cable, you may use it in the wrong direction? The cables have a more warm and a more shiny direction, please just try.

I will try shakti ! I read somwhere that the direction should be with the single ground connector at the tonarm side and the 2 connectors on the Phono preamp side. The lettering has been removed, it has not worn of, the cable is brand new.

 

I will try shakti ! I read somwhere that the direction should be with the single ground connector at the tonarm side and the 2 connectors on the Phono preamp side. The lettering has been removed, it has not worn of, the cable is brand new.

My cable did not have a ground wire - the ground wire was separate.

 

He's apparently selling the same cable that Lagonda has but now I have my doubts about what he's selling. It's now about 10 years since he started selling these so called NOS SME phono cables, I bought several myself and led others to him too but there seems no end to his supply !

david

well we know they are not NOS cables. There are no NOS cables sold by him or 2juki. Modern reproductions that sound good. A REAL nos cable is hard to find and not very common.

 

This is the best available SME cable knockoff. They use VandenHal wire and sound excellent. I have a bunch of them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SME-S3LB-4...722163?hash=item3f912f1773:g:0~MAAOSwXf1aVZ-m

 

I also need a cable. The one I have must have a break in the cabling somewhere as the faintest touch cuts out a channel. (...)

I would suggest checking the plugs - I have found that the inner part of the SME ground plug had a larger diameter than most and could become loose in some connectors, breaking the ground. I squeezed it a little and it become perfect - no more problems.

Try slightly twisting just the plugs close to the connector in the preamplfier while playing.

 

This is the best available SME cable knockoff. They use VandenHal wire and sound excellent. I have a bunch of them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SME-S3LB-4...722163?hash=item3f912f1773:g:0~MAAOSwXf1aVZ-m

The D501 has OFC wires with pure silver coating - something that a few people dislike in the WBF SME3012-R connoisseur group.

 

He is probably referring to the fixed offset angle. The margin for azimuth of the 3012-R is enormous!

One nice thing of the 3012-R is that you can forget about most of the fancy accessories!

I don’t think the margin is enormous at all, the least I can say. Or is the mechanism is glued by age ? Sure Chris spoke about azimuth.

 

I don’t think the margin is enormous at all, the least I can say. Or is the mechanism is glued by age ? Sure Chris spoke about azimuth.

Correction Gentlemen : I tried «*harder*» and the headshell did rotate significantly more.I think the Feickert could be used now, but holding the arm in one hand and turning the headshell with the other until I checked all points on the Adjust + makes me hesitate confronted to this PITA.