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

 

This is an audio forum David. Everyone's into d*** measurement

Well, we know Ian's coming up short !

david

 

This is an audio forum David. Everyone's into d*** measurement

Surely!

 

Surely!

You're not pulling yours out to measure for Ian Francisco?

david

 

You're not pulling yours out to measure for Ian Francisco?

david

No, I have two spare ones ...

 

Ha!

 

It's not about the size of the anti skate mechanism, it's all about how well it functions. Mine has a damped spring. Ian's looks vintage.

 

I've just put the bronze ones, I know the opinions, but I wanted to hear it all myself. The setup was re-calibrated after the change, including the azimuth. Too early for any verdicts, the changes I've so far observed are: 1) the top end is more refined and less homogeneous; sometimes quite exposed 2) some parts of the music material are pushed more into the background, e.g. the orchestra in operatic music. I still have to understand if this is because of a widened and more refined dynamical scale or is it some artifact. I had similar effect when changing loading resistors from RN60 Dales to Charcroft Z-foils. And voices are just great! Keep listening...

Cheers,

I have just finished my romance with alternative knife bearings - in my circumstances and to my taste it did not work. I must say I had a cheapo ebay part, albeit well made with sharp edges, rather than the one for the well reputable service guy, on top of that a suspicion is it is actually brass not bronze. Anyway, coming back to the nylon bearing restored the well dynamically balanced sound I had enjoyed before. Orchestra on operatic parts stopped sounding like it was playing from a tomb, with instruments clear and easy to follow. Some loss of the HF refinement (esp on high pitch vocals) I surprisingly compensated changing the input 12ax7 in phono from standard Telefunken to a special low-noise Tektornix version. Although the last change was nowhere as profound as reverting back to the nylon bearing.

Cheers,

 

I have just finished my romance with alternative knife bearings - in my circumstances and to my taste it did not work. I must say I had a cheapo ebay part, albeit well made with sharp edges, rather than the one for the well reputable service guy, on top of that a suspicion is it is actually brass not bronze. Anyway, coming back to the nylon bearing restored the well dynamically balanced sound I had enjoyed before. Orchestra on operatic parts stopped sounding like it was playing from a tomb, with instruments clear and easy to follow. Some loss of the HF refinement (esp on high pitch vocals) I surprisingly compensated changing the input 12ax7 in phono from standard Telefunken to a special low-noise Tektornix version. Although the last change was nowhere as profound as reverting back to the nylon bearing.

Cheers,

None of those aftermarket bearings, bases, weights, etc. work right, all they do is boost some random frequency range and lose resolution somewhere else. Basically what you replace on top of the arm like the knife edge will effect upper frequencies and what goes on the bottom boosts lower frequencies but neither are linear. The 3012-R is exceptionally balanced and optimized from the factory and one can’t just mess with it without hurting the sound including changing the internal wiring to something else. However you can try SME’s steel knife edge bearing without any ill effect for a small boost in top end resolution and energy which can be advantageous on your 930, but not 3rd party parts their steel one is just as bad as the brass one you tried, stick with OEM parts.

david

 

David, thank you for the input. I do use a heavy bronze base, bolted to a huge stainless steel armpod. Somehow the original thin SME plate on rubber bushings did not appeal to me. I may however try it day. IIRC I also have the Cardas internal wire albeit well burnt in.

Cheers,

 

David, thank you for the input. I do use a heavy bronze base, bolted to a huge stainless steel armpod. Somehow the original thin SME plate on rubber bushings did not appeal to me. I may however try it day. IIRC I also have the Cardas internal wire albeit well burnt in.

Cheers,

SME made a slightly optional thicker base but I never tried it, the rubber grommets are essential and contribute a lot to the sound specially to the Bass don’t dismiss them and replace them with fresh ones as needed. Cardas wire in this tonearm is slightly midrange forward and lacks the tonality of the original, recommend getting another arm in original condition .

david

 

SME made a slightly optional thicker base but I never tried it, the rubber grommets are essential and contribute a lot to the sound specially to the Bass don’t dismiss them and replace them with fresh ones as needed. Cardas wire in this tonearm is slightly midrange forward and lacks the tonality of the original, get another arm in original condition .

david

Midrange forward is actually good in my circumstances of Stax-es. Tanks for the base tips - I examined it recently and the grommets look still good. One day...But you got me thinking with the steel bearing - now that I've learned how to change it quickly I may try it after the new Telefunken tube settles

Cheers,

 

SME made a slightly optional thicker base but I never tried it, the rubber grommets are essential and contribute a lot to the sound specially to the Bass don’t dismiss them and replace them with fresh ones as needed. Cardas wire in this tonearm is slightly midrange forward and lacks the tonality of the original, recommend getting another arm in original condition .

david

David you are always so diplomatic ! Changed from original metal spacer to rubber grommets after you told Tang about importance. As usual you where right, bass has a better quality and roundness to it with grommets.

 

David you are always so diplomatic ! Changed from original metal spacer to rubber grommets after you told Tang about importance. As usual you where right, bass has a better quality and roundness to it with grommets.

Do you mind posting a picture of the grommets you are referring to? Are these the 4 which surround the screws that anchor the base to the arm board?

 

David you are always so diplomatic !

Always!

david

 

Do you mind posting a picture of the grommets you are referring to? Are these the 4 which surround the screws that anchor the base to the arm board?

Exactly, and don’t tighten down to tight ! Like the manual says.

 

BTW, I've heard (somewhere here?) of "3012R Series I". What is that? Steel bearings 3012R?
Cheers,

 

BTW, I've heard (somewhere here?) of "3012R Series I". What is that? Steel bearings 3012R?
Cheers,

It's an optional replacement for the nylon one as I mentioned above.

david

 

BTW, I've heard (somewhere here?) of "3012R Series I". What is that? Steel bearings 3012R?
Cheers,

I think that is what Cristian calls the early 3012R’s with original cable. I don’t think SME makes that distinction, they just delivered the later models with a different cable.

 

Yes David, I've already contacted SME re steel, thank you
Edit: Thank you Lagonda, so it's just a jargon.
BTW, the thicker base plate Dave mentions is on the version called 3012R Pro.

Cheers,

 

Yes David, I've already contacted SME re steel, thank you
Edit: Thank you Lagonda, so it's just a jargon.
BTW, the thicker base plate Dave mentions is on the version called 3012R Pro.

Cheers,

Although the steel SME metal saddle for the 3012R is not easy to get at eBay you can find there many original SME steel saddles for non R tonearms. You just have to cut the back the beveled part from one side to assemble it in the 3012R - they have the same exact dimensions.