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

 

Any coments on this method ?

https://www.sound-smith.com/antiskating

 

Any coments on this method ?

https://www.sound-smith.com/antiskating

I tried it a couple of years ago. There was another video by sound-smith back then. It’s;
- extremely ineffective,
- false,
- no logic behind,
- impossible to set anti-skating the way it’s explained in the video. Only a vague description about how fast stylus moves in the runout area.
- no way of knowing if stylus is moving fast or slow because of anti-skating or catching etched numbers on the runout area.

These are the deficiencies I can remember now. It’s very unfortunate for sound-smith to recommend anything like that.

 

Come on!… I wasn’t expecting to see this nonsense here on WBF. That’s not the right way of aligning anti-skating, far from right…

You can set anti-skating using many methods: crosstalk LP, oscilloscope, Feikert, etc. I'll bet anything that it won't sound any better in the end. Come over and I'll prove it to you.
You can spend a lot of money on measurement software and devices or just trust your ears

 

You can set anti-skating using many methods: crosstalk LP, oscilloscope, Feikert, etc. I'll bet anything that it won't sound any better in the end. Come over and I'll prove it to you.
You can spend a lot of money on measurement software and devices or just trust your ears

Just trust your ears.

 

Always looking for smart pairings of carts and arms I am trying out a lot of combinations.

Now I became aware about an synergy, which I like to share .

Lastly a new cart arrived at my home and.I was looking for a matching tonearm. But the cart has a titan body of 17,1g and a compliance of 15. Combined with a recommended tracking force of 1,35g.

This is the new

Wilson Benesch Tessellate TI Sapphire Silver polished

cart. In Germany the price is in the High End Region of top carts.

Combined with my favorite Headshell the weight increases up to 30 / 35g, which is too much for many tonearms .
Only the heavy ones like Ikeda or Glanz can manage this with the serial counterweight.

But than this add up to an effective mass, which I do not like to match with the Wilson Benesch

So I was looking to my various tonearms and remembered the

SME 3012R tonearm.

Which can handle heavy and light weight carts by ease, the standard headshell is only around 6g,
which adds up to 23g with the WB cart.

And on Top, the SME 3012R has shown with my former collection of vdh Colibri carts, that the arm can play well with low VTF !

So I fitted the Wilson Benesch Tessellate into the SME 3012 R and was surprised, this really fits well. And betters some of my current best sounding carts/arm combinations.

I cannot stop to listen to this great match!

If you (reader) own a SME 3012R and if you have access to a Wilson Benesch Tessellate Sapphire cart,
please try this combination on your deck!

You might like this clear and emotional sound a lot.

Many information, completely relaxed, huge stage, no stress, not difficult to adjust, start to really like this cart in this arm

 

Good news.

The SME 3012R is a fantastic arm. Easily adjustable for a wide range of cartridges, easy headshell swapping, and it sounds great. People mistakenly dismiss it because it is old and not "Hi End" enough.

 

Always looking for smart pairings of carts and arms I am trying out a lot of combinations.

Now I became aware about an synergy, which I like to share .

Lastly a new cart arrived at my home and.I was looking for a matching tonearm. But the cart has a titan body of 17,1g and a compliance of 15. Combined with a recommended tracking force of 1,35g.

This is the new

Wilson Benesch Tessellate TI Sapphire Silver polished

cart. In Germany the price is in the High End Region of top carts.

Combined with my favorite Headshell the weight increases up to 30 / 35g, which is too much for many tonearms .
Only the heavy ones like Ikeda or Glanz can manage this with the serial counterweight.

But than this add up to an effective mass, which I do not like to match with the Wilson Benesch

So I looking to my various tonearms and remembered the

SME 3012R tonearm.

Which can handle heavy and light weight carts by ease, the standard headshell is only around 6g,
which adds up to 23g with the WB cart.

And on Top, the SME 3012R has shown with my former collection of vdh Colibri carts, that the arm can play well with low VTF !

So I fitted the Wilson Benesch Tessellate into the SME 3012 R and was surprised, this really fits well. And betters some of my current best sounding carts/arm combinations.

I cannot stop to listen to this great match!

If you (reader) own a SME 3012R and if you have access to a Wilson Benesch Tessellate Sapphire cart,
please try this combination on your deck!

You might like this clear an emotional sound a lot.

Many information, completely relaxed, huge stage, no stress, not difficult to adjust, start to really like this cart in this arm
View attachment 139296

View attachment 139299

View attachment 139303

Hey @shakti ,

Wow - looks so cool! Thank you for the info and the inspiration!

/ Jk

 

Good news.

The SME 3012R is a fantastic arm . People mistakenly dismiss it because it is old and not "Hi End" enough.

A somewhat sweeping generalisation ! … For my part I “dismiss” the SME 3012R because In my system I found it inferior to an equally Vintage Ortofon RMG 309 Gen 1 … which btw may also be taken up another level of fidelity via the use of ceramic or sapphire bearings. The Only vintage SME tonearms that I have been content enough with have been the SME 309 Series 1 / SME 3012 Series 1.

 

A somewhat sweeping generalisation ! … For my part I “dismiss” the SME 3012R because In my system I found it inferior to an equally Vintage Ortofon RMG 309 Gen 1 … which btw may also be taken up another level of fidelity via the use of ceramic or sapphire bearings. The Only vintage SME tonearms that I have been content enough with have been the SME 309 Series 1 / SME 3012 Series 1.

Thank you, very nice info as well… I will remember this… very interesting to see different perspectives on this.

/ Jk

 

A somewhat sweeping generalisation ! … For my part I “dismiss” the SME 3012R because In my system I found it inferior to an equally Vintage Ortofon RMG 309 Gen 1 … which btw may also be taken up another level of fidelity via the use of ceramic or sapphire bearings. The Only vintage SME tonearms that I have been content enough with have been the SME 309 Series 1 / SME 3012 Series 1.

With a old decca fs mk II the SME rocks the home...the fun/live factor unsurpassed.

 

Charlotte Rampling liked the 3012R.

 

I just purchased a 3012-R that comes with a bronze saddle, probably “upgraded” by a previous owner.

However, it came with the original nylon one as well and I want to mount it on the arm. Is there anything I need to think about in the process? Is it just straight forward to exchange them?

 

I recently joined the 3012r club.

After a week of adjusting VTA, AZIMUTH and Anti-skating with a simple protractor, bubble, my eye and ear.

The tracking is now perfect.

the cartridge glides over the groove with such ease.

The user experience is such joy due to the lightness and precision of the arm.
I simply love it!

 

I recently joined the 3012r club.

After a week of adjusting VTA, AZIMUTH and Anti-skating with a simple protractor, bubble, my eye and ear.

The tracking is now perfect.

the cartridge glides over the groove with such ease.

The user experience is such joy due to the lightness and precision of the arm.
I simply love it!

View attachment 142624

It is a fabulous arm and very easy to set up once you have some time with it. Your front end looks superb. Very nice combination. What tonearm cable is that? It looks like a modification to the original wire.

 

It is a fabulous arm and very easy to set up once you have some time with it. Your front end looks superb. Very nice combination. What tonearm cable is that? It looks like a modification to the original wire.

you know i'm not sure

A friend lend it to me as i only have tonearm cable with Din connector (Albedo phono din-rca).

It's a diy, maybe silver with cooper or just silver.
he cant remember.

all i know it sounds better then a Kondo LS-41 rca connected to a Ear 88pb phono with the zyx u-ex100 cart in terms of focus and clarity but lacks softness and a bit harsh.

now im trying to find a way to replace my albedo phono din-rca with an albedo phono rca-rca cable.

 

you know i'm not sure

A friend lend it to me as i only have tonearm cable with Din connector (Albedo phono din-rca).

It's a diy, maybe silver with cooper or just silver.
he cant remember.

all i know it sounds better then a Kondo LS-41 rca connected to a Ear 88pb phono with the zyx u-ex100 cart in terms of focus and clarity but lacks softness and a bit harsh.

now im trying to find a way to replace my albedo phono din-rca with an albedo phono rca-rca cable.

You could look for a vintage SME 3012R cable on Ebay. They are inexpensive and sound excellent to me. Others disagree.

 

I recently joined the 3012r club.

After a week of adjusting VTA, AZIMUTH and Anti-skating with a simple protractor, bubble, my eye and ear.

The tracking is now perfect.

the cartridge glides over the groove with such ease.

The user experience is such joy due to the lightness and precision of the arm.
I simply love it!

View attachment 142624

Wonderful looking setup.

Why are you using a 3rd party headshell? Not happy with the original one?

 

View attachment 142397View attachment 142398
View attachment 142399


I just purchased a 3012-R that comes with a bronze saddle, probably “upgraded” by a previous owner.

However, it came with the original nylon one as well and I want to mount it on the arm. Is there anything I need to think about in the process? Is it just straight forward to exchange them?

Under one screw is the groundwire in the tube it's been a long time since I've worked with the 3012. Lateral balance is important when setting up otherwise the knife bearing will suffer in the long run.
P.S the R have a steel bearing orginal

 

View attachment 142397View attachment 142398
View attachment 142399


I just purchased a 3012-R that comes with a bronze saddle, probably “upgraded” by a previous owner.

However, it came with the original nylon one as well and I want to mount it on the arm. Is there anything I need to think about in the process? Is it just straight forward to exchange them?

why revert to the nylon?....don´t get it......

 

why revert to the nylon?....don´t get it......

Just want to start using it as original as possible. To get a feeling of the arm, sonics and handling. Then I can start experimenting. The bronze knife saddle is put back in the box for future testing.