SME is leaving the OEM and aftermarket/retail tonearm business.

No loss the Graham  and Triplanner arms are far better. 

Used to own. Sme switched to the above way better.

Also Kuzma 4 point another far superior ref arm.

Today there are also way better tables as well. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

While I agree that there are better arms "now" available, IMHO, without SME, our current state of the art in tonearms would be much different.

SME has been around since 1959 and has advanced the tonearm design quite a bit in that time.

I bet if you ask some tonearm designers where they learned about the trade, they will say from SME.

Every SME tonearm can be found on second hand market for much better price than new from the dealers, they made so many of them and i think there are many left for buyers. Shouldn't be a problem at all to find and buy just the arm without turntable.  

This is sad IMHO. I first owned a 3009 S2 in the seventies and now a MKIV. Outstanding products, that look beautiful, work perfectly and are extremely well made. Plus exemplary customer service, what more can one ask for? All I can say is, my SME IV is now a keeper for life.

Had a SME IV and V on an Oracle MKIII back in the 80's.

Never sounded great with any MC cartridge I tried.

There are much better arms to buy.