2. analog
  3. 150762-131423

SME 3009 Series III Haters

Not much has been written about this old classic lately but I just acquired one and put it on an Oracle Alexandria. I read all sorts of bad comments like its the Red Head of SME’s arms but there were a few that loved it and I’m here to say I’m in the love camp. I’ve been at this for 40 or so years and had my share of gear. I have a Grado Reference Series 2 that weighs 10 gms with a compliance of 20.
The arm only has a moving mass of 5 gms, that is low these days but this combination works fantastic.
Ya the arm has all sorts of adjustments but most of us enjoy messing around with that sort of thing anyway, and every setting makes perfect sense and makes you think why don’t more arms give you that flexibility. Anyway all the manuals can be downloaded so there is no reason if you come across one you couldn’t get it to sing on your system. There are other classic SME arms from the 80’s that sell in the thousands but these can be had in the $500 range. Worth ever penny and only going to go up in price.
Get your hands on one and see for your self what a quality arm feels like and sounds like.
This has the feel of an arm that just came out, can’t believe it’s 40 years ago. My 2 bits worth 😎





128x128muddywaters61
muddywaters61's avatar
muddywaters61 OP
41 posts
 
I meant to say the Series III isn’t a one trick pony like some will lead you to believe. 
I had a Thorens TD160 for over 30 years. 
I had mounted a Rega RB300 arm on it
very early on. Loved that set up!
Sold it for good money or I would have
kept it. Thank God I didn’t unload all my
Vinyl like so many did. 😎

lewm
13,304 posts
 
Will someone say, compared to what?I've always thought of the series III as a good choice for a high compliance cartridge but hardly state of the art.  On the other hand, certainly not "bad".
That said, anecdotes are not good arguments.
muddywaters61's avatar
muddywaters61 OP
41 posts
 
Had the Rega RB300 and Oracle Prelude
arms in the past and hate getting into the
sonic differences because that is so subjective. Everyone’s system is so different but for what it’s worth, nothing
has sounded this good to me.
I still have to install the damping system that I will do at a later date to see if there’s
a further improvement.
I’m certain there are better arms out there
that can be discussed for days but on the used market to me this is a bargain that
will suit not only high compliance cartridges. That’s all I’m saying. 😎

br3098
997 posts
 
The SME Series III is a very good tonearm IF it's mated to an appropriate (ie. high compliance) cartridge.  Yes, it looks a little funky and those sliding switch adjustments can be problematic if you are rough with it, but it sounds great when setup properly

muddywaters61's avatar
muddywaters61 OP
41 posts
 
That’s exactly what I’m trying to dispel. 
I have a Medium Compliance Cartridge in the Grado that when you plug in the numbers for Tonearm  frequency on those
graphs posted on line I’m bang on 9 Hz. 
Yet everyone keeps saying only High Compliance 25+. The Grado is 20 and
is perfectly suited in all respects.
Just hate to think people have over looked
this so called black sheep because of what they have read. This is surely my last arm. 
It’s that good! 😎

 
More to discover