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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
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
There are several better looking arms out there but for the average audiophile spending thousands on an arm or even a
turntable is out of the question. I don’t think there is anything as good as this under $500.

This is exactly the price point for Denon DA-401, it is under $500
Wonderful tonearm, i became a fan of it quickly.

Something equal in this price category is Micro Seiki made for Luxman (answer to Infinity Black Widow).

P.S. Another favorite so far is Victor UA-7045 for slightly higher price (used). Actually many vintage tonearms are best buy in terms of quality versus price. Some of them just less popular or unknown compared to SME, most of them are Japanese, not British.

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muddywaters61's avatar
muddywaters61 OP
41 posts
 


Thanks Harold! 

Wish I had read your post months ago...

So hard to find anything positive about the Series III, in my opinion it was one of the nicest looking arms around and had been on my bucket list for years. Then when I started looking for one I was shocked how some had nothing good to say. Glad I went with my gut on this one, just love it... Can’t wait to get the damping system set up😎


totem395
390 posts
 
simply add mass on headshell, 2 g or 4 g spacer provided.
Lets not forget the damping paddles in 3 sizes that help 
in dealing with lower compliance carts.
muddywaters61's avatar
muddywaters61 OP
41 posts
 
I only got the middle Grey one that I understand is idea for a 20 or so Compliance cartridge 😎
More to discover