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

oscar44

Tend to disagree with some on the SMEs. I've owned the IV and the V and found them to be excellent. They exude a quality and precision that makes them a joy to set up and use, and I had great experiences with many cartridges on them over the years.

Same here. I've used an SME V for years and it's the best pick-up arm I've ever had. In my system it replaced a Fidelity Research FR-64FX, which is also an excellent arm. But I think the SME is better, and it is also more versatile.

Thats a mistake.

@mofimadness said the most salient point insofar as they took the arm so far forward.

They don't go well with Linn Sondeks and other 3 points due to their weight (talking about the iv and v) but they are a great choice for Roksan, Point triangle and many other decks.

Arms are so deck and cartridge specific it's a bit unfair saying it did not go with a certain deck.

The build quality and repeatability of set up are both superb as is their customer support. They probably sold more that most high end arm manufacturers combined - that is testament to this.

Also bear in mind that the likes of:
Schroeder
Kuzma 4 point
DaVinci
Vertere
Breuer

some are multiples the price to the SME V which is made as good or better than its competition. The SME V remained relatively affordable for a pretty long time - they have suddenly become quite inflated unfortunately - but hey so is all of the high end in audio.

I must say that it is a bizarre decision to stop the sale of something unless it is not profitable.

The Sme production are like the best weapons, well built, excellently finished, solid and durable, produced with constant performance and where possible they also build the screws inside the factory (has anyone ever visited the factory?) and the spare parts can be found for many many years reassuring the owners; can we write all this for other builders who do little or nothing on their own?

has anyone ever visited the factory?

Here is a video tour by analog planet shaking camera

The Sme production are like the best weapons, well built, excellently finished, solid and durable, produced with constant performance and where possible they also build the screws inside the factory

Well, what's the difference between solid and very well build Reed tonearms for example and SME ? Reed does not have their own factory, but the build quality is second to none, made in Lithuania, not even in England. And Reed also design their own turntables. You don't have to own a factory to made amazing tonearms and stuff, the fact that SME own their own factory does not make their tonearms any cheaper, they are actually very expensive, pretty much like everything from England. There are many more amazing tonearms on the market from the small manufacturers like Schroeder in Germany, i also remember Da Vinci tonearms. Those 3 (Reed, Schroeder, Da Vinci) are the arms that not only sound great, but they also looks great (unlike SME).