SME iV.Vi or SME V for SME 20 turntable?

The 'tonearm height adjuster' of the V - which is the VTA/SRA adjuster - is, imo, worth the cost difference. The adjuster screw has a fine thread which allows much more accurate and smaller incremental changes than raising the post by hand.

Fwiw, the IV.Vi (not the IV) as spec'd by Sumiko is described by them as having ".50 guage Magnan type Vi" internal wiring. Maybe their site info is dated. I speculate the arm cable to phono input will have as much an impact on sonics as the internal wire.

Tim

Actually, Tim, SME now makes their own 'Magnan type" ribbon for the IV.Vi. And believe it or not intenal wiring makes a real difference (if it's great stuff, of course.) When I sent my V to England for it's scheduled 15 year service appointment ;--) I asked them to remove the old copper (their standard wire at the time I bought the arm) and replace it with the van den Hul MCS 150, their very best silver Litz wire (this is even better stuff than the standard 150M? they use now.) And it made a huge difference. So did getting rid of that crappy van den Hul Silver Hybrid tonearm cable. I wonder if SME knows how much damage that terrible cable does to the reputation of their tonearm ;--)
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Thanks, Neil, for the update on the newer copper ribbon in the IV.Vi. I agree the internal wiring makes a difference.

The Sumiko site says the V's external cable is VdH 501 and describes the internal as 'van den Hul mono crystal silver', while SME says the IV's internal is LC-OFC copper.

In his coverage of CES in the April '07 'Stereophile', Fremer describes being shown an updated V that SME has (or is about to) release: "...upgraded low-tolerance bearings and new internal wiring of silver." Presumably the bearings are beyond ABEC-7 - wonder if they might be ceramic.

My ancient FMS Blue II copper tonearm cable sounds better than the stock SME and it is a wee bit limited on the frequency extremes. Its next on my list for upgrade.

Tim, that's right: the 501 is the crappy TA cable I don't like. Might as well just throw a blanket over your speakers and save the money!

The V has silver wire, the IV may use LC-OFC copper, but AFAIK it is in ribbon form.

New bearings, hmmmm . . . . ? To paraphrase an old Jewish punchline, "Whatsa mattah, yu didn like da bearings I already give you?"

It was sort of a happy accident, but I went from doggie doo to diamonds when I acquired (on a whim and VERY cheap) a Purist Venustas TA cable. My system and my bank balance have not been the same since ;--)

Okeh, dets all what I know! (.....famous Jewish grandmother ;--)
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Hi all,
Thank you so much for all the info. After careful consideration, I have chosen an SME 20/2 Table and a SME IV.Vi tonearm to replace my though-to-be-final setup: Avid Acutus & Origin Live Conqueror & Koetsu Urushi. My philosophy for hi-end now is that you have to spend a lot more for the last 10-15% of improvement, AND there is NO perfection ! Each and every hi-end tables i own has limitation/problem in its design, so i dont want to spend too much anymore. Just wanna get a good setup and enjoy the music. I have wasted too much time and money.
For those who wanna know, the SME IV.Vi now shipped with the damping trough mechanism included but not VTA adjustment as some noted in the V. That is OK with me because i just want to set and forget..i dont want to tweak VTA for every type of records i use. Plus, if you watch MF 's turntable setup DVD, he said in order to make a different in VTA, the base of the arm has to raise up to 3mm for 1 degree in VTA change..so i guess it doesn effect the VTA much going from 180gr to 200gr records.