SME 312S versus SME V-12

Peterayer

I apologize for the late response. I just confirmed by looking at my V-12 that indeed it has removable cartridge leads. I wish SME would dispense with these but I assume it is an attempt to save the customer some money if he breaks them at the cartridge connection, ie saving him the trouble and expense of an entire arm rewire.

I thought that same thing, it's easy to loose a headshell clip or break a wire and shipping back the arm would indeed be a major hassle. Still, I was hoping to reduce connections, that could be a performance advantage.

I do prefer the dynamic balance as I've mentioned in that other thread.

Your comment on that subject is the primary reason I'm chasing the V12. I'm still pursuing the dream and will decide after I get some quotes and look over my finances.

Gotta say that the compression joint used to attach the 312S headshell to the arm would have to be one of the best in the business, much more solid and stable than the traditional bayonet fitting. It would be quite easy to remove all the junctions/pin joints from the arm and just rewire the 312S straight to cartridge such that all you need to do to remove the headshell would be to remove the cartridge pins before removing the headshell.

2Juki is well known in the industry for selling Chinese-made copies of current and vintage audio products.
Just talk to Dynavector about his 'New' 507 MkII tonearms with bogus serial numbers.....or Yamamoto about his 'New' Ebony wood headshells....or Orsonic (if they were still in business) about his never-ending supply of their headshells which ceased production about 15 years ago?
Sorry to tell you Sebastien.....but I suspect his Cu-180 mats are also Chinese-made copies (check out TopClass Audio for pricing on authentic mats?)
This may not be an issue for most people as his copies are usually well made (except for the Orsonic headshells)......but call me crazy to actually want the original product I pay for?

Hi Albert,

Yes, I bought the CU-180 mat that I sended you pictures to authentify it. I'm 99.9% sure it's a real one. It also comes with its original box, used like a box that's been around for several years. Plus, the CU-180 has it's small Japanese sticker on it that the fake one hasn't and it's slightly used like any normal CU-180 that have been around but well cared. And the sound... wow! What an improvement.

Regarding the SME 312S. The men who will want to counterfeit these pieces of industrial art will need to wake up pretty soon to do it. I never had in my hand such a Ferrari designed tonearm. Amazing...

Actually, no information can make me think that I had a fake product from 2juki. I'm not arguing that he hasn't sold any counterfeit material, I'm just telling my good experience with that seller.

Sébastien

Halcro, that's interesting about 2juki. A yeaar ago I bought a supposedly NOS Orsonics headshell from him that doesn't fit any of my cartridges without a shim and has a misaligned metal bayonet. From your account, I suspect that it must have been a copy rather than the real thing. I never complained about it because it wasn't too expensive and I figured wasn't worth the hassle of sending it back.