SAEC 308N vs 308SX

Thanks, Raul. There are several 308SXs for sale, on eBay and elsewhere. In most cases they do have an original SAEC headshell, but it is not the ceramic one. Don't know whether or not that means the headshell is not original to the tonearm. (I think I did see one for sale in Hong kong that does have the ceramic headshell.)

My major reason for being interested in the SAEC has to do with the fact that with my L07D turntable I received an accessory OEM Kenwood arm board that bolts to the rear of the chassis to allow one to mount a second tonearm. This is really nicely made, heavy, and seems to have been cut for the SAEC 308 specifically. Looks like it will accept either the 308N or the 308SX. But it will not accept the 407 or 506, based on my examination of photos. (Kenwood made at least four different arm boards for the rear of the L07D chassis; each one is dedicated to a different vintage tonearm. Wonder whether they made one for Lustre.) I readily concede the the Lustre may be superior, because I certainly have no basis to argue. On the other hand, I am not inclined right now to spend about $1100 to buy the 308SX. That decision will have to wait a bit while I sell other stuff.

Dear Lewm, mind that if you ever go for any variation of 308, you cannot use the ULS3X ceramic headshell on it. You have to purchase another slotted headshell, in order to make the Baerwald alignment. You must turn the cartridge another 11 degrees to the spindle side at the headshell. The ULS3X is great for any other arm except SAEC. I've seen it priced up to $450 so, you can allways put it on sale, or keep it for some other vintage arm of your's, but on the SAEC it is completely useless.
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/78/788115.html

Dear Geoch, You bring up an interesting topic. I have read elsewhere that the ideal geometry for the SAEC is "unusual", but no one says what it is. Is it Stevenson type? I learned from trying to use Baerwald with my Dynavector DV505 (which IS designed for Stevenson) that strange and unpleasant distortions arise if you have to twist the cartridge in the headshell in order to conform to some iconic geometry. (I think the cause is magnified with the DV, because of its very short vertically pivoted arm.) When I finally found a Stevenson protractor and subsequently realigned my cartridge, those distortions disappeared. Ergo, I would want to know exactly how to align the SAEC 308SX so as to be able also to align the cartridge body in its headshell. And yes, it makes no sense to mess around with a headshell that does not have slots to permit fore and aft adjustment of the cartridge body, but I would rather not twist the cartridge body.

What is ULS3X? Is that the designation for the SAEC ceramic headshell? If so, am I correct in thinking that you are in disagreement with Raul on using the ceramic with the 308SX?

Dear Lewm, the ULS3X permits back & forth movement but not even the slightest twist of the cartridge. I would never imagine Raul to accept this kind of distortion as the above graph demonstrates so, I don't thing that he prefers this ceramic headshell on any of the 308 arms. As for me, I've never gave a chance to compare the SAEC alignment in my second armboard, with the ULS3X headshell (I 've keep it undrilled till today). The null points indicates a unique optimisation at the inner groove, but not a Stevenson align.
Now about the twist of the cartridge on the headshell, Daniel & John were in disagreement about the effect and if I have to choose between a tracking error or a mechanical paradox ... you get my point.

Have you verified the pivot to spindle distance in your second armboard? Is it in agreement with the SAEC's unique recommendation? If so, then you don't have much of a choice. I remember on most set-ups that I've seen (in photos) that the majority of users accept the std SAEC recom. align. of not twisting the cart. Me too I would like to hear from someone who has experience on both alignments upon a 308. Unfortunatelly I have very limited free time these days for more exploration.