Good cartridge match for SME R3012 tone arm?

Any SPU, Miyajima Shilabe, Koetsu, Supex, any heavier bodied, lower compliance cartridge will be a good match. That is a great tonearm -- look into the Analog Tube Audio mods available from Robert in Germany. They are well worth the upgrade.

Riz1, are you saying that this tonearm cannot perform well with other cartridges like the Dynavector XX2 ? Pardon my ignorance, I am a beginner in analogue and incidentally looking at the very same arm.

Dekay, can you please elaborate on what you read about the ATA mods ? I am considering a 3012 with ATA mods actually, hence the question.

Pani:

I read that the Bronze piece added a dry nature to the sound.

At the time I was considering adding it to a 3012R, but ended up selling the arm and staying with my older 3009 non-improved.

This said, I could never hear a difference between the older metal knife edge and the later plastic knife edge models.