Lyra or ZYX ?

Pani - to answer your question, I have had the SME V and can tell you the 3012 is not even close. The 3012 has an old fashioned charm, read coloured, to the sound and lacks resolution. The SME V has a very organic sound, its a big sound. Some people complain that it is a bit fat and loose in the bass/midbass but in my experience this is turntable/cartridge dependent. My pick of the 9" SME's is the SME IVi sold by Sumiko as the SME IV now has the same bearings as the V but omits the damping and other stuff you dont need. The IVi is an American version that has been rewired with Magnan ultrathin ribbon that is very good. You might also want to check reviews of the SME 312S that Albert Porter regards quite highly.

Thank you guys. Thats a lot of useful information to chew upon. Could I ask what would be a good compliance number to be considered "high" ?

The SME 3012 is more or less made for super soft compliance carts (For example Shure Systems at its time). The bearing of that Arm can't handle cartridges which moves energy into it. The Armbearing starts to "vibrate) and the result will be a smearing in the details. No audible dynamic stops-and go...but mainly you hear that with classical Ballet music....The Phantom Arm is ultrarigd for a Unipivot and one of those, where you can close a chapter.

Syntax, I was looking at a 47 Labs RS-A1 arm. It is affordable and quite well appreciated. Do you have any opinions about it ?

Syntax, you say that the SME 3012 was made for super soft carts but it has a effective mass of 14 grams, will that accomodate a high compliance cartridge like the Shure or Empire (compliance above 25) ?