Sme tonearm adapter series#
The Series V makes no provision for adjusting azimuth, the manufacturer claiming that this could not be incorporated into the design without sacrificing rigidity. Only when the desired settings are finally obtained is it necessary to lock the set screws. The fittings are internally spring-loaded, so that adjustments can be made without the need constantly to loosen and tighten set screws. The VTA/SRA can be adjusted while playing by means of a threaded shaft. While this would seem to reduce the effectiveness of the coupling between arm and armboard, SME asserts that the design causes locking force to be shared equally between the pillar and track assembly, "effectively locking the components into a single unit." I must say that I heard no imperfections in the sound that could be attributed to a poor arm/armboard interface. Rather than having to move and twist the cartridge in the headshell to minimize the lateral tracking error, the entire arm assembly is moved on a track. In lieu of the traditional headshell slots, there are only two holes to take the supplied Allen-head mounting screws. A thumbscrew moves the counterweight on a track to allow the arm to be balanced, a lever then locking the weight in place. In addition, the hanging design (also employed on the Eminent Technology Type II) avoids the concentric reflection of vibrations back into the arm-tube, which can be a problem with conventional counterweights. The counterweight is very close to the pivot point (again minimizing the effective mass), and hangs down from the rear of the arm-tube, placing the center of gravity in the horizontal plane, at the surface of the record. The arm-tube itself tapers radically from pivot to headshell, lowering its contribution to the effective massor alternatively allowing rigidity/stiffness to be increased for a given effective massand again lowering the Q of its resonant behavior.
![sme tonearm adapter sme tonearm adapter](https://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/13847/files/94811951/sme-sme-tonearm-connector.jpg)
More conventional metalssuch as titanium, which cannot be diecast, or aluminum, which can be diecast but is normally machined from a blockhave far more crystalline structures and higher Q resonances (the material has less inherent damping). Diecasting produces an alloy both very homogeneous and highly amorphous. The arm-tube and headshell are pressure-diecast in one piece, magnesium alloy being chosen because of its very high stiffness-to-weight ratio and its suitability for diecasting.
![sme tonearm adapter sme tonearm adapter](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2TgAAOSwa0VaIwNb/s-l1600.jpg)
![sme tonearm adapter sme tonearm adapter](https://i.etsystatic.com/15677609/r/il/a7f0c5/1392946127/il_fullxfull.1392946127_knti.jpg)
To call the Series V a good-looking tonearm is something of an understatement. However, SME is now backwith a vengeance! I believe that, once again, it is fair to say that SME makes "the best tonearm in the world." Delays due, among other things, to problems in finding subcontractors who could carry out work to the desired degree of qualitySME's Alastair Robertson-Aikman will not release a product until he feels that it is rightmeant that it took almost two years for that arm to hit the market. It wasn't being played, there was no way to tell how it sounded, but it certainly looked the business. I had just about written SME off as a serious high-end company when, at the 1984 Summer CES, I saw the first prototype of the Series V. Once upon a time, SME made " the best tonearm in the world." That claim may have been justifiable through the 1960s and early '70s, but then something happenedSME failed to keep pace with their competition in coping with the increasing popularity of low- to medium-compliance, highish-mass, moving-coil cartridges.