Series 300
| It was all of thirty years ago that I first became aware of a company called The Scale Model Equipment Ltd., now inevitably but fondly abbreviated to SME. A previous Audio Editor, the late Percy Wilson, was then making one of his lengthy visits to the United States and as a relative newcomer to GRAMOPHONE. I had rashly agreed to sort his not inconsiderable mail, answering such as I could. Amongst it was a rather formal letter from a Mr Robertson-Aikman of the above company, stating his intention to design and manufacture a superior pickup arm and hoping to enlist Percy's undoubted expertise in such matters.In due course there resulted the first SME arm, soon to be justly acclaimed as 'The best pickup arm in the world' and promptly reviewed in our January 1960 issue.As I recall PW's contribution was to supply figures for arm geometry and to suggest the insertion of a fibre |  |
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Rawlplug into the hollow arm tube to provide damping.This, together with Alastair Robertson-Aikman's engineering appreciation of the problems, and his perfectionist approach, ensured a successful design which created a new plateau in what was then a burgeoning field. In the years between AR-A, as he is known in the industry, has become a firm friend of us all at GRAMOPHONE, most of whose reviewers use his products, and I have never been without one or another of his continuing stream of designs, all of which have presented us with a worthwhile advance in the art. Recent reviews have described his later brainchildren, the masterly Series V (September 1986) and the simplified Series IV (July 1987). Meeting some earlier designs halfway is this latest venture, the Series 300, reverting to a detachable headshell and available in three arm lengths, nominally 9, 10 and 12 inch (pivot to stylus).
It will probably induce something of a shock wave at the SME headquarters in the delightful Sussex town of Steyning when AR-A notices my authorship of this report, for I know that he regards me as a committed proponent of Compact Disc. And he is right. When I eventually experienced a digital system which was audibly undetectable I was certain that this was the way forward, although, unlike the subsequent industry advertising, I was not so naïve as to expect instant perfection. However, in spite of a fair amount of mutual leg-pulling, he also knows that I refuse to regard the two systems as anything other than alternative ways of enjoying music and view the current ascendancy of CD as part of a perfectly normal progression from cylinder to disc, first at 78rpm or thereabouts, via LP to Stereo LP, to CD and then who knows what? Those who insist on regarding the current scene in a competitive light, as some recent correspondents have done, seem more concerned with promoting the means rather than the end. In my case the means are a now almost static collection of some 1,500 LPs and a much smaller but growing roster of CDs (plus many miles of tape!). Judging from recent evidence, this represents a not untypical situation for many readers and so SME have made a very sensible response to market forces in introducing this latest arm. . . "which although not intended quite to challenge the Series IV or ultimate Series V has been aimed to meet the needs of a broader market requiring alternative arm lengths, an interchangeable shell facility and lower cost". Having now used this latest manifestation of the SME team's design skills for a few weeks I think that in no sense can they be regarded as having shot themselves in the foot with this economical and excellent newcomer, for many potential customers who would, in present circumstances, back away from the cost of the admittedly delectable Series IV or V, will see this as a justifiable expense and a worthy alternative. Where IV and V might sell in hundreds this one should appeal to many thousands, for I have to tell them that they will not be missing much by their parsimonious approach, and to many that one significant difference, the detachable headshell, will be seen as a desirable plus point.
Although the form taken by the latest SME arms will be familiar to most readers from their extensive advertising, and many will have our two reports referred to above, it is likely that a new strata of prospective customers, attracted by the price, will welcome a few details. Starting at the sharp end, the new detachable headshell is a magnesium pressure diecasting fitted with four gold-plated contacts in the socket which engage with other spring loaded contacts at the end of the arm. Four, colour coded, multi-stranded, linear crystal oxygen-free copper, litz wires, fitted with gold-plated, sprung receptacles at each end, are provided and replacement sets are available (they are very, very difficult to repair if broken). Similar flexible cabling is used to carry the signals through the arm and out via the arm pillar to a 5 pin DIN connector housed in a horizontal rotating socket at its lower end. There is a 1.2m set of LCOFC audio leads which mate solidly with this fitting and carry gold-plated SME phono plugs at their remote end together with a separate ground lead. The damped rotating socket means that the bunch of leads can leave the arm at any angle within a travel of 315 degrees. Fitting your choice of cartridge is greatly eased with the detachable headshell; four alternative lengths of alloy screws are provided, together with nuts and washers and there is an optional finger lift. In practice I found that the screw heads and the nuts provided were too large to drop into the countersunk holes in a number of cartridges and I had to resort to those provided by the cartridge manufacturer. No matter.
SME have devised a very rigid fixing for this headshell which is retained by a socket cap bolt engaging a keyway against the pressure of the spring contacts. When this bolt is tightened with the wrench supplied an extremely firm joint results. A small degree of rotation is available before the bolt is finally secured so that the cartridge can be truly upright (setting with a small mirror on the turntable is advised). The black, tapered arm itself and the substantial yoke on which it is pivoted by a ground steel shaft running in 10mm ball races follow the theme set by the Series V. Economies have been made in the materials used (a rigid tapered aluminium alloy tube in place of the magnesium used in the Series IV and V) and in the extreme tolerance specified for the V. Similar remarks apply to the 23mm diameter vertical steel pillar whose own complex steel shaft runs in 17mm races top and bottom to minimize tilt. Whether anyone other than SME themselves could measure or reliably assess the effect of these cost-containing choices is open to conjecture. My own simple test is to balance the arm, just breathe on it to set it in motion and then watch to see if it comes to rest without signs of 'stiction'. Test passed.
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This incorporates a pair of clamping jaws which engage the cylindrical pillar for vertical height adjustment and a pair of 'V' slides along which these jaws can be racked by means of a special key until the headshell overlays an outline drawing on the template-simple when you see it and adequately precise. The jaws are spring loaded so no loss of adjustment occurs before final locking and this permits one further setting, the distance between the edge of the headshell and the turntable spindle when the arm is in its rest; necessary to confirm the calibration of the antiquate setting control knob alongside. Between the two protrudes the lift: lower lever; this normally gives a controlled descent if left to its own devices but can be raced down for a quick cue. One final adjustment may be necessary with the tiniest wrench (0.89mm) to set the height of the arm lift.
All the above may sound difficult and time consuming. It is not -mainly because of the admirable instruction book whose 22 pages include 38 clear photographs and 7 line drawings. I unpacked and looked at all the bits when this arm arrived in the morning post, read the book over a solitary lunch and sat down to fit it and an Ortofon moving-coil cartridge to my already SME-equipped turntable in the evening. Eighteen minutes later it was playing -beautifully. It is certainly the best arm I have ever incorporated in my home installation although I have from time to time had the use of a player fitted with a Series V. There seems to be no recognizable difference in performance that I can identify. The impression is one of near neutrality for example colorations previously experienced with some voices (pace Domingo) have virtually disappeared. Surface ticks were clipped short and noise generally lowered. With some of the early Sheffield and Crystal Clear direct cut discs in my collection, as with the latest DMM process which EMI have been exploiting, the quality of sound was quite superb and it was really only the faint surface noise of the latter which distinguished them from the identical CDs. And this is surely the way it should be. Every bit of progress in either system should bring them closer together -after all in most cases they originate from the same master and if either differ from it they must be deficient.
Tracking with the several other cartridges on hand has always been solid. The subsonic resonance with those tried fell in the range 6 to 15Hz and varied from 5 to l0dB depending on the compliance and suspension. As with the IV and V the new arm is intended to match up with the modern trend to use moving-coil cartridges of low to medium compliance. if you prefer some of those more advanced high compliance moving magnet or micro-cross types by such as B&O or Shure, which hardly touch the record at all, then you would probably be better off if you chose the well known Series Ill- although the 300 will cope if your discs are reasonably flat. Horses for courses, they say, but this one, carrying Alastair Robertson-Aikman's colours, is a true thoroughbred and already I would only offer very short odds against it winning the Black Disc Derby.
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