Cartridge for a SME dilemma

[Jonboy]

Hello All long time no see
now the divorce is finalised and I’ve moved house I’m getting back into my Hifi and now have a dedicated room for it at last for the time being anyway ha ha
i have a Denon 103r in my SME 3012 arm running a garrard 301 and just not happy with the sound it sounds very lack lustre , i had better results using a bone stock Lenco with this cartridge , also got a Orotfon SPU but that’s just too heavy to work in the 12 inch arm as it has the transformer in the cartridge and couldnt get enough counter weight to balance it so what suggestions do you have for something else ? Could go back to the lenco but want to peruse with the SME set up
budget around £400 cos I’ve been fleeced by the ex

[Gerry]

Hana SL if you could stretch, if not the EL. SME & Denon is never a happy marriage.

[Jonboy]

The write ups look good Gerry , yes I can stretch

[Gerry]

The write ups look good Gerry , yes I can stretch

Well worth it. one of my favourite's. Maybe not quite as subtle as my Benz Ace, but has a full sound with drive that I like. Captures the detail though.

[Mike Reed]

Your 3012 was, if it's the one I had with my 401 back in the very early seventies, designed for m/magnets and is, I believe, fairly low eff. mass. Nearly all SMEs are anyway. Don't know your Denon, but I suspect it's a low compliance cart., and if so, won't be a great match with the SME.

There are m/coils which would be compatible, but I've no idea if the Hana, which has received excellent reviews, needs a heavier arm. Could be wrong here, but compatibility on paper usually means compatibility in practice.

[montesquieu]

SPU #1 S or E - job done. For a 3012 there isn't a better option for £450.

[Barry]

Alistair Robertson-Aikman designed the SME precisely with the Ortofon SPU in mind (which is why he adopted the Ortofon arm/cartridge coupling connector at the arm end - originally SMEs were sold without a headshell, the latter being an optional extra). Thus they should be capable of balancing out the weight of SPUs (even those SPUs without the transformer are fitted with an additional weight internally so as to weigh the same as the SPUGT).

[Jonboy]

Before I go spending I’ve Been having a fiddle with the SPU and have managed to get it to balance with the optimal heavier counter weight , running at just under 5 Gramms gave Woolley bass and running at 4 gramms made the top end to harsh so set it at 4.25 which is a good compromise , one of the problems I had before was that it would miss track and state across the record before it got to the end but seems to be tracking ok now probably as it’s running reasonably heavy ....perhaps fate but the SME factory is litualry at the bottom of my garden across the park I back onto