12-inch tonearm options

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Originally Posted by Dominic Harper

I will be offering a SME 3009 to 3012 conversion in the near future. This will include ebony isolation instead of the rubber parts usually fitted, brass counterweights and solid silver int wiring. I just need to get some counterweights made and I'm good to go. New arm wands are made of stainless steel.
The donor arm does need to have detachable headshell.

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Please can you pm me for a price as i do like the sme arms

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Originally Posted by Jonneville

I was in the same position last year when looking for a 12" arm for my TD 124. I considered those Gerd arms but couldn't find anything about them apart from a mention of a modified Thorens arm on Stefano's site. I've noticed that his prices have increased somewhat over the last year - seem to be about half as much again compared with what they were. Wasn't that Ortofon arm used on a cheap music centre, which is presumably his source?

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Sorry to come late to this: -

Just to counter this ill-founded speculation with actual knowledge and experience of Alfred Gerd's ortofon-based tonearms, which I use on my TD124 MkII alongside a Fidelity Research FR64S.

1) It's simply not true that Alfred's arms come from 'cheap music centres' - no music centre I'm aware of uses the AS212 bearing and anti-skate mechanism. And if one existed then it would hardly be cheap. Can you provide any evidence of this mythical music centre? Just curious as to where this comment is coming from. To repeat, it looks identical to the AS212 I used to own some time ago.

2) To my eyes the bearing/housing is brand new which tallies with what Albert is on the record as saying - that he picked up a bunch of NOS bearings. When they are all gone (and I think he is down to just a few left), they are gone. The arm holder (bolting onto the plinth/armboard) is brand new Ortofon supplied.

3) Albert's workmanship is fantastic, the arm tube's fit and finish is lovely and it is, indeed, utterly resonance free as he decribes. I had him use his top-end cable which is silver-plated copper, not bad but I will probably ask J7 to work his magic on it with come Kondo wire down the line. But regardless, it sounds wonderful with the SPUs (mono and stereo) I'm using it with.

4) I'm in the fortunate (or perhaps not so fortunate) position of previously owning the Thomas Schick tonearm. This was reasonably well made for its original price, though it has more than doubled since its launch and in my view now represents very poor value for money. I used a Schick arm for about two years with my now-departed Garrard 401 and I have to say although it was fairly well finished, sonically it consistently disappointed. The absence of anti-skate was a real problem with some cartridges I tried to use with it (Including a Koetsu Rosewood, which was never happy in it, as well as various Lyras, Shelters and a Ortofon Jubilee). Back to back with the arm I replaced it with, with the same motor unit in the same plinth (an Audio Origami 12in PU7) the Schick arm was hopelessly embarrassed. For my purposes and from my perspective, the Gerd arm is not just equal but superior to the Schick, at substantially less cost.

5) I did consider the 12in Jelco, I've oned the 9in 750 and it was very good, but I'm pretty sure the Alfred Gerd arm is superior to that too. It also looks MUCH cooler.

It really pisses me off to see someone's work criticised like this on pure speculation. Albert's arms are cheap simply because he is a retired German engineer, living in Spain with plenty of time on his hands and a real dedication to perfection. He doesn't have to charge for every hour spent and if he did these would be much much more expensive.

It's not a big commercial exercise for him, he has no plans for world domination of the 12in tonearm market, he merely wants to put some lovely kit out there at a price that covers his costs plus a little, for the joy of it and the pleasure of those who buy them. His English is good enough for communication but perhaps not good enough for the sort of self promotion required to meet the 'there's nothing on the internet therefore I don't trust it' mentality that is sadly all too prevalent today.

Any suspicion on the grounds of 'cheapness' is perhaps understandable, but totally unwarranted. Mine is a keeper for sure. Given the fact he only has a few bearing housings left, there may only be a few more to come in any case. I would say to anyone considering purchase, don't hesitate.

I can't say where Alfred's arms come from, but the AS212 was fitted to a Telefunken "music centre.

I have one, the first problem is the integrated lifting mechanism. With a bit of DIY, a Rega arm lift can be fitted.

I can say I've heard a Gerd arm though, on a plinth I built with a 401, Dennon 103. It was the heart of a very high end system and sounded sublime. It certainly wasn't a weak link. For a remanufactured tonearm, the Ortofon is pretty good value.

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Originally Posted by DiveDeepDog

I can't say where Alfred's arms come from, but the AS212 was fitted to a Telefunken "music centre.

I have one, the first problem is the integrated lifting mechanism. With a bit of DIY, a Rega arm lift can be fitted.

I can say I've heard a Gerd arm though, on a plinth I built with a 401, Dennon 103. It was the heart of a very high end system and sounded sublime. It certainly wasn't a weak link. For a remanufactured tonearm, the Ortofon is pretty good value.

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There have been several models of AS212 over the years. The housing on mine looks brand new to me but there's no guarantee of what vintage it is. It may well be that the early ones were recycled but mine looks NOS. As for the arm lift mine works absolutely fine though it was a bit tricky to set up for the first time. No idea why you'd want to stick a Rega one on.

EDITED TO CLARIFY: Digging into this, it seems the AS212 MKI was fitted to some old Telefunken music centres. it looks like this:

http://pedipsen.dk/Audio/DSC_1667.JPG

My Gerd arm looks nothing like this, the bearing housing looks very similar to THIS model AS212 (the MKII) though with a different mechanism added to operate the arm lift (perhaps by Alfred I don't know):

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...ieu61/pic1.jpg

This may well be where the confusion has arisen. The arm tube and weights of course are entirely different to the original AS212 MkII. Of course the current AS212 (list price £1500) is a different design again.

Goldenote U312 - lovely finish on these arms ...

http://www.audioflair.co.uk/products...oldenote-u312/

This guy, Miroslav in Stockholm showed a very nice turntable at the Stockholm HighEnd show on the 16-17/2 2013. If i understand correcly it is about an Ortofon which he upgrades and sells:
http://veteranhifi.se/bilder/Ortofon-RF-297.jpg

It is available as a complete player also, based on a Lenco L/GL75:
http://veteranhifi.se/bilder/Lenco-i-ek.jpg
Price around £1300 for the complete player... (without pickup, of course)
The sample that was playing at Sthlm HighEnd had a Miyajima Shilabe pickup! :)

Regards
//Mike

This is a 12" arm, sold direct from the manufacturer. Yes, it is very inexpensive, but someone who's opinion I trust has tried the arm on his Luxman PD-444 (I have the same table) and he said it is a very, very good tonearm. Also, the money saved could be put toward a better cartridge, or you could just keep it in your wallet. I also like the idea that if you decided to sell it, you wouldn't take much of a loss on it at all. Here's a link:

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/ton...8-analog-18701