SME IV Wins HFN Group Review

[MartinT]

Who would have thought that Hi-Fi News would ever again feature a group review of tonearms? Analogue is back! Anyway, it's interesting that the SME IV won the group review, also featuring Linn Akito, Ortofon TA-100 (is this a Jelco?), Pro-Ject 10cc Evolution, Rega RB1000 and Roksan Nima.

The SME IV's "bass power was truly visceral, the bass synth and kick drum combining depth and muscular energy in equal measure together with an ability to stop and start with commanding precision". Yep, pretty much as I remember when I owned one.

[DSJR]

I don't give a stuff how the SME does But I *would* like to read how the Akito does in such exalted company....

The Ortofon arms are Jelco derived I think and possibly "great" because of the prices asked. Sad that the people in the middle take so much slurp from them, grossly inflating the retail prices to double what I think they're really worth..

[MartinT]

The Akito came second.

[DSJR]

Oh good God............

The Akito mk2 I remember from not many years ago sounded grainy and ballistic with none of the musical "freedom" I hear from the Nima or ARO, let alone the Rega R200 from 30 years ago... I know Linn told us it was as good as an early thin-pillar'd Ittok, but I personally didn't think so and it certainly was a clumsy thing to set up, with no finesse over the counterweight movement or bias setting, which is still similar to the old Basik arms IIRC...

[kcc123]

Was it a joke? I was surprised by the Hi-Fi News review that the Akito mk2 came out second in the group. I did a direct comparison with the Ittok some time ago and the Akito did not fare that well in the sonic department against its bigger brother while using the same AT OC9 mk2 cartridge on both arms.

[DSJR]

The mk1 Akito was a total joke and was made with plasticene, or the metallic equivalent thereof. The mk2 is supposed to be better, with harder materials used. Linn claimed (to justify the huge price hike?) that the performance was as good as the early thin pillared Ittok. Thing is, the very early Ittoks had superb bearings and the "feel" of the controls (especially the tracking force dial) is in a different league IMO.

[hifi_dave]

Who did the review and how were the 'comparisons' supposedly carried out ?..

[chris@panteg]

Yes what Deck and cart ' Phono stage ' and so on though i am a little bias towards SME as i love the 309 .

But the Nima is in a different price range to the others though it does punch above its weight , having owned one i would say it has an open and fluid sound but gets muddled on complex music (classical) and is fiddly to use .

[MartinT]

John Bamford did the reviews, Paul Miller the lab tests. Equipment used was Clearaudio Innovation Compact deck on a Townshend Seismic Sink stand with Ortofon Cadenza Blue cartridge. The rest of the equipment is not stated.

[chris@panteg]

Thanks for that Martin

I have always respected John Bamford ' i remember him being a big fan of the Voyd and Townsend decks years ago .