The 3012r had ABEC 1 bearings on in the vertical position and hard nylon on the horizontal, having owned all versions of the 3012 the 3012r has a real flow to the music it just does not get in the way of the music it is truly one of the most engaging arms ever built and compares amazingly well against all the modern top offerings. For some reason while all the other versions are wonderful the 3012r just sounds like it has no signature in comparison its a stunning arm. I would say buy one quick the prices are starting to soar and good samples becoming harder to source. I recently heard a special 3012r with a abec 7 instead of a 1 in the vertical bearing it was stunning so much more control and focus this was wired with ikeda wire. Some of the 3012rs has steel knife edges but the nylon examples sounded best. There was a special edition version with steel knife edge I much prefer the nylon it has a gentler sound.There was a 3012r HE available for a short period which had a brass bass plate instead of the dicast common version. The best I ever heard was a gold plated version with with abec 7s and a highly tuned nylon bearing the thick copper plating and nickel combined with the gold really does change things.
The 3012r in all variants is still the pick of the bunch.
I do like the M12R I have had different results with various samples I had one that was stunning in every way with amazing control the unsung hero in the current line up of sme tomearms in my opinion.
Last edited by Vrajbasi; 30-05-2019 at 15:29.
Most important and used Walker Black Diamond Etsuro Gold, Micro Seiki 8000mk2 Kondo special V12 Tiger Eye, Fidelity Research FR 66 Shindo spu, EMT 927, sme 312 aluminium. Fidelity research fr66, Sme 3012 mk1, Sme V, Ikeda 407 IT Sme Model 30/2/Dynavector 507 Kodo Beat Turntable Airtangent 10B modified Fidelity fr66s Etsuro Cartridge . Kondo Gakuoh Mk1 powers G70 Pre,Audio Tekne TFA-8695PCS pre Audio Tekne TEA 8695 Phono. Lfd Battery Phono Stage heavily custom rebuilt by Dr Richard Bews, Tharx Phono Stage. Lfd Master Dual Biamp power amp, Lfd Anniversary master preamp. Shindo Latour Field Coil. Rockport Cygnus Biamped, Voigt Domestic Corner Horns/ Feastex Fildcoils. LFD Custom silver Ribbons. LFD Diamond Vipor Mk2 interconnects, Lfd Golden Cobra interconnect. Koetsu blue lace mono special order, Koetsu burma jade mono special order.