SME Leaves the Tonearm Business

[Vrajbasi]

the arm tubes are made in the usa may be the pound V dollar may have finaly hit home,not every one can pay out 10k on a deck , i think it is a mistake,one which sme my regret ,after all they own garrard now as well,
pete

Good point I was told recently that the arm tube supplier was changed a few years back and prices went up drastically.

[JohnG]

After a little fumbling I have come across a report on the recent history of SME as a Company.
In 2016 SME were purchased by a Corporation called Cadence.

I seem to getting the idea Cadence were intending on capitalising on SME Engineering name by using it for producing parts for other renowned industries.

Cadence have bought up a few Single Component Audio Companies, one being the British Company Spendor, one being a Dutch Company Siltech and another Company Crystal Cables.

SME had their marketing removed from their control, and sales and sales strategies were to be handled by a Company called Padood.

Maybe trying to second guess SME, 'as one thinks they know them', for their future marketing strategy is an impossibility, as it might not be theirs in the first place ?

[gwernaffield]

Cadence audio , is owened by one person who has a 75% stake in SME , so you could say he owns that as well , as garrad, etc ,, Ajay Baburao SHIRKE( companies house ) he owns at least 75% of the compnies ,
www.cwmdiecast.com these are the people that were supplying the casting for the arm tubes ,
pete

[struth]

Must be a very rich person then

[gwernaffield]

grant you could say that, he seems to own a lot of audio companies, sme did this when he first took over and then put the prices up,i would take a guess that is what may happen again, after a couple of years thay will come back with a stupid price tag,
if you have forked out 30k on one of their tables well 10k for a 309 will seem cheap

[JohnG]

Sound like a Electric Razor Advert from yesteryear, Back to the days of being bombarded with Brut and Black Magic at Christmas.

" I Liked it so much, I bought the Company "

[montesquieu]

Cadence audio , is owened by one person who has a 75% stake in SME , so you could say he owns that as well , as garrad, etc ,, Ajay Baburao SHIRKE( companies house ) he owns at least 75% of the compnies ,
www.cwmdiecast.com these are the people that were supplying the casting for the arm tubes ,
pete

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajay_Shirke

[loheswaran]

This is pretty bizarre.
They've always made tonearms - in fact they were often found on Garrards.
They buy the Garrard name which they then sell at over £15,000 and intend to re-tool for that.

[Edward]

Ajay Shirke was at the recent HiFi show at Ascot. Seemed like a friendly guy.

Selling a souped up £18k 301 TT would make me friendly as well.