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Thread: SME Leaves the Tonearm Business

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jan 2008

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    Default SME Leaves the Tonearm Business

    https://www.stereonet.co.uk/news/sme...K3B5UgFuh9u684

    SME arms only to be sold as a package with their turntables from now on.
    .

  2. #2
    Join Date: Jul 2011

    Location: lancashire

    Posts: 802
    I'm brian.

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    That’s a shame.

    Ive had many 3009s and 3012s and enjoyed them a lot.

    I only owned one modern one, a “5”.

    I loved it. It looked really great, and as it was used on a fantastic turntable, a VOYD 3 motor, it sounded fantastic too.

    If a big company such as this decides it isn’t viable any more, then the end really is near for turntables. Do you think?

    Wir a’ doomed I tell ye....dooomed !

  3. #3
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex

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    I'm Dave.

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    Plenty of other makes selling in the UK but because of their price hikes, SME is very expensive here and so they have limited their market.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

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    I'm Geoff.

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    I expect that will boost second hand prices. Not that they are exactly low.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2009

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    Quote Originally Posted by take5 View Post
    If a big company such as this decides it isn’t viable any more, then the end really is near for turntables. Do you think?
    Audio is only a small part of SME as a whole and I wouldn’t read into this decision the negative connotations you suggest.

    In fact the statement from SME would seem to contradict you suggest that the end of the turntable is near - quite the opposite in fact; “The company states that this decision is based on the growth of its turntable business and commitment to higher production levels”.
    Account Deleted

  6. #6
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,590
    I'm Steve.

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    Quote Originally Posted by take5 View Post
    That’s a shame.

    Ive had many 3009s and 3012s and enjoyed them a lot.

    I only owned one modern one, a “5”.

    I loved it. It looked really great, and as it was used on a fantastic turntable, a VOYD 3 motor, it sounded fantastic too.

    If a big company such as this decides it isn’t viable any more, then the end really is near for turntables. Do you think?

    Wir a’ doomed I tell ye....dooomed !
    Not necessarily, it could just be that with growing numbers of high quality tonearms available at more realistic prices they are seeing their market share shrinking - and have decided to jump before they were pushed. Just my uneducated opinion of course.
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

  7. #7
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,590
    I'm Steve.

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    Or maybe they're trying what Heinz did with their salad cream a few years ago, and are now just waiting for the outcry to begin.
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

  8. #8
    Join Date: Jun 2018

    Location: Mildenhall, Suffolk

    Posts: 380
    I'm John.

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    It is now to be, that certain individuals who wish to aspire to a SME Tonearm will either be buying a used tonearm as many have, or buying a SME TT > Tonearm Combination if they wish to own one new.
    A used SME Tonearm as a purchase can be a very wise purchase, many own a used purchase SME and have not looked back, with the added bonus of having funds remaining to attach a quality cartridge, this as the option has its attraction when compared to a new purchase price.
    I can't see all SME TT customers wanting to buy into a high end Tonearm from SME.
    I'm sure there will be other preferences being considered long before monies are exchanged with SME.

    As for Vinyl being a lost cause, I think that the present market presented to Artists, is making the Vinyl Medium a very attractive option.
    There are Market Surveys now available showing just how much a Artist has to sell on a Digital Streaming Media Platform to match a return on a low volume sale item such as vinyl.
    I also know that well known artists are not releasing material on a Digital Streaming Media Platform, until a sales figure of around 100 000 copies of a traditional media are created.
    Vinyl is at present a ascending market, with sales figures, slowly creeping towards parity with CD, which has descending sales figures and is losing its position in the market.
    It is today believed that Artists are very interested in releasing material on Vinyl.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,590
    I'm Steve.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnG View Post
    It is now to be, that certain individuals who wish to aspire to a SME Tonearm will either be buying a used tonearm as many have, or buying a SME TT > Tonearm Combination if they wish to own one new.
    A used SME Tonearm as a purchase can be a very wise purchase, many own a used purchase SME and have not looked back, with the added bonus of having funds remaining to attach a quality cartridge, this as the option has its attraction when compared to a new purchase price.
    I can't see all SME TT customers wanting to buy into a high end Tonearm from SME.
    I'm sure there will be other preferences being considered long before monies are exchanged with SME.

    As for Vinyl being a lost cause, I think that the present market presented to Artists, is making the Vinyl Medium a very attractive option.
    There are Market Surveys now available showing just how much a Artist has to sell on a Digital Streaming Media Platform to match a return on a low volume sale item such as vinyl.
    I also know that well known artists are not releasing material on a Digital Streaming Media Platform, until a sales figure of around 100 000 copies of a traditional media are created.
    Vinyl is at present a ascending market, with sales figures, slowly creeping towards parity with CD, which has descending sales figures and is losing its position in the market.
    It is today believed that Artists are very interested in releasing material on Vinyl.
    I'm betting that for many artists, the intangible presence of their efforts on hard drives and streams does not shout LEGACY, while a substantial physical media with nice artwork does. And long may it continue
    I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in

    T/T: Inspire Monarch, X200 tonearm, Ortofon Quintet Blue. Phono: Project Tube Box CD: Marantz CD6006 (UK Edition); Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated.
    Speakers: Zu Omen Def, REL T9i subwoofer. Cables: Atlas Equator interconnects, Atlas Hyper 3.0 speaker cables

    T'other system:
    Echo Dot, Amptastic Mini One,Arcam A75 integrated, Celestion 5's, BK XLS-200 DF

    A/V:
    LG 55" OLED, Panasonic Blu Ray, Sony a/v amp, MA Radius speakers, REL Storm sub

    Forget the past, it's gone. And don't worry about the future, it doesn't exist. There is only NOW.

    KICKSTARTER: ENABLING SCAMMERS SINCE 2009

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jun 2018

    Location: Mildenhall, Suffolk

    Posts: 380
    I'm John.

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    I'm not a vinyl collector, I am a vinyl user.
    Apart from a few recent purchases I have not stripped of their cellophane yet.
    I only have one purchase from yesteryear in cellophane that now causes me a dilemma, it is the original Pink Floyd the Pulse. I forgot I owned it, I put it away for a rainy day, and it never surfaced to recently, it still had the £50 receipt in the bag.
    That is now a difficult one to devalue by giving it a spin.
    That type of experience is far from a reality with any digital medium I know off.

    A more recent experience in the last 18 months was with Lee Harvey Osmond ' Beautiful Scars', I wanted it as Xmas gift but bought a alternative album, then a few months on, I attempted to purchase it as my Birthday Treat,
    the £30 Album was discovered to now be a out of print £600 purchase, if one can be found.
    I was Gutted that a fave album was so cruelly torn from my vinyl experience.
    Again I don't know of anything like that taking place with a digital medium.

    Vinyl deserves support, and if those who support it can tell a tale or two like mine then I'm sure the wild fire will take hold and many more will want once more to take part.

    Plus the Artist we so much enjoy will find easier riches on their career paths, rather than be ousted by a wannabee thrusting their fannies or ab's into a lens to achieve 100's of 1000's of hits in the social media sense.

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