The arm only has a moving mass of 5 gms, that is low these days but this combination works fantastic. I have a Grado Reference Series 2 that weighs 10 gms with a compliance of 20. I read all sorts of bad comments like its the Red Head of SME’s arms but there were a few that loved it and I’m here to say I’m in the love camp. I just acquired one and put it on an Oracle Alexandria. Personaly, I use a test record to have an objective evaluation of the setup and confirm the resonance expected. It pays to take time to setup VTA with those line contact/shibata stylus. I am using the 4.4g ballast with Benz-Micro Glider L2 with what I consider very good results. With SME ballast weight (2.2g/4.4g) for the headshell, a wider range of cartridges can be considered. They're so underrated and so much more uncommon than the series 2 Wide soundstage and very clear and rich mids/highs. I guess its made that way to dampen the excessive vibrations from the cartridge. The engineering is fascinating a titanium carrying arm dampened with silicone. It's so friggin wide I feel I can hear the vocals coming from behind. When I can clearly tell apart Joe Elliott's vocal against Steve Clark's / Phil Colleen's guitars, I know I have a winner. For reference I'm gonna use some Def Leppard. I'm gonna guess some audiofools would call it harsh. (Sorry I'm borrowing from someone else's review). The mid-range and highs are so utterly rich and detailed. I just got one with a Technics SL 150 Mk2 for peanuts. Unfortunately this has not gone un noticed and today I will be lucky to pick up an arm tube for the same price as I bought the entire arm 5 years ago. I made use of this and acquired one at a low price I was contemplating a series 2 with removable head shell but their prices were twice the series 3's. The quirky titanium Arm dispensing with the usual removable head shell and going for a Titanium tube the black carbon fibre loaded plastics used for the auxiliary components adds to the futuristic look a real gamble for SME at the time and did not really meet much market acceptance at the time. Any way it is an SME and first thing out of the box is the superb engineering in comparison with lesser arms the main bearing is super smooth frictionless almost the ability to do VTA height adjustments could not be easier. It is certainly a bit of a marmite arm you either love or hate the look. Much maligned for its space race looks and use of novel materials.
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