SME 309 Tonearm, is it good?🤔

[Zoomcap]

Hi Jonathan I was browsing through and this thread is interesting to me in that I too have a Gyrodec with an SME series 1V arm, both bought new in 2004
I wondered if you have ever had the arm serviced? SME want £900 but apparently comes back as new with a rewire as well
I did contact another company who said they never need servicing!?
Interested in your opinion !

[JonathanG]

Hi Zoomcap,

Firstly congratulations on owning what I regard as one of the best value high-end turntable combinations money can buy. The Gyro with an SME IV or V is I think I giant killer - you’ve got to spend a huge amount more money in my experience to equal or better it provided it’s running a top flight cartridge (something like an AT ART20 or Lyra Kleos - because that’s what it deserves)

I haven’t had my arm serviced and it’s about 4-5 years old now and my gut feel says it isn’t something that should need servicing unless you bought it secondhand and thus don’t know its history, or if it has been subjected to shock/impact or potential damage. That’s just my view though and I would personally take SME’s guidance on such matters. They are a firm who have great integrity like Naim, so if they say service every 10 or 15 years I would probably take their advice.

The truth is I don’t know what they say about that though, but it strikes me that a tonearm of such exemplary engineering pedigree isn’t really subjected to any great stresses in normal use, so I see little reason why it would need regular servicing unless the bearing oils are subject to degradation over time. Yours is 20 years old though so it’s possible that the oils may have degraded or the spec of the tonearm wire may have changed.

I have contacted my pal at SME on your behalf to check their recommended service interval and will report back here.

I hope that is helpful, happy listening!

JonathanG

[Zoomcap]

Hi Jonathan thank you so much for your very helpful reply
I agree the Gyro/ SME combo is great and the diminishing returns law really applies here as you say
I haven’t had any noticeable issues with the arm, it’s just that it’s 21 years old and from what I’ve heard after a service its apparently like a new one
I would be very interested to hear what your contact says, in the meantime thank you again and Happy Listening!!
Steve

[Thegreatroberto]

It’s a difficult call. On one hand, a £900 cost, on the other, the confidence of an arm that is “back to design”. There can’t be a lot of degradation with a tonearm. Bearings, yes, but they are hardly heavily loaded. Yes, lubrication may evaporate, but so what? Any cabling insulation and termination may degrade the most.
Me, I know what I’d do, but it’s not my money.

[Zoomcap]

So I assume you would have it serviced then?

[frenchrooster]

When I had the SME V, SME told me that the only thing I can do is change the silicone fluid inside.
However I had the SME 20 with the V arm for 15 years and didn’t observed any degradation.

[Thegreatroberto]

Yes. It buys me another 20 years of trouble free use. But i would ask SME, what they do for my £900 and why.

[LutherP]

@JonathanG I would also be interested in the response from SME. I bought my Series V in 1989 and has remained mounted on the Gyrodec since, so may be due a service but I have not noticed any issues with it.

[simon.pepper]

My too. SME V bought early ‘00’s for my Michell ORBE.
Used with a number of cartridges early on, but for the majority of the last 20 years, a Lyra Helikon and a Lyra Skala.

Playing a record is a ‘sit down & listen’ activity, so only tends to be one or twice a week and being away 25% of times, reduces that playing time.
So no ‘return-to-SME’ based servicing undertaken.
I have cleaned out the damping trough, a few times, and refilled with fresh fluid.

In fact post-Brexit makes sending anything to the UK difficult now especially if it needs to return to you in the EU.

[JonathanG]

Here’s the response I received from SME:

Hey JG!

A Series IV of that age would most likely have been wired with LCOFC (copper) tone arm cable. If the purchaser specified a wiring upgrade, it was probably Van den Hul silver litz wire. The Series IV wire was actually upgraded in the early – mid 2000’s to SV silver litz wire.

We generally suggest a service is worthwhile after 15 – 20 years of use.

SME will provide comprehensive feedback as well

So it sounds to me as if those of you with early arms may benefit from a re-wire with the newer wiring, so probably worth trying to establish which wire it has and the build date of your arm. Nice to hear that they provide a technical report on it too with the service.

I hope that is helpful.

JonathanG

[Zoomcap]

Many thanks for this Jonathan very useful
Pretty sure that when I bought the arm in 2004 I didn’t request a wire upgrade, I still have the original invoice and nothing like that is mentioned
So I think I will be getting it serviced as it does seem worthwhile
Thanks for everyone’s input

[Thegreatroberto]

They haven’t said why they “generally suggest a service is worthwhile after 15-20 years of use.”
To be fair, my mum could recommend a service after that many years !
It’s okay for SME giving feedback on what they find, but equally, I’d expect them to tell the customer the basis for a service interval of 15-20 years. After all, they designed and built the arm and should have more experience of these arms than most.

[JonathanG]

I don’t represent SME so I’m afraid I cannot answer your points Roberto, so I suggest those wishing to find out more call the factory, or speak to their dealer or speak to The Audio Lounge in London who are in fact part of the SME/Cadence Audio group. I’ve found SME to be extremely approachable and honest over the years, they’re a firm with not just superlative engineering but integrity too.

I’m happy that like Naim they continue to manufacture and repair their products in the UK even if this likely isn’t the cheapest option for them. Long may this continue to be the case. I’m sure many of us have had quite enough of buying something made in China and finding there is no repair network, no repair availability or service back up and no parts availability either… After 16 years loyal service our Hayter petrol mower needed exensive repair work so on the spur of the moment I bought a Homebase electric mower 12 months ago for around £150. The same mower is available from lots of leading stores under different brand names and it’s made in China and comes with a 2 year warranty.

We were delighted with it right up until the beginning of this Summer when it failed to run (at only 12 months old!) Knowing it had a 2 year warranty I wasn’t overly worried right up until the moment I was told that our warranty was with Homebase who of course have gone bust. Nobody can repair it because no parts are available, I can’t find out who made it and even if I could I doubt they would have any interest in supporting it from China… So yet more of the planets resources end up in landfill…

I’m sick of firms like this and so I will always support products made by firms who stand behind their products for the long term - Naim, Leema, Michell, SME, ATC etc.

JonathanG

[Thegreatroberto]

Good engineering and solid integrity go hand in hand. Yes it costs, buy poor engineering tends to cost more.