SME

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by daytona600, Sep 16, 2020.

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  1. daytona600

    daytona600 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    New SME 6 £6295
    .[​IMG]
     
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  2. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Looks like plastic.
     
  3. caracallac

    caracallac Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    I’ll reserve judgement until I hear it, but I couldn’t imagine AR-A coming out with something like that!
     
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  4. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    If I were more prosperous, I'd rather just have a nice SME 3009 II tonearm and an armboard for my Technics SL-1500 and that be my daily driver.
     
  5. Clay B

    Clay B Forum Resident

    Used value of my SME 10A is looking better!
     
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  6. Erocka2000

    Erocka2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    That looks like one of those cheap portable turntables. What the hell is SME thinking? I can't see how this is a better business move than just selling tonearms without having to buy a whole table.
     
    caracallac, Dubmart, slovell and 3 others like this.
  7. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    +1. SME crapped the bed when they got out of the tonearm biz. :(

    .
     
  8. formbypc

    formbypc Forum Resident

    What the ... ?

    Is it actually April 1st today, and I stepped through a time warp?
     
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  9. Andy Saunders

    Andy Saunders Always a pleasure never a chore

    Location:
    England
    Would not give them 2 bob for that.....

    That looks shocking that does.:(

    It is a joke right?
     
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  10. Swann36

    Swann36 A widower finding solace in music

    Location:
    Lincoln, UK
    The key thing to learn / know is how does it play / sound after all looking good is secondary to the sound produced ... well at least for me
     
  11. daytona600

    daytona600 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    Does look like a $500 Hanpin with a M2-9 arm

    .[​IMG]
     
  12. alan967tiger

    alan967tiger Forum Resident

    There's nothing on the SME website about it. Where did the OP get the pic/info I wonder?
     
  13. Robert Goodison

    Robert Goodison Never, ever, bloody anything ever!

    Location:
    Suffolk, England.
    The picture lacks scale, particularly when the separate controller is somewhat large, making the turntable look a bit 'Fisher Price'.

    More details here: SME Model 6 review | What Hi-Fi?

    42cm wide, 32cm deep.
     
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  14. Erocka2000

    Erocka2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    And it’s made out of plastic. £6295?! Lol

    It’d be more realistic if it was $1,500/2,000.
     
  15. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    Well, it may be just as well engineered as the review claims, but it omits a 78 speed. Leaving aside the $$$, that would let it out for me right there.
     
  16. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    The platter diameter is a known reference...
     
  17. Robert Goodison

    Robert Goodison Never, ever, bloody anything ever!

    Location:
    Suffolk, England.
    Some comments elsewhere were concerned that it looked tiny - even to the extent of comparing to this and its like:

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. slovell

    slovell Retired Mudshark

    Location:
    Chesnee, SC, USA
    $8200 USD for that? It looks like a dolled up Crosley. Plastic plinth, cheap flimsy arm, can't see the platter but the mat looks looks like cheap thin rubber. For $8200 you could buy a near top of the line VPI instead of this tinker toy. Does SME really think folks are going to fall for this? $200 for the table and $8000 for the name? :biglaugh:
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2020
    Andy Saunders likes this.
  19. Dubmart

    Dubmart Senior Member

    Location:
    Bristol, England
    That arm used to retail just under £1,000, before the huge price rise, so they want five grand for an ugly looking resin deck, even What Hi Fi were heavily hinting how both the much cheaper Rega 10 and Vertere are better decks and their review is virtually a PR puff piece, I still want them to start selling arms again though.:(
     
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  20. Andy Saunders

    Andy Saunders Always a pleasure never a chore

    Location:
    England
    Still think this is a wind up or SME's new business model is to go out of business as soon as possible- that ' SME 6' is just plain embarrassing.:(
     
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  21. daytona600

    daytona600 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    It doesn’t have the exuberance of the hugely talented and cheaper Vertere DG-1 ( which is under half the price ! ) and does not look like a crosley & costs more than the MG-1
    but the 6 offers an attractive blend of precision, stability and composure that many will like.

    [​IMG]

    .[​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2020
  22. Erocka2000

    Erocka2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Honestly, I can't imagine a single audiophile who would spend this much on this deck when there are myriad options of various manufacturers at this price point (and below) that not only look better than this SME, but also perform better and aren't made out of plastic.
     
  23. Dubmart

    Dubmart Senior Member

    Location:
    Bristol, England
    I'd happily own both the Vertere and Rega and if I were in the market both would be on my short list and I hope to own at least one of them in the future, but I don't think I'd add something at twice the price that doesn't perform as well and looks ugly, people buying the SME must have more money than sense in which case they should move up the range and buy a proper SME deck and arm.
     
  24. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    To be fair, though, the jury is still out until someone knowledgeable but with no incentive to keep an advertiser happy gets hold of one of these things, puts it through its paces, and files an objective report. I remember when the Nakamichi BX-1 and BX-2 cassette decks came out, they were priced at an unheard-of low level for a Nak but at or above the top price for most other lines. The Stereo Review reviewer made the point that when a "high end" manufacturer builds a product that performs in the same ballpark as its usual product but sells at a significantly lower price point (I think the gist of it was "if Rolls Royce were to build a car to sell at the price of a Volkswagen Scirocco"), every superfluous aspect of the design must be pared away. In the case of SME's new offering, imposing cosmetics would fall into that category. I think of my own Fons International Mk. I turntable. It performs like a champ--with an SME arm, as it happens!--and offers playback flexibility for 78s exceeding that of almost any other turntable known to me, but the plinth looks undistinguished, to be kind to it. In that case, a small, recently established company chose to put its money where it counted: into the engineering. In the case of the SME, maybe the situation is similar. Maybe the "plastic" is a composite material of some sort that actually performs better than more traditional choices, at least the ones usually encountered at this (admittedly, elevated) price point. Maybe "under the hood" it has brilliantly executed speed control and propulsion systems yielding better speed stability and operating flexibility than its competitors. Maybe what appears a plain rubber mat has some sort of hidden interior structure that effectively deadens resonances in a new way. Maybe. Maybe.

    Or perhaps SME is just trading on its exalted name to put out a ridiculously expensive mundane product. It happens, sometimes, when a "precision engineering" company finds its products have become so expensive they start slipping from "in-the-know model of choice" to "luxury goods" and it can't hold market share. Anybody remember the Leica CL?

    As I said earlier, I'd never buy one of these turntables, because it won't handle 78s, but then I'm not their target audience. That said, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the audio component is in the listening. No use speculating on appearance alone until we know how the thing actually performs and sounds.
     
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