Sme tonearm length
That to my ears is always their Achille's heel. The 12-inch come the closest to capturing those qualities while at the same time surpassing and by a large margin, the AT's low end. Wonderful arm, low distortion, great resolution and an amazing sense of space. My reference for linear tracking arms was the now sadly discontinued Air Tangent Tonearm. Then again we could have less groove jitter as Peter Ledermann calls it going on because the 12-inch is tracing the groove better. Of course there might be less SRA/VTA changes with the longer arm but that shouldn't be a huge issue with a clamped LP. The 12-inch's effective mass is probably less than most 9-inch arms. Headshell offset can not be neglected, as you pointed.Understood but mass is really not an issue say with the 10.5 vs. Some people will tell you that this happens mainly because the longest arm has the same problems as the linear tracker, mostly a higher mass.īTW, IMHO the difference between the sound of a 9" and a 12" tonearm can not be due to tracking error, otherwise the 9" and the 12" would sound the same at zero tracking error points. I owned the metal jig for over 25 years until I finally decided to ditch the ET-2 once and for all. The metal jigs were designed to be owned by dealers rather than consumers and they were fairly rare. The ET-2 arm is a pain in the ass to set up and if you don't have the metal jig to set up the arm and keep it set up, it may have never been right. Gus won't get on the bus if the ET-2 isn't perfectly level.
![sme tonearm length sme tonearm length](http://www.analogue-classics.com/assets/images/smeeffmass01.jpg)
Oh, and the ET-2 has to be set up perfectly level or it won't play at all.
![sme tonearm length sme tonearm length](https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTJ9feHHl.jpg)
My main issue was the lack of a true signal ground which always caused some degree of a hum issue depending on the associated gear, wiring, the weather, and how strong local FM stations were. PM if you're looking for one (two available).So tell us what faults you found with the ET-2 with regards to how they sound in your system. Its not that it can't sound very good (it's been 27 yrs since i owned one) but once installed its faults snapped into focus more clearer than ever.
![sme tonearm length sme tonearm length](http://www.true-point.audio/tpa-images/SME-TBO-3.jpg)
he makes them for certain installations that lack the clearance necessary for the 10."Īs far as what the ET-2 is capable of, I recently reacquainted myself with not one, but two of them - hi/low pressure pumps, 5-gal surge tank and all. I don't want to turn this into Bob Graham against the world thread, FWIW we talked about upgrading my phantom to an elite and he talked me out of his 12".