That machined-out headshell is especially retro and radiates the kind of vibe that I’m a sucker for. The M2-9R with its curved arm wand harkens to the visuals I used to see in those hifi mags of my youth - simultaneously scientific and sensual. The Model 6 comes with an “improved” version of SME’s M2-9 and the Classic gets an M2-9R tonearm. The difference between the Model 6 and its Classic variation is the tonearm supplied. All they do is make arms and turntables (in the hi-fi realm of course they still do precision machining for various other industries, including the aforementioned medical and aeronautical ones), and after being at it since 1959, I surmised that even the entry-level Model 6 was gonna be special. Using the WallySkater to check and set anti-skating God Save The King and Pass Me The ProtractorĪll joking aside, I’ll admit I was excited at the prospect of getting my hands and ears on a turntable/tonearm system that is from the iconic house of SME Limited. The SME tonearms I used to see in the hi-fi magazines of my youth looked way cooler than any other tonearms, and of course the company also make serious turntables. The photo below of a display case in the company's lobby shows the range of products manufactured since 1946 from model cars to what the company claims are the world's best pick up arms. In the late 50's music-lover/audio enthusiast Aikman-Robertson, unhappy with the commercial choices available to him designed his own pickup arm and the rest is history. A few years later it evolved into a manufacturer of instrumentation for the medical and aeronautical industries. Here’s what I know about SME: It’s a British company founded in 1946 as The Scale Model Equipment Company by the late Alastair Robertson-Aikman. He came up with the concept of mirroring the cutter head stylus position - a landmark research statement in developing the modern era of vinyl playback. This led to (the eventually knighted) Sir Shepherds-Pye's doctoral thesis on the tonearm and the geometry required to place a cartridge stylus at the most accurate point on a record. He was fascinated by the reproduction of recorded music on discs and had started thinking seriously about the subject. In 1953, a music-loving Cambridge University engineering student named Finch James Shepherds-Pye had an idea. ![]() ![]() SME Model 6 Classic Turntable SME's "Classic" variation of the entry level Model 6 gets a thorough evaluation
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