Hi Everyone,
I’m excited to say that we now have the SME Model 35 turntable on demo for a limited period, this is a very special deck indeed inspired by SME’s £70,000 Model 60 turntable, with the Model 35 coming in at £35,999 you get a lot of the 60’s engineering for virtually half price, obviously still a lot of money but when you see and hear it you can really see where that money has gone, you really feel you are getting something special, SME’s engineering has always been some of the best in HiFi and that really is no different here.
The footprint of this turntable, although still big, is a much more modern and stylish design compared to SME’s of old, it really does look stunning, especially in the Midnight Blue that our demo model is in, that is £2,000 option but once seen I would struggle to go black or silver to be honest.
SME have always been known for making some of the best tonearms in the world so another upgrade to mention is the new Series Vi arm, where the i stands for improved, it is still the same design as the classic Series V but the arm tube in now made from a CNC Machined HD Polymer rather than the die cast magnesium of the V and is internally wired with Crystal Cable, the idea being that this new material is much more inert which in turn lowers the noise floor and helps make the arm track the groove more accurately. We have the Analog Relax EX300 MC Cartridge fitted to it at the moment, a £2,698 cartridge, which seems a great match but I can’t help but wonder what the EX500 will sound like, I do have a demo one here so may try that later this week.
So other than the new styling and tonearm I guess the main question is how does it sound, well in 2 words, extremely dynamic, there is so much life in this turntables presentation it really does help bring the artist into the room, for me vinyl is still king so to hear some of my favourite recordings on this deck has been a very special experience, I feel the bass should be mentioned also, it is so solid and tight with real depth that it really does drive the music along so effortlessly, this is without doubt one of the best vinyl playing experiences I have had.
I know this is rarified air for most audiophiles out there as with a decent cartridge you are looking at around a £40k setup but if you are lucky enough to consider a turntable at this level then you really do owe it to yourself to demo the SME Model 35 as I feel at this level it will really take some beating.
If you would like to give it a listen whilst here please feel free to get in touch to make an appointment and bring some of your favourite vinyl along to indulge in.
All the best,
Paul.
