In May 2018 the company acquired the rights to the Garrard Transcription Turntable brand as well as Loricraft Audio, the only officially authorised Garrard service agent. In December 2016 the company was acquired by Ajay Shirke with a view to preserve the brand's legacy and extend research and development activities, appointing a new CEO and a distributor for the UK market, Padood. At this time a new factory situated in Mill Road, Steyning was opened and the Company's name was changed to SME Limited, a less committal title to suit its new activities. Production was 25 units per week composed entirely of individually machined components. It received such an enthusiastic reception from friends in the sound industry that it was decided to produce it commercially and the first SME precision pick-up arm appeared in September 1959. In 1959 Alastair Robertson-Aikman, the Company's founder, required a pick-up arm for his own use and an experimental model was built. During the 1950s the company moved away from model making to precision engineering, principally parts for aircraft instruments and business machines.

Please read our recommendations for alignment of RS and AS tonearm models here.SME was formed in 1946 under the title The Scale Model Equipment Company Limited to manufacture scale models and detail parts for the model engineering trade. Baerwald alignment has a zero tracking angle error at 66mm and 120.9 mm distance from the center of the platter. Please note: The AS-212S, AS-309S, RS-212D and RS-309D tonearms have a Japanese geometry, which will not directly fit the normal Baerwald alignment.

Detachable headshell and tonearm cable, with standard SME-type connectorĭownload the RS-309D Userguide here Download Armbase fixing location drawing here Download Mounting template drawing here.

Tone arm height, and thereby VTA, is easy adjustable on the tonearm base.

Anti-skate control adjusted by calibrated dial in the range 0-5 gram.

VTF in the range 0-5 grams can be precisely adjusted by means of the supplied digital force gauge.

The new short wire spring, housed in the pivot case, eliminates unwanted vibrations in the tone arm.

Dynamic balance graduated vertical tracking force (VTF) control through a new spring design.

RS-309D 12 inch Ortofon’s D series tonearm takes analog sound reproduction to a higher level with highly configurable VTF options and a dynamic balance system for increased stability when tracking warps and other anomalies.ĭ series tonearms can be used for a wide array of cartridges, feature anti-skating control.

Ortofon RS-309D 12' dynamic-balance tonearm

Anti skate weight sme tonearm