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Shure Exits the Phono Cartridge Business
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2018  |  11 comments
Shure Statement Regarding the Discontinuation of Phono Products

For more than 90 years, Shure has been committed to manufacturing and delivering products of the highest quality, reliability, and value. This commitment requires consistency in materials, processes, and testing, as well the capacity to react to fluctuations in demand.

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Analog Gear News
SME Debuts New "Flagship" Model 60 Turntable With New Model VA Polymer Tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 29, 2022  |  23 comments
SME debuted a new "Flagship" turntable at an event held March 25th, 2022 at the company's Steyning, West Sussex U.K. headquarters and in the legendary listening room of the company's founder, the late Alastair Robertson-Aikman. When I asked CEO Stuart McNeilis if yet another factory tour was necessary, he said "you be the judge". The answer was "yes" as new owner Ajay Shirke has made considerable investments in SME including new CNC machines, a brand new state of the art plating facility and a new tolerance measuring system that produces even greater machining tolerances than the already legendary SME precision.
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Analog Gear NewsNews
SME Exits the OEM and Retail Tone Arm Business
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 04, 2019  |  27 comments
SME press release (December 3):

SME will exit the tonearm retail and OEM business with immediate effect shifting our focus on our core turntable and tonearm combination business. The decision to leave the tonearm business was not taken lightly, especially as we have played a key role in the design and development of the world’s best tonearms. The growth of our turntable business and commitment to higher production levels means that we cannot continue both streams.

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Analog Gear NewsNews
SME Importer Bluebird Music Reduces Prices on All SME Turntables and Tonearms
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 26, 2018  |  8 comments
North American SME importer Bluebird Music recently announced "significant" across the board price reductions on all SME products, effective November 23, 2018.

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Analog Gear News
SME Introduces New Model 6 Turntable With M2-9 Arm
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 19, 2020  |  21 comments
From the press release:

"The Model 6 brings the legendary SME engineering excellence and craftsmanship to a wider audience than ever before. The turntable chassis is CNC-machined from a high density polymer resin, providing high mass with a small footprint; the result is superb resonance absorption and the musical, dynamic sound quality for which SME is famous.

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Analog Gear NewsNews
SME Limited Acquires Legendary Turntable Manufacturer Garrard Audio
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2018  |  2 comments
SME Limited announced today that it had acquired Garrard from Gradiente Electronics of Brazil, which in 1979 had acquired the brand name. In addition, SME announced it had acquired Loricraft Audio founded by Terry O'Sullivan who set up shop in Lambourn, West Berkshire close to Garrard's original Swindon manufacturing site.

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Analog Gear NewsNews
SME Loricraft Introduces Upgraded "Thread Type" Vacuum Record Cleaning Machines
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 03, 2021  |  18 comments
SME Loricraft recently announced upgraded versions of its PRC4i and PRC6i "thread type" vacuum record cleaning machines.

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Analog Gear News
SME M2 Series Tonearms
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 13, 2023  |  9 comments

We’ve long admired SME’s turntable-and-tonearm combos, but often wondered if/when we’d be able to get any of the Sussex, England-based manufacturer’s fine M2 Series tonearms separately here in North America. Their management and distribution teams must have been tuned into our thought patterns here, seeing how SME and Bluebird Music distribution have just announced four M2 Series tonearms are now becoming standalone product offerings on this side of the Pond. Read on to find out more about the quartet of SME M2 Series tonearms that are being offered, and what their respective SRPs are in both the U.S. and Canada. . .

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Analog Gear News
SME Model 15 MK2 Turntable
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 01, 2024  |  3 comments

If anybody knows how to make turntables and tonearms right, it’s SME, the stalwart British company who’ve been manufacturing high-quality high-end gear since 1959. Recently, SME updated their vaunted Model 15 turntable to MK2 status, and that’s the version we’re looking further into today. Read on to see all the features and specs for the Model 15 MK2 table. . .

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Analog Gear NewsRecord Cleaning Machine Reviews
SME Updates Loricraft's Record Cleaning Machines
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 18, 2022  |  17 comments
When SME purchased Garrard it also bought the Loricraft brand of "string type" record cleaning machines. SME then upgraded both models. This video shows how they work and accompany a write-up in the April 2022 issue of Stereophile magazine that will shortly be available on newsstands, mailed to subscribers and available as part of a digital subscription.
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Analog Gear NewsCES 2016
Sony Introduces a DSD Capable Turntable at CES 2016
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 13, 2016  |  8 comments
What is an "DSD-capable" turntable? Sony's new HX500 turntable incorporates a high quality A/D converter capable of operating at 192/24 bit resolution or native DSD (5.6Mhz).

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Analog Gear News
Soulines TT9 Turntable
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 24, 2025  |  5 comments

As we await all the reports from this past weekend’s Florida International Audio Expo (a.k.a. FLAX) to come into AP HQ for proper editing and posting, we wanted to take a closer look at a cool new turntable in the meantime — and we were struck by Serbian manufacturer Soulines and their relatively recently released TT9 turntable. Read on to see all the cool specs and features of the TT9. . .

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Analog Gear News
Soundsmith Revamps Cartridge Lineup With New ES Series
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 26, 2018  |  2 comments
Peekskill New York based Soundsmith launched at last October's RMAF a new ES line of moving cartridges that includes ES versions of their Otello, The Voice, Aida, Carmen MKII, Zephyr MKIII, Zephyr MIMIC, Hyperion, Paua MKII, and Sussuro MKII.

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Analog Gear NewsCartridge Reviews
Soundsmith’s new Zephyr MIMC Star Cartridge: Luxury You Can Afford
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 28, 2016  |  30 comments
Soundsmith’s Peter Ledermann has been designing and building “fixed coil” cartridges for many years, beginning when he was asked by customers to “back engineer” a B&O design used in that company’s “plug in” cartridge tone arms.

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Analog Gear NewsFeatures
Sublima Audio Research Mat Chakra Limited Platter Mat
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 08, 2024  |  8 comments

Many of us use platter mats to dampen resonances and minimize other vibrations whenever we play our LPs. For those not entirely in the know, these mats are typically “waffer-thin,” to borrow the enunciation of a quite specific Monty Python bit, and they go directly underneath the LP that’s spinning and in turn reside right on top of the turntable platter beneath it. Seeing how I’ve been getting, shall we say, a bit restless with my current mat rotation, I wanted to take a fresh look at and listen to something new, and that led me to the Mat Chakra Limited — a cool, current platter mat from the Italian manufacturer Sublima Audio Research. Read on to find out more about company founder Alessandro “Alex” Cereda’s philosophy behind the design of the Mat Chakra Limited, and how this platter mat just might work for enhancing the performance of your own LPs. . .

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