SME

As close to a household word as a high end tonearm can get, British company SME has certainly been successful for a number of years.Originally distributed by Shure in the US, now part of Sumiko. Both older and newer arms are desirable among collectors, I have a 3009, 3009 series II, and two series III. All double knife edge (see introduction below), they became progressively lower mass as time went on. As of the series IV (pictured top), they went to conventional bearings. The most recent that I owned was a 309, similar in many ways, and was a price breakthrough at $1600. Sold this way to cheap for $700., oh well. If any used arms have resale value, these do.We are too soon old and too late shmart......