SME have produced just a few types of tonearm over the years and the reason is simple. SME tonearms are so good that unlike many other HiFi manufacturers SME did not find it necessary to produce updates at regular intervals to maintain a healthy sales figures.

The most popular tonearms SME have produced are the SME 3009 and the SME 3012 and this guide is written to help potential buyers understand the major differences between various models. This guide is not intended to describe all the differences but is intended to help those new to these superb arms to be able to recognise the model and type. There was also an SME 3010 toenarm but this is very rare and I have never actually seen one.

The very first model was the series one and the series one is easily identifiable because the knife edge bearing housing has a round top. The series one models did not have an anti-skate mechanism as standard but this was available as an optional extra.

All the series II models have knife edge bearing housing with a bishops mitre top.

The series II models were available in a variety of guises. The main difference between the early versions of the series II range were in the counterweight design. The first of these had a split counterweight with the rearmost part fixed to the end of the arm stub. The next version was also two part but this time the rearmost part was adjustable in position. The third version had a one piece counterweight. These arms could have an extra rider weight fitted for cartridges that were heavier than usual such as the Decca London series. This extra rider weight can be seen in the image on the far right. All the series one and early series II models had removable headshells.

The next version of the SME 3009 was the 'improved' version.

This version does not have an arm stub as in the earlier versions. Instead the counterweight screws into the rear of the bearing. The earlier versions of the 'improved' model had metal knife edge bearings (this weas just to use up old stock) and the knife edge bearings were very quickly made from GRP. (glass reinforced plastic)

The 'improved' version was supplied with either a fixed headshell or a removable headshell. The removable headshell makes changing cartridges much easier and safer.

Some SME arms had the standard SME 5 pin socket and some had RCA phono sockets. I will place images of these on here when I have some suitable ones.