Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

SME’s turntable and tonearm evolution – revolution? – is complete with the launch of its new Model 8 and Model 60-inspired ’35, the latter equipped with Series Vi tonearm

For a company that took three decades before introducing its first turntable, followed by a seven-year wait between the second and third models, SME seems now to be moving at a lightning pace. The flagship Model 60 arrived in 2022 [HFN Jul ’22], followed swiftly by Mk2 versions of the Models 12 and 15 over the next two years [HFN Jan ’23 and Jul ’24, respectively]. Now it has added two more turntables to its portfolio – the Model 8, replacing the Model 6 as SME’s entry-level unit, and the Model 35 seen here, slotting in below the Model 60.

Replacing SME’s longstanding Model 6 turntable, the new ‘entry level’ Model 8 is not only more substantial but also features the latest Model 60-derived AC motor drive

For a company not exactly known for ‘product churn’, SME has been uncommonly busy with the release of several new turntables, including the flagship Model 60 [HFN Jul ’22], the Model 35 [HFN Jul ’25] and now the £9999 Model 8. The latter replaces the Model 6 that, fitted with an SME M2-9 tonearm, marked a departure for SME on its release in 2020. Not only was it the company’s first ‘entry level’ design, it was also the first to utilise a solid, non-suspended plinth arrangement and the first SME deck to employ an AC motor.

It was a deck designed to keep vinyl replay relevant in a market attracted to the convenience of CD. Did it succeed and, more importantly, how does it sound today?

One challenge faced by those designing hi-fi in the high-tech 1980s was how to re-package the LP in a way that would ensure it remained of interest to consumers in a future that was clearly going digital. Released in late 1979, the Technics SL-10 turntable [HFN Apr '19], with its parallel tracking, optical position sensing and slick packaging was one of the first components to address this issue seriously.

More miniature magic from a brand proud to beat its own path came in 1982 in the form of probably the smallest hi-fi turntable ever made. How does it sound today?

When Technics released its SL-10 turntable in1979 [HFN Apr '19], it was evident that a record player did not have to be large, overly expensive or complicated in use to give top quality results. So compelling was this concept that soon all of the big players in the Japanese hi-fi industry were racing to produce something similar. Well, almost all. Sony, the great master of miniaturisation, was not a company to imitate others.

Direct drive was viewed with suspicion here by many in the 1970s. Elsewhere, high-end direct-drive units from the Land of the Rising Sun were snapped up. The TTS-8000 is now widely regarded as the second best turntable Sony ever made (first place goes to the company’s PS-X9, aimed at studios). But the runner-up reviewed here did a sterling job in straddling both the domestic and professional markets.

Serbian brand Soulines brings its holistic design philosophy to bear on a new deck and captive unipivot arm that claims ‘affordable high-end’ performance. It’s no idle boast...

Eastern Europe is no stranger to high-quality boutique hi-fi brands [HFN Apr ’24, Jun ’24 and Feb ’25] with ‘analogue’ audio a particular favourite. Igor Gligorov’s company, Soulines, is based in Serbia and has graced these pages before, but UK distribution has now been re-established thanks to Sound Fowndations. The timing is spot on, as Soulines has recently released a new turntable, the tt9, loosely described as ‘entry level’ and selling for £3990 with partnering KiVi M3 tonearm.

Singular driving force behind the revival of the strain gauge generator system first seen in phono pick-ups from the '60-70s, Soundsmith's latest offering is nothing if not flexible

Hardly scientific, I know, but I am predisposed toward components that cause binge-listening. Not knowing what to expect of the Soundsmith Strain Gauge cartridge and the accompanying SG-230 preamp/energiser at a pound shy of £16,000, I will declare my surprise upon discovering that it was so engaging, I listened to 14 LPs in a row in their entirety. I repeat: fourteen.