A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

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A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

Postby Raf » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:41 pm

Synergies, Synergies, Synergies…the game of trial and error and that occasional stroke of luck…a match!!

Many of us may know of this famous book of HG Wells:

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Essentially, this Doctor Moreau person was engaged in surgically assembling monstrosities by putting together parts from humans and animals…then his creations went nuts, all hell breaks loose, and he ultimately finds himself up sh*t creek without a paddle

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An extreme metaphor, to put it lightly, but for the more experimentally inclined in this audio hobby, this may sound familiar. At times, the failures in experimentation can be humorous for those of us who can readily laugh at ourselves then chug a six-pack of San Mig Lite and go to bed feeling consoled by the ‘A for effort’ cliché. For the rest of us, failure can be bloody frustrating…incidentally, we have the well instituted practice of a “Home Audition” to save ourselves from an irreversible waste of money  Reversible-that is the key word to happiness

Here is the series of events that sent me to the Analog Island of Doctor Moreaue and spurred the augmentations and mutilations that I performed upon a once pristine technological marvel, the SME 3012 series 2:

1. No matter how much silicon grease we applied, the original arm lifter went down too fast

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2. so I purchased the arm lifter of a 3009 and attempted to install it myself-

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3. And in the process, I managed to ruin the very (ORIGINAL!!) fine internal cabling of the tonearm  SIRANIKO!!!!!

4. So a quick call to IHATEJAZZ FOR THE GOODS AND THE HELP OF HYPERTRIODE PLUS a few thousand pesos later, the once pristine SME 3012 now has a better (3009) arm lifter plus ClearAudio internal cabling which I understand are composed more of silver than copper versus the copper originals. Sigh sigue lang ANYWAY, I still have another pure stock 3012

5. I slap the “improved armlifter and internal wiring” SME 3012 with stock headshell on to my TD124 (double arm) and proceed to compare it to his tablemate the pure stock FR64 both using the Denon 103r. HOWEVER, another alteration came into play…mounting the SME 3012 directly onto the brass base instead of the factory provided base…The SME 3012 was really getting all kinds of surgery by now!!!

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6. Truth to tell, I found the sound anemic, overall…OMG!!! I’m screwed, blued and tattooed!!! The Frankenstein 3012 I now had was a lemon and a very expensive lemon, at that!!!! Time for that 6-pack and some consolation in the ‘A for effort Cliché’

7. So then I thought long and hard about what Amandarae told me are the issues of SME 3012/Denon 103R compliance matching…The SME arm and headshell are too light to fully comply with the Denon 103r.

8. So I went out and acquired an original FR64 Headshell and mounted the Denon/FR Combination onto the anemic, mutilated Frankenstein 3012…whats another mutilation at this point, right?


Sacrilege!!!!


To the ultra purist vintage collector/die-hard my surgical addiction would be beyond inconceivable and he would, subsequently, do to me what the is being done to the victim in the picture upstairs…and I would not blame him for it, either 


But it all came together, just like that, right after the final mutilation…I have, in my listening room, a creature from the Island of Doctor Moreau… a successful one, a high performance beast, IMO at least.

So here is a picture of my BEAST from the Island of Doctor Moreau 

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No baseplate
ClearAudio internal wiring
FR Headshelled
And 3009 arm-liftered

To me:

A punchier SME 3012 that provides a very good bottom end, is much more authoritative, mas ma-diin, faster, tracks like a dream and is super(12 incher style) musical IMO 


Success :) :)
Last edited by Raf on Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby JackD201 » Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:24 pm

Glad to hear Dr. Moreau in your case turned into Burt Lancaster in a Fedora rather than Marlon Brando in a Mumu bro! :lol:

Sorry I couldn't resist the casting analogy!
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Postby Raf » Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:03 am

JackD201 wrote:Glad to hear Dr. Moreau in your case turned into Burt Lancaster in a Fedora rather than Marlon Brando in a Mumu bro! :lol:

Sorry I couldn't resist the casting analogy!


:) :) :) Thats right!!!!
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Postby odaey » Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:07 pm

Another story with a happy ending :D

Since you're on a roll, why not do a sequel?
I know your hands are itching to do something again. You can go another step further and complete the transformation of your beast. I may sound like a devil's advocate but consider the full metal jacket denon 103 by Zu or better yet get a woodbody by Uwe Bretscheider for your denon.

A lot has already been said about these two versions but I can only vouch for the woodbody by Uwe. Performing the transplant is a worthhwhile experience.

It does have it's risks but the improvement in sound and musicality is worth all the trouble plus it still qualifies as your creation.
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Postby Raf » Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:31 pm

Doc Rod,

See below...tempting...oh no the bells are ringing in my head again!!!

http://www.stereophile.com/phonocartridges/1207zu/

The Denon of Doctor Moreau!!!! To be mated with the SME of Doctor Moreau!!!

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Postby Raf » Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:34 pm

OR...

http://www.theanalogdept.com/uwe_body.htm

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Doc, amazing recommendations. Thank you!!
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Postby odaey » Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:56 pm

It's worth to mention that any of these two versions will require additional weight at the opposite end to balance things off especially if you use the FR headshell.

With the Uwe woodbodies, you can take advantage of the different sound characteristic of the wood used to suit your system. I'm using the clavelin which according to uwe is in between the ebony and the Panzerholz.
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Postby Raf » Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:06 pm

odaey wrote:It's worth to mention that any of these two versions will require additional weight at the opposite end to balance things off especially if you use the FR headshell.

With the Uwe woodbodies, you can take advantage of the different sound characteristic of the wood used to suit your system. I'm using the clavelin which according to uwe is in between the ebony and the Panzerholz.


May DIY solution akong natutunan dyan...pwedeng mag bluetack ng limang piso sa likod ng counterweight :) :)
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Postby odaey » Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:09 pm

Thats a great Idea!!!

Here's What I use for add'nl wt.
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Postby Raf » Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:18 pm

odaey wrote:Thats a great Idea!!!

Here's What I use for add'nl wt.
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Doc, What is the black piece in front of the factory counterweight? Is it a DIY thing?
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Postby odaey » Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:49 pm

The Black piece is an additional counterweight from SME
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Postby Raf » Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:52 pm

odaey wrote:The Black piece is an additional counterweight from SME


Thanks, Doc!!
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Re: A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

Postby mullard88 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:41 pm

Hi Raf,

Congratulations! You are one true and courageous audiophile.
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Re: A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

Postby Raf » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:09 am

mullard88 wrote:Hi Raf,

Congratulations! You are one true and courageous audiophile.


Hi Mullard,

Thanks for the kind words pero I would replace the word courage :) ...siguro impulsive...excited sa hobby :)

Thanks for reading!!

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Re: A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

Postby pigdog » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:12 am

hey raf! havnt heard from you for a long time! hows it hanging man? sorry i missed you and the rest of the gang during the show as i had to rush back to hk for work
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Re: A Beast from the Island of Doctor Moreau-SME 3012

Postby Raf » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:23 am

pigdog wrote:hey raf! havnt heard from you for a long time! hows it hanging man? sorry i missed you and the rest of the gang during the show as i had to rush back to hk for work



Hey PD...nice to hear from you. I've been swamped with work! I missed the show, too...I had to go to Baguio on domestic duty basis...can you believe that? Of all 52 weekends in the year they choose the hifi show weekend :devil: :devil:

Whats new with you, bud? I'll PM you some Asahi Pentax pics for comments soon :) :)
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