Swedish Analog Technologies tonearm Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: 9"-long tonearm with carbon-fiber arm tube. Pivot-to-spindle distance: 212.2mm. Overhang: 22.8mm. Effective length: 235mm.
Price: $28,000.
Manufacturer: Swedish Analog Technologies, Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel: (46) 736 846 452. Web: www.swedishat.com

COMPANY INFO
Swedish Analog Technologies
Gothenburg, Sweden
(46) 736 846 452
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
ppgr's picture

twenty_eight_thousands_dollars.... That is a lot of money.

By the way, the mounting plate looks like a stock Jelco part.

Michael Fremer's picture

It is no such thing.

Ornello's picture

Fremer, you're a moron. LPs suck no matter how much you spend on turntables, cartridges, or tonearms.

grantray's picture

Crotchety old guys like you are why I don't publicly admit I'm an audiophile, and that I get embarrased when my wife outs me. I mean, I love a good system as much as the next sucker, and I put in a couple of hours a day on my Line Magnetic amp, DAC, and Devore O93s. But I'm not a dick about it when I meet someone who's equally in love with the $75K Magicos they just bought. Right now, as I type, I'm listening to the new Father John Misty album, through those same O93s, on the 1956 Garrard 301 that I bought for cheap and rebuilt with the early 1960s SME 3009 I also rebuilt with brass counterweights, and that's sporting an early Shure M7D running at 3.9g on an 18g headshell. You know what? It sounds flippin' amazing. Now, I'm generally a skeptical guy when it comes to emporers' clothes, but I'd say the record sounds better than the downloaded version I also got. But would I call somebody a stupid moron for throwing down on a new Brinkmann Spyder and a Miyajima Zero just so they can listen to reissue Beatles mono records? Eh, only if I absolutely have nothing better to do with my life. Because music is fun, and transformative. And if that's not the case for you, too, why bother trolling an audiophile editor?

Catcher10's picture

No amount of money will make your mp3 files and CDs sound better than my vinyl rig....Too bad for you

Ornello's picture

No amount of money will make an LP sound as good as a CD from the same source, assuming both are properly mastered.

Catcher10's picture

The same source?? The recording is digital 24bit file, when mastered for vinyl pressing the same 24bit master file is used to press the vinyl. That 24bit file is truncated down to redbook 16/44.1 for CD pressings, thus music is lost, meaning the CD version is well, not good.

Ornello's picture

Wrong. The music is lost making the LP, dumbass.

I have many CDs that were duplicates of LPs, including many ECM recordings made on tape originally. The CDs are better. Remember, I had a Stax CP-Y cartridge. Better than that there was none. I also used a Magnapan unipivot tonearm, and a Thorens TD-125 Mk II table. This set-up was awesome. But the CDs are better.

Catcher10's picture

The rantings of a raving lunatic...you are clueless. Enjoy your CDs, please!! You have no reason to enjoy or understand vinyl, leave that to us.
Have a great day!

Ornello's picture

I had 1200 LPs and a first-class setup! Don't tell me I don't know about LPs. You're a reprobate and a loser. I had some of the best records ever made, and I sold all of them, and said good riddance! And it's not 'vinyl', dumbass! Did you know that vinyl is colorless, and that the black added to it makes it noisier? Did you know that since 1969 there have been no true stereo LPs? That was when 'compatible stereo' was introduced. Frequencies below about 500Hz are mixed to mono to reduce vertical modulation, improve non-fill and running time. It also allowed mono cartridges to be used with less damage to the LP. This is why there was a 'mono' Beatles White Album, but no 'mono' Abbey Road. Compatible stereo made mono records obsolete. But of course I know nothing. You're a total dumbass.

And I have no interest in debating with deaf mental cripples.

stephen jones's picture

28 Thousand is a bit rich for a tone arm.

(They eat a lot of fish)

The "S" SME Series 2 tonearm is the best I've heard.
It was cheaper, and I could park it and not worry about dents.
(Nothing fishy, there)

The Swedes 15 years ago made our Submarines ; underwater they sound like a rock concert.
(That's fishy)

Michael Fremer's picture

I so much better than the SME. Find my YouTube channel and even digitally compressed you can hear it.

FavoriteAnimal's picture

...all the compromises have been worked out of the tone arm design problem. Well, anyway I hope so.

What a beautiful piece of engineering. I had thought William Firebaugh had had pretty much the final word on how to think around the tone arm's sand traps. I can afford Mr. Firebaugh's work, happily, but this SAT arm, which I can't, is just as pleasant to contemplate.

It's been pointed out to me that when I run into something I like and can't afford, I can be jealous, or I can realize once again what elegance the human mind can create. Thanks for this review, Mr. Fremer, with your characteristic attention to detail and your gift for addressing key issues. I imagine we are both saving all the nickels we can.

vicweast's picture

Great review: Thank you for the thoughtful article and for sharing this. Unfortunately, one of your readers is no stranger to the embraces of various barnyard animals (I am avoiding using his name, which means "Tab_A_Slot_B_error"). That reader seems to have developed a personality short circuit. It is possible to make a remote diagnosis, but it would not be fit for print.

quadphile's picture

"Marc Gomez has chosen null points of 80 and 126mm instead of the more commonly used 66 and 121mm."
My immediate thought was: WHY did he chose these total departing null points?
There should have been some explanations about it.
If this tonearm sounds so much better, could it also have to do with this new geometry?
Then it would be interesting to test this unusual geometry approach at other tonearms -where possible- on an audible improvement too...

pip5528's picture

I guess the trolling from you-know-who has finally come to an end. That was both hilarious and annoying at the same time. It was also fun to see Mikey and some other people pick him apart.

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