Michael Fremer Tours the SME Factory With New CEO Stuart McNeilis

[vintage_tube]

Scale Model Engineering (SME) Limited

Rather long -- 1 hour 7 minutes -- but as an owner, so fascinating with their precision and absolute obsession with precision.

https://youtu.be/usXKl8p6kuk

Best Sirs,

Bob

[jdandy]

Bob.......Thanks for the video link. That was an interesting tour. It is amazing to me just how much manual hand work is involved in the various parts before and during assembly of the tonearms and turntables. SME is a remarkable company. Love my SME 309 tonearm.

[vintage_tube]

Definitely Dan.

It's just an amazing story on how the idea of manufacturing a tonearm & later turntables even manifested itself.

Today, they not only make tonearms & turntables, but do precision machining for other turntable manufacturers & not to mention NASA (space Shuttle as example), Formula 1, and the aerospace industry (it was mentioned in the video -- for the worlds most advanced fighter -- F22 Raptor ??).

From the web:

SME was formed in 1946 under the title The Scale Model Equipment Company Limited to manufacture scale models and detail parts for the model engineering trade. During the 1950s the company moved away from model making to precision engineering, principally parts for aircraft instruments and business machines.

In 1959 Alastair Robertson-Aikman, the Company's founder, required a pick-up arm for his own use and an experimental model was built. It received such an enthusiastic reception from friends in the sound industry that it was decided to produce it commercially and the first SME precision pick-up arm appeared in September 1959. Production was 25 units per week composed entirely of individually machined components. At this time a new factory situated in Mill Road, Steyning was opened and the Company's name was changed to SME Limited, a less committal title to suit its new activities.[1] new company MD july 2016

Best Sir,

Bob

[Formerly YB-2]

Thanks for the link. Great story, which I knew, but not that up-to-date. Their 309 with removeable headshell is still my favorite TA.

Another high-end TT/TA supplier, Micro Seiki, has a similar history, but, unfortunately, is no longer in the TT/TA business (to our loss). As a semiconductor engineer, I've used their similar quality vacuum pumps many times.

[eddiel]

Entertaining video. Sometimes I wish he had a proper film crew following him around as the audio can be difficult to hear at times