Lasse Svendsen does not keep the reader waiting. Lyd & Bilde’s review of the SME Model 35 opens with the conclusion: “The SME Model 35 is the best turntable we’ve tested, and there are several reasons why it sounds the way it does.”
Six stars out of six and the rating Outstanding seal the verdict, and the review closes on three sentences that need no embellishment: the SME Model 35 “delivers an exceptionally open soundstage with fabulous dynamic contrast” and “does something to the sound of vinyl that you can hardly believe is possible. Rock-solid build quality.”
Authority, contrast and presence
Three qualities run through the listening notes like a refrain. Of the low registers, the verdict is plain: “It’s rare that I hear bass reproduced with such authority from a turntable.” Of scale and impact: “The dynamic contrast is shockingly good. I’ve never heard the percussion on Jan Gunnar Hoff’s album Polarity reproduced with the same explosive power or control.” And of the human voice, with Dominique Fils-Aimé’s Stay Tuned on the platter: “The vocal sounds so present and uncoloured it’s almost scary, and I just sat there, slack-jawed.”
Engineered for silence
That sound rests on an architecture inspired by the flagship Model 60. Three columns suspend the sub-chassis from 15 compound rubber rings, controlling vibration in the vertical and the horizontal plane alike, and the main bearing, a high-carbon steel spindle in sintered bronze bushings, is damped hydraulically. The Series Vi tonearm completes the composition, exchanging the cast magnesium of earlier Series V arms for an arm tube machined in one piece from high-density polymer, chosen for acoustic inertness. Lasse Svendsen put the material to the simplest of tests: “A light tap on the tonearm tube with an Allen key produced almost no sound, so there’s probably something to SME’s claim.”
First published in July 2026 by Lyd & Bilde in Norway, with the sister titles Ljud & Bild in Sweden and Lyd & Billede in Denmark, the review reached Finland in August through L&B Ääni ja Kuva and English readers on 27 August through L&B Tech Reviews. Six stars now join the honours the Model 35 has gathered since launch: EISA High-End Turntable 2026-2027, the 2025 SoundStage! Product of the Year Award and five stars from HiFi.NL, alongside acclaimed reviews in Hi-Fi News and SoundStage! Ultra.
Read the review in English:
lbtechreviews.com/test/sme-model-35
Read the Norwegian original:
lydogbilde.no/test/hi-fi/sme-model-35
Discover the Model 35:
sme.co.uk/product/model-35
Read the reviews and awards:
sme.co.uk/product/model-35/#reviews
Find your nearest dealer:
sme.co.uk/dealers