Nine out of ten and an Applause Award to match: StereoNET’s verdict on the SME Model 8 is as precise as the turntable itself. Jay Garrett, Editor for the United Kingdom and Europe, finds the build quality “outstanding”, the bundled 309 tonearm “a huge plus sonically and in terms of ease of set-up and use”, and the outboard speed control a source of “pitch stability rarely found on belt-driven turntables, even high end ones”.
The review places the Model 8 firmly in the SME tradition: “SME has never been a company to chase fashion.” Like every SME turntable, the Model 8 is engineered “around mechanical precision, stability and long-term reliability”, and the result, in Jay Garrett’s words, is “a quiet, detailed and ordered sound with excellent bass control and accurate spatial definition”.
Precision and poise
Everything begins in silence. The Model 8 is “impressively quiet in operation, allowing low-level detail and reverberation to emerge without being masked by mechanical noise”, and on Nils Frahm’s Felt that silence brings the close-miked felt dampers on the piano’s hammers into focus. “It’s this sort of detail”, the review observes, “that reminds us of the SME’s quality and class.” Low frequencies are “tight, controlled and extended” on the 12-inch pressing of Faithless’s Insomnia, with the Model 8 giving “bass lines proper shape and pitch”, and complexity holds no fear: “One of the SME’s key talents is keeping complex and busy musical passages intelligible.”
A turntable to live with
Ownership proves just as rewarding. Jay Garrett had the Model 8 playing in “roughly half an hour”, which the review calls “the blink of an eye for a product such as this”. The controls, in the review’s words, “remind you just how top-notch SME’s engineering is. Buttons and dials operate with precision, tolerances are tight, and everything feels all-of-a-piece.”
Jay Garrett’s recommendation is unambiguous: “vinyl fans seeking a beautifully engineered, fuss-free source that is precise and revealing should walk this way.” StereoNET’s Applause Award follows earlier praise for the Model 8 from Hi-Fi News in Britain and Audio Art in Taiwan.
Read the review:
stereonet.com/reviews/sme-model-8-turntable-review
Discover the Model 8:
sme.co.uk/product/model-8
Read the reviews and awards:
sme.co.uk/product/model-8/#reviews
Find your nearest dealer:
sme.co.uk/dealers