27/10/2026
A little word of caution before buying any used TT. A friend was recently stung when he bought a "re-released" popular vintage brand's two year old TT from ebay. It was duly set up by me but there appeared to be nothing from the left channel. Cart was his own and known good. Scope tests showed no signal, so IC's changed, all connections tested downstream of TT. Cart tested on another TT and proved good. Fault was tonearm wiring on the new TT. Seller had listed it as working and good condition. It's gone back to him so a refund should be inbound to my friend.
When considering buying a used TT, especially vintage (this was not) you'd be surprised just how many are sold with wiring faults and it causes no end of grief for the buyer, especially if they are not in a position to diagnose the cause themselves, so always check with the seller, and get it in writing, that the tonearm and all associated wiring is good and working order. There's no wriggle room then for sellers to pass on faulty kit. I would go further for vintage tonearms and always cost the price of a rewire, preferably from a reputed tonearm specialist (I recommend Jonny at J7 Rewires) before buying. Every single vintage SME tonearm I have had through my hands in the past 2 years has needed a full rewire. The original wiring always corrodes and blackens at the solder terminals or tags. It's a matter of when, and not "if" it fails. Allow £140 for a rewire and cost this into your purchase decision.
