News

SAEC Again Producing Classic Double Knife-Edge Bearing Tone Arm

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 26, 2018

After a more than 30 year absence SAEC's double knife-edged bearing tone arm is once again in production and will be available through DS Exports, DS Audio's new export division. DS Audio, of course manufactures a line of "optical" cartridges and dedicated phono preamplifiers.

The new SAEC WE-4700 arm is constructed one at a time by skilled technicians. The double knife-edges are manufactured using state-of-the art machining technology with each edge then hand-finished. The press release did not specify effective length or any of the other key specs but those should be available soon. The price in America will be between $8500 and $9500.

COMMENTS
analogdw's picture
Submitted by analogdw on Thu, 2018-04-26 10:17

Very

Fsonicsmith's picture
Submitted by Fsonicsmith on Thu, 2018-04-26 10:47

Why do arms of this quality still use string and weight AS? I am not claiming that it is inferior to other methods but I sure get that impression by others' comments. What is your take on this? String, Spring, and magnet, which do you prefer Mikey? Sorry to digress, but between the pains of alignment curves and AS, why can't someone invent a reasonably priced, easily mounted, easily used, and AESTHETICALLY pleasing linear tracker?

isaacrivera's picture
Submitted by isaacrivera on Fri, 2018-04-27 09:26

When some of the very best tonearms in the world use the "string and weight" antiskate mechanism, I would assume it is one of the very best solutions that engineering has come up with. Take for instance the $28K SAT tonearm... yep, string and weight, and likewise for many of the Stereophile Class-A-rated tonearms.

And on the subject of linear trackers, this blog has pointed out many times, linear trackers suffer from a lot of other engineering problems that arguably make them lesser sonic performers than their pivoted counterparts.

Saul Goodman's picture
Submitted by Saul Goodman on Thu, 2018-04-26 14:32

I've heard it said that you cannot use a spring to control another spring.

Makes sense, particularly with a highly compliant cantilever, that maybe the old string & weight method isn't so bad after all.

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