Thoughts on SME 10A

Din to XLR is easy, there are several options on ebay, balanced phono is the way to go. If you need to the SME cable is easily re-terminated with XLR's, any tech should be able to do this for you - if not send it to me and I can do it for you.

I second the Lyra cartridges for the SME, Ortofon is worth looking into also

Good Listening

Peter

If I'm not mistaken the SME10 has no adjustment for speed and has failed the Timeline test but otherwise is a well built machine.

Great table for sure with the Model 10 arm by all accounts. This can be improved upon in the future though.

You will need a good isolation support as the 10 has no real suspension like the 20/30.

However the build quality is second to none for sure.

Don't no much about the 10A , But I can tell you that SME is a great company to deal with . I've been using the 20-12 for a while and SME has been extremely helpful , patient and enthusiastic in answered all my questions by phone , and even called me back at a latter date to see how things were going and talk audio .
Planing on purchasing the 30-12 this summer to bring my analog equipment in line with the digital sound I'm now getting .

rsf507....the SME's are speed adjustable. While it only has 3 buttons (33, 45, 78) when you press and hold 2 buttons, it goes into adjust mode....SME also provides a strobe disc.

I'd be careful saying things fail tests...was the belt old? had someone adjusted the speed then tested it etc...some variables could be at play here you didn't account for in your statement