Denon DL 103R cartridge holy crap!

I use an Audio Innovations P2 with the built in T2 step up transformers.

Not long ago, I bought a Denon HA-1000 head amp, which is supposed to make the 103 sing. It needs a bit of work and is actually stuck at my sister's for a bit. That's a refresh project for later this year.

 

Thanks blakep as am nearing that range of 15 now and am happier with what it's putting out.

Yes with all the settings I have had lots of playing around with db and ohm. Just a great phono pre for the price.

 

I agree with @blakep - my DL103 sounded funny at first - like Coltrane was playing a kazoo- then after a month or so - it settled down - and now sounds excellent.

 

Proteus from this article by Erno Borbely and Sigurd Rucshkowski volumes | Linear Audio . Totally insane - I built the fully balanced version. Completely discrete, DC coupled, passive RIAA (apart from op amps to do dc offset servoing). Three 19" rack width boxes. One each for left and right, incorporating shunt regulators, and one full of raw power supply. It cost a shed load just to build the thing - I shudder to think what it would cost if it was a commercial product.

 

Using a stock Denon DL-103 cart with a Denon AU-320 SUT into an Audio Research SP8 with MM phono stage with my JVC QL-A7 TT. Sounds amazing, very musical.
Denon nailed it in 1962 and wisely still produces this cart and a variant, the DL-103R.
I also have a DL-103S with a fresh elliptical retip and a DL-103 in a potted wood body with a very fine elliptical retip, both repaired by VAS. They are for my twin arm JVC build.

BillWojo

 

That's about what I had for my Zu Audio DL-103 when I had my Phonomena, although not sure what I had pf set at, as it's not supposed to matter for MC carts. Although I think I backed off to 56db.

Since getting my JC3+, I'm somewhere around 250 ohms give or take, as the gradations are rather small to accurately determine without measuring. Glad to see my ear seems to have come about the best settings as yours did. Nothing like a little confirmation bias to make one's day.

 

I'm running a no-feedback input stage version, which has an input R of about 4 ohms. Which is very low for a 40-ohm DL103. But there is a feedback option that I can easily implement (the circuit board is designed that way) that reduces the input R down to very close to zero. So if I end up at some point with a low resistance cartridge I can cope with it.

The Aqvox is one of the very few (the only?) current input phono stages commercially available. I'm glad that it is working well for you.

 

Yes, thanks for your response. Gives me some reason to be optimistic that the SAEC will work well with the Aqvox. I believe the input R on the Aqvox
is around 10 ohms so the fact that you are happy with the Zu 103 with yours bodes well for me! I'm currently running an Accuphase AC2 with an internal
impedance of 4 ohms (which sounds fabulous with the Aqvox) but it is also much lower output than the SAEC which is around .4 mV and closer to your
Zu.

I've run the Aqvox for about 10-11 years now and have no desire to upgrade.

Thanks again for the info!

 

The tests the carried out in the Proteus design showed the DL103 gave 0.44mV at 7cm/sec into a high resistance load, 1kHz. Into the dead short (of the current input stage) it gave 10uA. The DL103R, with 14 ohm coils, gave 18uA under the same conditions.

Other ones they checked were the old Ortofon MC30, which has 3 ohm coils, and that gave 20uA. The Ortofon Expression is a 4 ohm cartridge and produces between 56 and 70uA. The Lyra Delos (the one they tested) has 6.3 ohm coils and that produced 70uA,

So the ability to drive current into a short circuit is in no way related to the voltage sensitivity. As an example the DL103 and Ortofon Expression have very similar voltage sensitivity, but the Expression produced 7 times more current into a short circuit.

That is why the AQVOX has sensitivity switches on the front panel. In Proteus it is DIL switches on the circuit board.

 

I have to take this statement back. I was doing too many upgrades at once, I think...

I put the Tube Box back in line yesterday and I CLEARLY outdoes the built in in my Marantz.

 

Question for you guys - I'm considering upgrading my TT to a Rega P6. Assuming I have the correct SUT (Bob's Devices Cinemag 1131) and preamp combo (Decware ZP3), do you think the Zu modded DL-103R (with beefed up counterweight) or the Ania Pro would be a better sounding cart? I mostly listen to hard rock/punk/alternative, with some classic rock mixed in.

 

I respectfully disagree. My experience says this combo sounds very enjoyable.

Hanging around the house led me to spend some time listening to all the vinyl I've had sitting around for years. So, I wandered down this rabbit hole and found that some of the LP's I have are amazingly good when played on a carefully setup playback system. ( I am usually an avid Qobuz listener.)

I'm using a Denon 103 r with a Mani and the sound is spectacular. The line level stage is a PS Stellar Gain Cell. Tonearm is a Dynavector DV 505 on a Denon DP 1000. This combination works very well. Spend some time carefully setting VTA and use a good template like the Mobil Fidelity setup disk to the cartridge set up right. Interconnect between the Mani and PS preamp is Anticables.

I have none of the grounding or noise problems some report. Avoid puting the Mani on top of an amplifier transformer section and keep the wall wart power supply as far away as you can. This phono pre amp is very quiet in my system.
Settings I use on the Mani with the 103r: Load 47, Gain 1 and 2 both H for 59 DB .

I had low expectations for the Mani. So, I'm pretty shocked by how good it sounds. Good luck.

 

I had a Denon DL-103r for a while and liked it. I sold it to buy a Zu DL-103 and never looked back. To my ear, the ZU was just so much more like music rather than Hi-Fi. And, that's a relative comparison as the 103r is a fine cartridge but ultimately it's technical superiority, at least for me, was a tradeoff that didn't work. Even the standard Denon DL-103 is a cart I like better than the 103r. I know many that I respect who feel just the opposite. So, YMMV and c'est la vie!

 

What stylus profile?

 

I have both a Zu 103 and a Zu 103R now, each upgraded with the same microridge stylus. The 103R is good, but compared to the normal 103 I feel it has a bit of a smile curve EQ to it, with highs and lows a bit accentuated. The standard 103 has a better midrange and sounds more natural to me. I think some systems and tastes may benefit from the 103R, but in most situations the 103 is the way to go.

 

Try running the Mani wide open with 47k loading. It is actually sounds pretty darn good for the $ spent...

 

It's tough to have a thread about the DL-103 / 103R (and variants) without it at some point (even immediately) cycling to Zu, Soundsmith and re-potting the body into some aftermarket "better" body discussion.

The cartridge has been around for so long, and so many own it, the cottage industry around "improving it" has become just as lucrative as selling the cartridge itself.

All my 103 variants (103, 103R, 103LCii, 103D, etc) are still all stock, and sound fine. I guess I got good ones out of the chute, or maybe I didn't try to find something wrong with them the way they were made. I did re-pot one, but really did not find it helped much, it just made it much heavier and harder to match up with my tonearm.

One thing for sure, the feedback on the different variations, as always, is all over the map.

"If it ain't broke" is the way I view the 103..........

 

Love my 103R, very glad that I was able to pick it up for $250, consider it a very notable improvement over the DL-110 that was my previous mainstay. If your tonearm has sufficient mass and can handle it, I highly recommend that you buy one. Heck, everybody ought to have one or two in their collections anyway.

Musically, the Denon has that wonderful midrange with a bit of muscle and oomph in the lower registers. On jazz albums it feels more like live music than studio recordings. Mono LPs sound much quieter and detailed, thanks to the spherical stylus--elliptical doesn't work nearly as well on these type of records. I am well aware of the lack of high-end detail due to the stylus, but it's really not something you ever really think about. You're just too busy enjoying your music to really care.

Michael Fremer had the best statement on the DL-103: "it sounds like music." I'm sure you can find much better carts over the $1000 range, but that's a bit obvious. For anything under, say, $700, I'm not sure anything beats the Denon. As always, these things come down to personal taste and preference for any given brand's "house sound."

 

I just ordered a Dl-103. Love my Dl-110, so maybe it's time to give the Dl-103 a listen and hear what the fuss is all about.