You guys are so blowing this out of proportion. 103.3 is an entry level low fi MC cartridge. It's not even a good option in the $400 range, yet alone $2000.
For one, OC9/II is in another Universe better for a cheaper end MC.
But as been mentioned before, ART9, 2M Black, van den Hul, Quintet Black, AT VM760SLC, etc.
$2000 can buy just about any state of the art cartridge, MM or MC. Forget that Denon.
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Pani:
Obviously at that price point you have a great number of options. Chris Thornton of Artisan Fidelity has told me that the Dynavector 17D3 Karat is a great sounding cartridge at a price point lower than what you mentioned. I may pick one up to for fun as I obviously trust his ears. He built my SP10 Mk3 and I have been to his place many times, so I know the quality of sound to which he is accustomed. |
Pani:
You are most welcome. I would say yes to your question. One of my buddies loaned me his Kiseki Purple Heart for a coulpe of weeks and I liked it very much. It is a more refined device than a stock 103/103r but I believe I would prefer my 103.3 over the Kiseki. Not taking anything away from the beautiful sounding Kiseki, its just that the 103.3 maintains all the verve and the fun factor the 103 is known for while retrieving more information (than the stock 103r) and top end air. It is a far more refined beast than a stock 103r.
I am using this with my SPL Phonos. One of the reasons I love that phono stage so much is well, it sounds incredible and it has front controls. So I just flip a switch and set it to 330pf/10k ohms and my London Ref is playing like a live jazz set is in my listening room :)
I use my AMR PH77 exclusively for my MC Anna. |
Thanks for the update @audiofun
Would you say that 103.3 is a great option if one wants to buy a serious $2k cartridge ?
Which phonostage do you use primarily ? |
@chakster It's typical audiophile human nature. Not being able to afford or not willing to spend a lot of money. Read countless meaningless forum posts. Convince oneself that one is getting a giant killer for a fraction of the cost. Realization hits that the product is junk and one gets what they paid for. Spend additional money to make it acceptable. Which is now still not as good as if the same amount was spent originally on a better product. Rinse and repeat. |
I now have about 45 hours on the 103.3 and it has opened up quite a bit. One of the main differences I hear between the 103.3 and the stock 103r are primarily in the high frequencies with the 103.3 playing far freer and possessing a much more open top end. It actually makes my stock 103r sound muted or overly damped. The other big difference is in the area of intelligibility. The 103.3 sales through complex passages of music whereas the 103r can sound confused, especially if the complex riff contains a good deal of high frequency content such as flute.
I did compare it to my MC Anna. Well, even I was shocked at the result. As good as the 103.3 is, $9K does buy you something and in this case the Anna serves up a plethora of information and spatial cueing that the 103.3 simply can not duplicate (nor would I expect it to do so). I did note that where the 103r was sompletely missing the spatial cues the Anna so easily brought forth the 103.3 DID hint at them. The 103.3 does give you a small taste of that information. I am assuming this is due to the micro-ridge stylus vs the old style conical stylus of the 103r.
I still use my 103r for my less than pristine albums as it plays them well do to the stylus not being able to go as deep into the groove.
The London on jazz is just simply breathtaking. One of my female acquaintances asked me just last evening what makes the London sound so real :)
I was going to run 3 arms across my two tables as I was about have the Kuzma Air Line installed on my SP10Mk3 along with the 4 Point. Due to my being spoiled by the absolute supreme usablity of the arm on my SL-1200 GAE I changeed my mind on the Air Line. I want to be able to change headshells, VTA, VTF just as easily as I can with the GAE. I found and purchased a mint Technics EPA 100 mk2, so I will see how that goes. If that works out I will be happy with my SP10 MK3 and the two arms.
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Isalandmandan:
the other poster is trying to hijack my thread. He has some sick fascination with my posts and follows me and always tries to hijack my threads. His questions are not sincere, they are a ploy to divert the intentions of my posts. I’ve lodged a complaint against him with Audiogon. Just an FYI. |
@islandmandan Dan, i have no idea why people buyin’ cartridge with spherical tip to invest 800 Euro more in upgrade for a better cantilever and better stylus etc, when decent cartridges available for the same amount of money (like the new ART-9 for example). Even 350 Euro + $250-300 (the cost of the original Denon) is enough for a perfect cartridge with best cantilever/stylus combo.
Everyone if free to "upgrade" whatever cartridge for whatever price, but why not just start with a better cartridge instead of the Denon 103 or 103R? What is the advantages of the 103 generator compared to other LOMC ? It’s conventional design, nothing special. I’m sure the upgraded version is much better, because the spherical tip is oldschool from the late 60s. But so many amazing cartridges were made in the 70s, 80s (includind much better models from Denon), even today’s carts like ART-7 or ART-9 are reasonably priced. Why low compliance Denon 103 ($250) + 800 Euro ? Just for fun? |
Chakster, the ESSCO mods were only 350 Euros at the time I had them done. Upgrading the spherical stylus for the paratrace, changed the 103R so much for the better, I can't see not doing it. I guess you would have to hear it to understand why I feel the way I do about it.
Regards,
Dan |
Thanks islandmandan. Yes it is an awesome sounding cartridge. I am about to compare it to my Ortofon MC Anna this evening. So much fun! |
May i ask why should anyone rebuild cheap Denon 103 Cartridge for as much as 800 Euro if many better cartridges available for the same price?
Where is the common sense here? Just curious.
The price for rebuild + the cost of the Denon itself is the price for the brand new Art-9 for example or equal to the price of many used cartridges that comes with advanced cantilevers (hollow pipe boron, beryllium, gold-plated boron etc) and advanced styli from the start (microline, micro ridge, frits gyger, stereohedron, paroc etc). All those are factory made and installed by the manufacturer, not a third party.
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I could not agree more with your assessment of the 103R. Mine came in the form of a Zu Audio top-tier rated cartridge, which I sent to ESCCO in London, and had their white sapphire cantilever/Paratrace stylus modification. It would be interesting to listen to the two carts in a comparison, it would be a fine listening session in any case.
Regards, and enjoy,
Dan |
