Cartridge bodies... less is more?

Van den Hul makes naked mc cartridges. Having those small parts with tight gaps open to dust is a problem. Yes, a wood body resonates differently to a plastic or metal body. Or a stone body used by Koetsu. I don't think it matters based upon my experience with electric guitars. There are many in that community that believe in 'tone wood' - a fallacy that has been debunked! The only things in any electric guitar that affect the sound are the metal strings and the pickups. In a phono cartridge the cantilever/magnet or cantilever/coil pivots on a fulcrum. The magnets/coils are fixed in place. This is an electrical generator. The body contributes nothing to the electrical signal from the generator. So don't obsess about the cartridge body! Its function is to protect against dust and mishandling.

I recommend not wasting money on a wood body for the Denon 103. A better upgrade would be to install a line-contact stylus for superior detail retrieval. The 103 generator is already real good!

I'd put a Denon 103 with a line-contact stylus up against any four-figure mc cartridge!

I purchased an 103R with a broken cantilever & had Steve from VAS rebuild it with the Baron & Micro combo on a rosewood body, & the sound is similar to my Otho Cadenza Black. Which is 4x the price.

Throw away that high-ouput Glider and get a Denon 103 with a line-contact stylus. For the money it can't be beat! You may need a headamp or SUT for the .35 millivolt output of the 103 if your phono stage doesn't have the higher gain needed (60db).

Regards, voolston:

Apples CAN  be compared to oranges, or, bananas to broccoli. May I suggest  there are varying degrees of harmonics, smearing and ringing relative to the materials present from stylus to turntable?

It may be a stretch but the proposition that performance, either heard or measured, is identical relative to the implementation of ceramic, wood, magnesium (or whatever material) introduced in proximity to the cartridge's generator might be questionable.

If you wish, take a moment and visit:

http://korfaudio.com/blog62

where headshells are evaluated relative to the above considerations. Interesting stuff. I've done three "garage built" cartridge conversions to wood body, an AT, a Shure and an Acutex. It made a difference. Lacking the ability to measure performance, wether or not an improvement may depend on the priorities of the listener.

Peace,