cartridge upgrade advice

Mattmiller, I believe you meant to say LOW compliance.

The 103 works great on the low mass arm of the Amadeus because of the silicone damping. Maybe not so much on conventional arms.

Shakey

All the other brands you mention will work great with light to medium tonearms. Except the DL-103.

The Denon 103...is a cartridge with HIGH compliance (25) and it requires a Heavy tonearm to mate properly.Also, if you can get away from the round shaped diamond ,you should. Elliptical or a line contact will be the best upgrade.Be careful with this Low output MC cartridge the DL-103. I tried this on my Med weight RB-301 Tonearm and it was a terrible match. I put a Dynavector 10x5 on the Rega arm and its magic!

Thanks. I'm going directly into a Rogue Audio 66 Magnum tube pre-amp with its stock phono stage. Is this good enough?

Zu Audio/Denon 103...as long as you have enough phono stage gain.

I just bought a SS modded DL-103 and this thing is fabulous. It replaced a Benz L2 and an interim stock 103.

First of all, let me say the stock 103 beat the Benz in all aspects except high frequency detail and extension. The modded 103 smokes both of them in every possible way.

I opted for the suspension/compliance upgrade, ruby cantilever and optimized countour line profile.

Shakey