Denon 103r ????

Phil,

I'm sure you know this....it gets repeated ad nauseam on this and other forums....but Denon specs their cartridge compliances at 100Hz - not the 10Hz typical of most manufacturers. The 103R has a compliance at 10Hz of around 9cm/dyne - maybe more - which means it tracks and behaves quite well in typical medium mass arms. The low mass SME is probably a stretch though.
You can see this from Denon's own compliance vs frequency graph.
You can also verify this empirically using a test record.

For the record, I think the 103R sounds great - especially in a Uwe wooden shell. I'm running mine in a Graham Phantom II which has an effective mass of around 14gm (according to Bob Graham) and the Uwe shell takes the 103R's weight up to 11.73gm - it sounds superb IMO.

I wonder if the 103R's reported superior sonics in heavier arms has more to do with damping the cartridges inherent resonances than fundamental compliance matching(?).

I just swapped out the Ortofon A90 for the Uwe 103R and the latter holds up well. It can't match all the strengths of the A90 - but I bet it would surprise people by what it can do....and it has its own charms.

System Details

FWIW, (and yes I know this is not an indicator of sound quality) I just tested the resonant frequencies, lateral and vertical, for the Uwe 103R in my 14gm effective mass Phantom II.
Test record was the HFN&RR, which has a low frequency sweep with a 1kHz pilot - with frequency callouts every couple of Hz.

Lateral resonance was fairly low at 7-8Hz and vertical resonance was about 9Hz.

Increasing the arm's effective mass would theoretically lower these resonant points further - not necessarily desirable IMO, as they are already on the lower side of ideal.

Of course there may be other benefits to higher mass, but I don't think it would have much to do with fundamental resonance.

Sound wise the Uwe 103R sounds fabulous in the Phantom II - significantly better than the somewhat lower effective mass Graham 1.5T. But is that because the Phantom has slightly higher mass, or because it's a better tonearm? I suspect the latter.

06-17-10: Thekong
Have to agree with 213cobra that the 103R is one fine cartridge. I have compared it with some much more expensive cartridges, like the VDH Colibri Platinum and the Ortofon A90, in my system. Is the 103R as good as the other cartridges? No, it is not! But in a proper set-up, I really don’t feel deprived, or have any intense urge to switch back to the other cartridges, when I listen to the Denon. It is that good!

Agreed, the Denon's faults are revolve more around deficiencies at the extremes and some shortcomings in imaging/soundstaging. It still sounds very good in these latter regards but very convincing in tone and texture - it sounds surprising good at midband detail too.

06-20-10: Rower30

........So far, the stock 103R is the WORST MC cartridge I've listened to and owned, even in the "right" tonearm. Oh it was better in a heavier arm, but I don't care about "better". I need it to sound "right". My old Denon 103D, and my AC-2 are much better sounding. Now, I have Benz Micro Ruby III that absolutely is superb even over my Accuphase AC-2, this, in my SME series III arm.

I'm sorry you guys, but you seem to have married this product and are now unaware of it's significant faults.

It's a while since I used the 'stock' 103R, but I don't recall it being anywhere near as bad as you say - something is surely wrong with the setup.

I installed the Uwe ebony 103R directly after the Ortofon A90 (in the Graham Phantom).....sure it couldn't match the strengths of the A90, but my imediate impression was "this thing has no right to sound this good!".

I'll be buying another 103R in the near future and trying it with a Uwe Panzerholtz body.

Tony,

I've had a few static issues with my 103R recently - never had this problem with any cartridge before (including the 103R). I wondered if the insulating properties of the wood body (along with dry winter spell) was adding to the problem. In my case using the Zerostat and and antistatic brush alleviated the issue.

I haven't found the 103R that sensitive to VTA changes - about level (using the Phantom micropoise level) seems to work best for me...and I re-adjust this for different record thicknesses - a 2 second job with the Phantom's level. I don't go crazy over this adjustment with the Denon though.

I have found the Denon sensitive to azimuth - the cartridge can go from good to great with a small change in this parameter.

I don't recall having any break-in issues with my 103R - it sounded really nice straight out of the box - it just got better with improved setup (and Uwe mod etc).

Agree it's very satisfying when a relatively cheap cartridge delivers the musical goods....Enjoy your 103R!