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Denon DL-103 -- Was it a mistake?

I recently purchased a Denon DL-103 for my Clearaudio Emotion/Satisfy Tonearm combo. I thought it might end up sounded ok, but I'm starting to think it was not a good match. I've only put about 10 hours on it so far, so perhaps it will still smooth out a bit. But the bass seems to get muddy very easily. Can I do some things to improve the sound here?

Thanks
jwglista

Showing 3 responses by dopogue

dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Great cartridge, and not just for the money. Problematic though -- it has never sounded less than good on three of my arms -- that cheap 12" cherry wood tonearm, a JMW 10.5, and an SME IIIs (with added headshell weight) -- but one friend with a superb system couldn't make the same cart (mine) sound halfway decent. Loading appears to be critical. People recommend 100 ohms but my Aesthetix Rhea sounds WAY better at 500 ohms,

Finally, this thing really take wing when treated to a Soundsmith retip. Mine now has their Optimized Contour (OC) line contact ruby cantilever ($350) and is in a whole other league from the stock conical version. Good luck, Dave
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Just put a Uwe pod (Panzerholz) on my Soundsmith retipped DL-103 last night. This may be the ultimate DL-103; it certainly sounds little like the stock 103. It's on a JMW arm that's something of a "mutt" -- 10.0 base, 10.5 armtube, 12.7 pivot point assembly -- and seems to match the now-heavy cart very well.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Regarding loading the DL-103, my experience tells me it needs to be higher
than 100 ohms. The matching Denon SUTs load it at 470 ohms (at least my
AU-320 does). I now have an Aesthetix Rhea that permits on-the-fly loading
changes via the remote (yeah, the ultimate couch potato phonostage) and it
sounds best to me at 500 ohms. Too "scrawny" at 100 ohms, IME.
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