Denon DL-103R Wood Body Mod

My experience with the Uwe Panzerholz body was the exact opposite of Dave's above.
I have both Ebony and Panzerholz Uwe bodies and both have enhanced the openness and transparency of the 103R's I've installed in them. Both wooded 103R's sound beautiful IMO. The Panzerholz sounds a little more transparent, cleaner and neutral than the Ebony - perhaps it's a little less 'velvety' sounding, but wonderfully natural.
Both sound very dynamic and alive. The big panoramic 103R staging is enhanced further and imaging is more solid and focussed.
It's perplexing that Dave's experience was so different - but then he was using a SoundSmith retipped 103 where I am using stock 103R's (my arm is the Graham Phantom II).

07-10-10: Gadfly
I will really test my opinion when I finally pack this ebony 103 off to SS. Now, with the elliptical I feel no loss of detail. I mean I do not crave for more. Very satisfactory.

I'm absolutely amazed at the level of detail available from the Panzerholz 103R with stock cantilever/stylus. At this stage I feel no inclination to investigate an exotic re-tip - and this is following about 6 months with the Ortofon A90 in my system.

Of course the A90 does things the Uwe Panzerholz 103R can't - mostly notably it's see into transparency and extreme clarity in the soundfield. The Uwe 103R still does well enough to satisfy (me) in these areas though.

What amazes me though - and has every time I've played a 103R variant over the last 5 yrs - is the musical rightness and engagement of the Denon. The tonal colours and textures capture some lifelikeness that is quite compelling. With the 103R in the panzerholz shell (on the Phantom II) I find the shortcomings of the stock 103R - somewhat bloated mid-bass, lack of mid-band clarity, lack of speed and 'snap' on transients, lack of HF refinement/apparent extension - are, at least to my satisfaction, gone. The Denon also sounds very dynamic and lively, with a great knack of reproducing instrumental 'action'.

The modded Denon still won't satisfy those who want to count individual players of an orchestra at the rear of the stage, but I think many would be genuinely shocked how good it sounds. I am.

Hdm, since I now have the panzerholz on my turntable and prefer it to the ebony, I suppose I could send the latter off to be retipped.
Here's the thing though: firstly I find the detail of the uwe cartridges more than adequate. Secondly, I strongly suspect that some of the special qualities that I admire in the 103R result from that conical tip/aluminium cantilever. I find the more 'relaxed' presentation of detail very easy on my ears, natural and unforced. Its like my brain isn't being over overwhelmed and I can more easily concentrate on the music.
Every fine line cartridge I've used is different in these respects - and in a way more overtly 'hifi'. I read somewhere that the distortion products of conical styli are different to elliptical/fine line etc - maybe this is some of what I am hearing.
I won't rule out getting a retip, but I'm not in a hurry to go down that path at present.

Hdm: I think we are on the same page here, time will probably tell whether or not I find the panzer 103R lacking in detail.

I've gone through the stages with the 103R. When I initially put the stock cartridge in my system I thought it was awesome - though eventually my enthusiasm tempered when I did further comparison with my Vdh tipped Crown Jewel. Which I wrote up in this review here: http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Phono-Cartridge/Denon/103R/vinyl/484083.html

Then I got the Ortofon Jubilee and favored it for a long time - even after adding the ebony wood body to the 103R. That chapter is recorded here: http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Phono-Cartridge/Uwe-s-Wood-Body-Denon-103-103R/Ebony-Wood-Body/vinyl/72/722633.html.

Then I upgraded to the Phantom arm and the ebony 103R regained the ascendency: http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=vinyl&n=858582&highlight=

The Ortofon A90 followed and blew me away - such clarity, transparency and liveliness. Sadly the A90 was sold (to pay some bills!).....but inserting the ebony 103R immediately after the A90 was not the downgrade I expected. I was really surprised how great it sounded - I didn't find myself wanting for anything, just enjoyed the music.
What had changed in the interim?
Well I'd upgraded my Harbeth speakers from C7ES-2 to the current ES-3. As it turned out everything about that change suited and enhanced the sound of the Uwe 103R.
The Panzerholz 103R was just icing on the cake, more revealing, airy and balanced in my system than the ebony (though in fairness this was a new 103R base cartridge vs my older sample in the ebony).

At the moment I don't want to mess with the magic in search of more detail - but like you say, my ebony 103R would be perfect candidate for a retip experiment.