Denon DL103 bought in Asia- What to expect?

If you search this forum on the topic of the DL103 you will
find many passionate fans. I own two 103D's (bought one
as a spare) and owned many cartridges in between after
my first 103D bought in Japan 22 years ago. The 103 is
a classic and one of the bargains in audio. You would
easily have to spend 3-5 times as much for a noticeable
improvement, and many (myself included) think it can give
most any cartidge a run for the money.

Expect happiness.

Good luck.

I have a Shelter 501 II and a Denon DL103R mounted on a SME 312. Both are excellent cartridges; the 103R is a lush sounding cartridge and the Shelter seems to be a bit "crisper" than the Denon. But, the Shelter was three times the price (from Hong Kong) of the Denon. I use both cartridges and enjoy them both.

for 180 to 260 bucks (103, 103R) you simply cannot go wrong. I also own a Dynavector DV20XH (hi output MC) and, while it is a good cartridge, it is not in the same league as the Denon or Shelter.

it might be late, now it is 2006. Still there is something I like to post. I used the DL 103 and have changed to the DL 103R at a cost of us$249 from Audiocubes not including postage. Since then the first record I put on my P-25 is guitar music, not group but solo nylon strings instrument playing classical, spanish etc, the timbre, clarity, harmonics from this instrument are haunting, the DL 103R is that good.

But I must mention my rig, otherwise it is meaningless.

P-25
DL 103R/Lehmann Audio BC
Musicable i/c now looking for AQ Lapis/Emerald x3
AQ Clear loudspeaker cable (first generation circa 1993)
Union Research/Unico P
Audio Physic Yara