I'd go with the New Pioneer! The used market is over priced, given the current popularity of Vinyl Playback. Plus you will get a warranty.
Turntable for a Denon DL-103 cartridge
I was interested in buying a turntable that would work well with a Denon DL-103 cartridge. I was under the understanding that this cartridge needs an arm with some mass. Some used TT that are for sale in my area are, Dual 1246, Pioneer PL-A45D and a Pioneer PL-41D. Would any of these tables work? Your help is appreciated!
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For the DL-103 you need superheavy high mass tonearm, most of them are oldschool like Fidelity-Research FR-64s, great arm, but this arm deserve a much better cartridge, and none of the mentioned turntables have such arm. Using a low compliance MC cartridge on lighweight tonearms designed mainly for MM is nonsence (none of MM are low compliance). You have to understand how to calculate tonearm/cartridge resonance. Read here about it. If you will decide on a new turntable, make sure to look for Technics released this year (under $1399 including cartridge and phono stage) and ignore Technics clones made by some other companies like Pioneer before Technics made a come back! If, for some reason, you're a fan of Denon 103 then a brand new Thomas Schick "12 inch tonearm has been designed for this cartridge, you can buy turntable without tonearm to install your own arm on it. Good luck |
Go with the Pioneer PL-41D, it's a superbly built belt drive machine with all high quality parts. Back in it's day, the PL-41 was Pioneers flagship TT. Lot's of info on restoring one of these over on AK, get a proper belt, new thrust pad for the spindle and a lube job. Good for another 50 years. BillWojo |
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