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Upgrade Denon 103 R to Shelter 501 II?

I own a Denon DL 103R on a Spacedeck with Space-arm. I have read much conflicting data on this cartridge. My question to those who have tried this cartridge and also either a Sumiko Blackbird and Shelter 501 II, is: Will either of these be a significant upgrade? (System: EE Mini-max phono-preamp, Jadis DA 88 Signature int amp, Merlin TSM-Mx speakers)
springbok10

Showing 2 responses by thom_at_galibier_design

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Hi Springbok,

Patrick and Audifeil speak the truth, but this may still not be "your" truth.

Affix a nickel to the headshell of your Nottingham tonearm to increase the effective mass of your arm by about 5.5 grams.

Use Blu-tack, modeling clay, or two sided tape to stick the nickel to the headshell.

A 103R loves arms with 15 to 18 gram effective mass.

Reset the tracking force to between 2.5 and 2.6 grams and tell us what you hear with your 103R.

Note - if you are measuring tracking force with a Shure stylus gauge, you will be tracking low by .2 to .3 grams. Set to 2.7 to 2.8 if you're using a Shure.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Absolutely! 2.5 to 2.6 grams, and remember to take the optimistic numbers that a Shure tracking force gauge gives you into account.

I mention this latter point only because so many folks rely on the Shure coupled with the fact that you haven't mentioned how you measure your tracking force.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
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