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Was your first cartridge relatively expensive?

I'm thinking seriously about buying my first analog rig. I've never set up a turntable system before and obviously my biggest fear is breaking/damaging the cartridge.

So I've got some questions for you guys. Was your first cartridge relatively expensive? In hindsight would you have bought a cheaper one to "learn" with? Would you recommend a newbie who is sure he likes the sound of vinyl and will stick to it, to start with the best cartridge he can afford?
howie

Showing 1 response by tobes

tobes's avatar
tobes
436 posts
 
12-29-05: Dazzdax
The Denon DL-103 is a very fairly priced cartridge. It is also capable of giving very satisfactory sonic results. But it is not a beginners cartridge, because it can sound good only with heavy and very heavy arms.
This is not true.
The Denon 103 works very well in most quality medium mass arms. It sounds very good in my Graham (effective mass 11g) and works in just as well in SME, Rega and VPI medium mass arms - to name a few. Denon quotes a very low compliance, but this is dynamic compliance at 100hz. Static compliance at 10hz is significantly higher. In my Graham arm the 103R has lateral/vertical resonant frequencies of 10/12Hz respectively. This is pretty much ideal.
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