What turntable and TONEARM brands sound best with the Denon DL103 and DL 103R? MC's

Thomas Schick "12 tonearm made for Denon 103 if you’re looking for new tonearms for reasonable price.

About 103 vs 103R: the difference is stylus tip and coil wire, the "R" is superior compared to 103, but if you want even better look for higher compliance vintage 103D which does not require heavy tonearm to perform at its best.

Cartridge does not require a specific turntable, good cartridge works on any good turntable. Dedon made fantastic direct drive turntables, most of the Japanese broadcast studios equipped with direct drive like Technics Sp10mk2 etc. Denon 103 was made for broadcast use along with DL-107 (MM alternative of DL-103).  

p.s. you can easily google all info about denon variations and tonearm matching, this is not an exotic item with no info about it, tons of information online. 

The fact that Ortofon 2M Red is very popular and the Ortofon is one of the biggest manufacturer today, it doesn’t make this cartridge any better even compared to their own (vintage) M20 FL Super. 

$250-300 Stanton 881 (with Stereohedron stylus) will put it in a shame for less money. I already posted here about this case, it was direct replacement for my local friend. After hearing Stanton 881s mkII in his system his new Ortofon 2M Red was removed and he said he’s gonna sell it as it was a day and night in sound compared to Stanton 881 Stereohedron. I’m a big fan of stanton cartridges and my own Stanton CS-100 WOS is my favorite MM.

@breezer 
 

NO! The Stylus and cantilever are the same. The difference is just coil material and output impedance.

Sorry, my mistake.
It's Denon 103D that comes with more refined elliptical stylus tip. 
Personally i would avoid any cartridge with conical tip, i was so disappointed with new conical Ortofon SPU Classic GM mk2 that i bought based on review. Later i realized it's definitely not my kind of sound. Same with MM alternative of DL103, which is DL-107, made for NHK Japan as their official studio broadcast cartridge. Good cartridge (maybe even better than 103), but their super-duper polished conical tip does not sound as good as shibata imo. 

If you like Denon mods, do you also like SPU sound ?
There is only one SPU with the most advanced stylus in the world - the Ortofon Replicant 100 (does not require any mods btw). 

I’ve seen the 103 used in an EMT 997 banana and at the other extreme an Infinity black widow..

OMG, Black Widow tonearm decerve much better cartridge than oldschool conical DL103 MC that cause total missmatch with this super lightweight tonearm designed for lightweight and extremely high compliance MM/MI cartridges up to 30-40cu and higher. DL103 is definitely not for lightweight tonearm if it means something for you, this is not universal cartridge for any tonearm at all, the compliance is just 8cu @100Hz and tonearm must be heavy, this is so obvious. If the original poster ask what is the best match for DL103 then it is tonearm with very high effective mass! If nobody cares why asking? 

Gray Research brand later became Grace, but why do you need Denon DL-103 if you have ART-9? 

As far as i know the original SPU and Denon low compliance cartridges have similar signature sound, but the SPU is even better, because the SPU already perfectly integrated with its own headshell. I’m not a fan of that signature sound at all, mainly because of the conical stylus sound is not involved compared to cartridges with more advanced stylus tip.

People who invest money to modify their stock DL-130 or 103r change the housing, there are many kind of different housing for the DL103 available. The next step is replacing of the stock alluminum cantilever and conical tip to something better. Denon owners are happy with SoundSmith Ruby cantilever with contact line stylus. The investment in step-1 and step-2 is not cheap.

When the owners are serious about cartridge/tonearm matching they use heavy tonearm with their low compliacne Denon, but the refurbished Denon with SoundSmith cantilevers/tip is (probably) no more a low compliance!? And most likely the heavy tonearm for rebuilded DL103 is not a perfect match.

But i wonder, why not try a stock cartridge with perfectly matched headshell like Ortofon SPU if the signature sound of Denon & SPU is what folks like. Ortofon people are smart, they made the SPU Royal GM mk2 with modern Ortofon Replicant 100 stylus (similar to Fritz Gyger Stylus) for those who looking for detailed sound without that typical roll of in both registers (with conical tip). They made also stand alone version of this cartridge called royal N to use with any SME type headshell.

The ortofon SPU design is the most ellegant, the Royal SPU GM mk2 with Ortofon Replicant 100 stylus can be a pain in the ass in alignment, tonearm must be very good to set-up VTA, SRA, Anti-Staking. It’s a low compliance cartridge to use on heavy tonearm like the normal SPU or Denon. Tracking force is 2.5-3.5 g. (still lover than with normal SPU).

I remember i was not impressed by the SPU Classic GM mk2 with conical tip, but the SPU Spirit LTD with elliptical tip and improved coil was much better, but still not as good as the other MM/MC cartridges with MicroRidge tip. Taking in count all this i think that SPU Royal GM mk2 with Ortofon Replicant 100 stylus tip must be the best in SPU series. Sadly i already sold my Schick "12 tonearm, it was a geat arm for SPU and Denon.

But i still have Lustre GST 801 with all additional counterweights. This tonearm is perfect for low compliance MC cartridges, but also great for mid compliance MM.