ZYX RS20 vs Denon DL103

Good discussion and suggestions so far. I certainly agree with Flyingred's last post. If a Denon 103/103R lacks "body" and adjusting impedance, VTF and VTA haven't helped, then something is probably wrong with the TT, tonearm or both. The 103 on my Teres/TriPlanar was one of the most present, full-bodied cartridges I've heard.

Joe,

Just solder the cartridge pins to the tonearm wires. It'll probably sound better!

Sorry to hear about that, it must be maddeningly frustrating.

Joe,

1.78g is probably too light. It's certainly too light for the higher end ZYX's, and AFAIK the suspensions are similar. I fear mis-tracking on dynamic passages, if not now then certainly when cooler weather arrives.

1.90g is about right in the summer and I'd probably want to start a new cartridge off a touch heavier than that. In winter you'll probably want to be closer to 2.00g.

You either need a lighter counterweight or a headshell weight. The fancy ZYX's have an optional headshell weight that adds about 4g. It is useful on all but the heaviest tonearms. In addition to giving you a more useable VTF range, increasing the system eff. mass should improve bass and dynamics a bit, sort of like the HIFI mod does.

Joe,

A reasonable VTA reference point on a ZYX can be eyeballed as follows:

- View the cartridge from the side
- Spot the slight ridge in the acrylic that runs the full length of the body, 1-2mm above the bottom of the cartridge
- That ridge should be level with the record surface

Of course you need to have dialed in VTF too, since that affects VTA.

Eventually you can fine tune VTA by ear, to whatever degree of craziness you prefer. You'll probably want 50-100 hours on it before bothering though. Sonic changes due to break-in may swamp most VTA-related effects.

BTW, try running the de-mag sweeps on the Cardas record. It made a substantial improvement on a silver coiled ZYX I tested recently. OTOH it has little effect on my copper coiled one, so YMMV. It can't hurt though.

BTW #2, how do you use the HFN record for dialing in a cartridge? I find it about 95% useless for that purpose.

To heck with all this. Play more music!

Joe,

Thanks for the comparison. I haven't heard the RS20 but I remember Chris Brady saying it knocked his socks off for an $800 cartridge.

FWIW, I think the 103/103R are simply killer for the money, we're in the same camp on that one. Everything you described about the RS20 sounds familiar. It's apparent the RS20 shares the ZYX family sound with its more expensive kin.

One thing you and I both found surprising: dynamics. The 103's make you think, "Wow, that's pretty dynamic sound." ZYX dynamics are different, you think, "Wow, that's a pretty dynamic sax - or bass guitar, or whatever."

Nice observation about its ability to play musically at low levels. That's a very special quality that alot of components simply do not share. It was the first thing we noticed about the first ZYX we heard.

Of course we agree on the differences in setup. ZYX's are not plug 'n' play. VTF, VTA and impedance are all critical and the sweet zone for each is tiny. Glad you were able to find them and enjoy.

Thanks for the link to Steve's setup page.

Doug