beatcomber
AK Member
I was using a Denon DL-103 on a Jelco SA-750D arm for a while, and mostly loved it, but at some point a few months ago, it was starting to bug me and I swapped in something else. The thing that was bugging me were the upper frequencies, which sounded kind of strident and harsh.
For the past few days I was thinking about the DL-103 and pondering why it was sounding poorly. I still had it mounted on a headshell, so I set it up again, and it still had that unpleasantly lean forwardness. It just didn't compute; DL-103's are known for being smooth and fulsome. I pulled it off the arm again.
DL-103's need lots of mass, so I had previously inserted a 3gr metal plate between the cartridge and headshell, to increase the mass, compensated on the other end by a metal washer tacked on to the rear of the counterweight.
Today, I had a brainstorm. I examined the headshell more closely and discovered that the cartridge and plate could slide around with some tugging. Hell's bells, no wonder it was sounding like crap!
My first experiment was to remove the 3g plate and counterweight washer, and see how it sounded. The Jelco SA-750D is said to have around 20g of effective mass with the cartridge installed. After I got it set up, I listened to a few sides and it sounded much cleaner, but it was still a bit too lean and forward for my taste. It wasn't there yet, but I was getting closer.
I went back to my original plan, and put the plate back on the headshell, but this time I put a bead of BlueStik between the plate and the top of the cartridge to prevent sliding. That may have other benefits as well, but I'm not sure.
At any rate, it now sounds terrific again. Mids are nice and rich, bass has sufficient weight and depth, and the treble has sparkle without being strident or harsh. It sounds accurate and balanced to me.
The moral of the story: the Denon DL-103 is a relatively cheap cartridge, deserving of its reputation as a bona fide classic, but it really needs the right supporting cast to deliver the goods. Anything less and it will disappoint!
For the past few days I was thinking about the DL-103 and pondering why it was sounding poorly. I still had it mounted on a headshell, so I set it up again, and it still had that unpleasantly lean forwardness. It just didn't compute; DL-103's are known for being smooth and fulsome. I pulled it off the arm again.
DL-103's need lots of mass, so I had previously inserted a 3gr metal plate between the cartridge and headshell, to increase the mass, compensated on the other end by a metal washer tacked on to the rear of the counterweight.
Today, I had a brainstorm. I examined the headshell more closely and discovered that the cartridge and plate could slide around with some tugging. Hell's bells, no wonder it was sounding like crap!
My first experiment was to remove the 3g plate and counterweight washer, and see how it sounded. The Jelco SA-750D is said to have around 20g of effective mass with the cartridge installed. After I got it set up, I listened to a few sides and it sounded much cleaner, but it was still a bit too lean and forward for my taste. It wasn't there yet, but I was getting closer.
I went back to my original plan, and put the plate back on the headshell, but this time I put a bead of BlueStik between the plate and the top of the cartridge to prevent sliding. That may have other benefits as well, but I'm not sure.
At any rate, it now sounds terrific again. Mids are nice and rich, bass has sufficient weight and depth, and the treble has sparkle without being strident or harsh. It sounds accurate and balanced to me.
The moral of the story: the Denon DL-103 is a relatively cheap cartridge, deserving of its reputation as a bona fide classic, but it really needs the right supporting cast to deliver the goods. Anything less and it will disappoint!