Denon DL103 Nuding Problems

[cuddles]

Well I had to go and do it - reading about the great improvement removing the plastic case of the good old 103 and shoving it in a wooden or aluminium body. I got myself a Sound Improvements alu body and following the You Tube video I carefully removed the plastic body - much easier to do than it looked.
So far so good. A bit of filing and the nude cartridge fitted snugly into the new body. I fitted it to my Sumiko headshell and dialled in the overhang, anti skate and tracking weight just so and played some records. Excellent - first thing I noticed was much quieter background noise, almost totally silent between tracks but what's that I notice? A slight brittleness in the cymbals. A touch more tracking weight should sort that out. I'm now tracking at 3gs but I'm good with that.
However, when a bit of loud bass comes in the sound breaks up on the right speaker. The cart is mistracking . I punish myself by digging out some drum and bass 12's. Previously they tracked perfectly with no issues whatsoever but now the sound breaks up regularly. I checked everything - alignment, anti skate VTA - all fine. I even increased the tracking weight but I started to worry at 3.5gs. What I noticed was that with the volume turned right down there was a lot of sound coming from the cartridge - like the body was acting like a speaker.

Any ideas? If these issues could be sorted I think the new body is a bargain. Has anyone had similar problems?

Cheers in advance.

[NRG]

Some thoughts, is the cartridge new or worn? R/H channel distorting could mean not enough bias. Increasing the tracking force will require more bias to compensate. Go back to 2.5g and try more bias, also try lowering the back of the arm. Is the azimuth OK as well...

[blake]

Agreed. 3-3.5 grams is way too much VTF. I found the stock conical to work best at pretty much exactly 2.6. I have an aluminum bodied 103R as well as one in ebony and they both have Soundsmith retips so can be tracked a bit lower.

I'd be experimenting with VTF in the 2.45 to 2.6 range. If that doesn't work I'd say you have a worn out stylus or other problems with your setup. Make sure the 103 is seated firmly, securely and level in the new body and that you are properly aligned with correct azimuth as NRG said.

[cuddles]

Thanks for the replies. The cart is less than a year old so wear shouldn't be an issue. I'll try faffing with VTF and VTA a bit more. I'm just glad that I didn't chuck the original body away.
I was thinking that the aluminium body was resonating too much and a bit of damping may be necessary.
Blake, did you glue the cart into the new body? I'll take the cartridge out and try refitting the bugger.

[NRG]

What arm are you using?

[blake]

Blake, did you glue the cart into the new body? I'll take the cartridge out and try refitting the bugger.

Simon:

My ebony body is a first generation Uwe body and my aluminum is a fairly basic affair-they are both drop ins from the bottom as opposed to the 2nd generation Uwe body and bodies like the Midas. As I recall, they both fit quite snugly. Don't believe I actually glued the cartridge into the ebony body; with the aluminum body I did use a very small amount of glue to secure the top side of the cartridge to the underside of the new body.

Both of my cartridges, however, have been potted into the bodies using epoxy. I had Peter Ledermann do this when he retipped the cartridges. This is essentially what Zu does with their 103's.

The aluminum body, if the cartridge is installed in the body and set up correctly, should give you significantly better performance pretty much across the board.

[cuddles]

Thanks for the info Blake. I took the cart off last night - it was very loose as it happens and reinstalled it. Well, blow me down, problem solved . No more distortion! I think a little blob of glue just to hold it secure in future would be advisable. Now to listen to some music. Thanks for your advice.

[blake]

Thanks for the info Blake. I took the cart off last night - it was very loose as it happens and reinstalled it. Well, blow me down, problem solved . No more distortion! I think a little blob of glue just to hold it secure in future would be advisable. Now to listen to some music. Thanks for your advice.

Excellent! Glad it worked out for you. You definitely want the cartridge to be snug and secure in the body.

[NRG]

+1 glad you got it working.

I have a 103R mounted in a Uwe wood body, great sound,

[blake]

I really like mine as well.