Alphason HR100 S- cartridge help please

[The Grand Wazoo]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome.

As for the Aphason arm, there is one listed on aust ebay at the moment, and am sure he could be convinced to ship it overseas. Its $800 aust BIN which seems to be a decent price.
Here is the link ( hope I am allowed to do this?)

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....=STRK:MEWAX:IT


Chris

Hi Chris & welcome.
That seems a bit of a steal to me - someone should tear his arm off to get hold of that

[Spectral Morn]

That arm looks suspiciously similar to one in my spare tonearms box. Are they worth £50? .

And a bit more Stan. Uses a Linn arm mount if I remember right, fantastic arm. If I had access to an arm board for my Oracle for sensible money, I'd ask to buy it off you, but I don't have access to the board or the money so I won't ask to buy it off you assuming you were selling it.


Regards D S D L

[StanleyB]

This is just half of my collection. The day I got a DDX-1000 TT I ended up collecting tonearms the way some people accumulate opamps...

I actually prefer that MA-505MKI myself.

These are some of tools I use in the A/B testing of my DAC versus my vinyl set up.

Stan

[Spectral Morn]

This is just half of my collection. The day I got a DDX-1000 TT I ended up collecting tonearms the way some people accumulate opamps...

I actually prefer that MA-505MKI myself.

Yes..collecting arms is a nice hobby and if you have a deck that can take more than one arm, you can use them as well;all the time. I have 3, a Graham Phantom B2, Graham 2.2 and a SME 5....all very nice but I reckon the HR100s would go well on an Oracle Delphi, as it has similar design elements to the Alphason Sonata just not as much of a heavy weight in the platter .


Regards D S D L

[Barry]

Stanley,

You have an excellent arm in the Alphason arm. It was the first to 'integrate' the cartridge mounting platform into the arm, years before Rega and SME tried the same. I cannot speak from experience, but I would hope that the Alphason is a good match with the Denon 103.

I have obtained 'satisfactory' results running a ('cooking') 103 in an SME 3009 and 3012, mounted in an SME S2 headshell, but I am about to try the same mounted in the heavier EMT TSD-G shell, on either an SME 3012 or EMT 929 arm, as advised by those 'in the know' .

My findings will appear on AoS in due course.

Suggest you appeal to the 'Denon-meister', Marco for further advice.

Regards

[StanleyB]

There is true tale to that arm of mine. The Alphason turntable that it was fitted to had to be abandoned on an island. The TT was shipped to that island by a well to do friend in the 70's. One day a parcel arrived from my friend, with the arm in it. It turned out the TT had failed and it would have cost a fortune to have it shipped to the UK to get fixed, due to its immense weight.

Stan

[Marco]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to AOS

Things have moved on a bit since I recommended the 103Pro. It's still an excellent cartridge, but experience now tells me that the plastic body shell of the 103 is what holds it back most (not the spherical stylus) which of course is used on the Pro, and of course the stock 103.

Unless you're up for buying a Pro and nuding it, preferably then fitting one of the 'fancy' wooden body shells (as shown on NRG's 'cartridge morphing' thread), I'd go for a 103SA (available from Sound Hi-fi) or the ZU103, which are head and shoulders the best 103s I've heard - and would trounce a 103R.

Ignore Mr 'DSJR' (Dave, you don't half talk some pish sometimes! ) A 103SA, ZU103, or a nuded 103Pro fitted with a nice wooden body shell, properly set-up, are absolutely stunning cartridges and can compete with many high-end designs on the market and outperform them in areas such as midrange clarity (here they are truly 'valve-like'), bass solidity and 'presence'.

Unfortunately, your Alphason (superb though it is) is a (lowish) medium-mass design and doesn't have enough 'heft' for a 103 of any description, but could be suitably modded by the likes of Audio Origami from adding internal mass to the armtube.

In the meantime, you could do the same to the headshell by obtaining a brass cartridge stabiliser of appropriate mass (I'd suggest around 5g for the Alphason) from Dave Cawley of Sound Hi-fi, which simply bolts onto the headshell, and should increase the arm's effective mass to something much more suitable.

The problem you've got is that you own a truly superb tonearm - one which outperforms many modern designs (for example, it would truly piss all over any Rega and compete with some SMEs), but as standard it's not the best match for your chosen cartridge. So you either modify the arm to suit the 103 or you go for the likes of an AT-33PTG, which is a brilliant cartridge, and will suit the Alphason down to the ground - or you sell the Alphason (you'd get good money for it) and buy something like a Jelco SA-750D, which with a heavy detachable headshell is talior made for any DL-103.

Whatever you choose to do from the above will guarantee excellent results, albeit by obtaining different sonic presentations.

With regard to buying a 103Pro, try here: http://www.eifl.co.jp/index/export/export2.htm

Scroll down to near the bottom of the page and you'll see the Denon cartridges, including the Pro. You'll have to import it, I'm afraid.

Hope this helps

Best,
Marco.

[Beobloke]

The problem you've got is that you own a truly superb tonearm - one which outperforms many modern designs (for example, it would truly piss all over any Rega and compete with some SMEs), but as standard it's not the best match for your chosen cartridge.

Well said that man. The Alphason is a stunner but it would still be worth sending it to Audio Origami for a check-over anyway as it uses ceramic bearings which can tend to be a bit fragile in old age. Acquiring a Jelco SA-750D made me realise my own HR-100S was a bit sloppier than it should have been, so off it went to Johnnie and he reported that one bearing was in quite a bad way. It came back renewed and sounding better than ever. I have directly compared it to an SME V and, although the SME was still better IMHO, the difference wasn't as huge as I was expecting. It really is a superb device as far as I'm concerned and I won't ever be letting mine go.

As to cartridges, let's just say I'm not the greatest fan of the DL103 and leave it at that, but I have used an AT-OC9MLII in mine for two years and loved every minute of it. This has only recently been ousted by an Ortofon Kontrapunkt B which is even better. As Marco rightly says, though, if you do want to use a DL103 in the Alphie, it will need beefing up a bit.

[NRG]

Hi Chris, I've heard first hand a 103 / HR100 / SP10 MKII combination and it works really well. The HR had been modded and sported extra mass at the head shell (heed what Marco is saying)...stick with it and it will prove a good combination.

[DSJR]

Hi Chris,

Ignore Mr 'DSJR' (Dave, you don't half talk some pish sometimes! ) A 103SA, ZU103, or a nuded 103Pro fitted with a nice wooden body shell, properly set-up, are absolutely stunning cartridges and can compete with many high-end designs on the market and outperform them in areas such as midrange clarity (here they are truly 'valve-like'), bass solidity and 'presence'.


Best,
Marco.

Marco's emotions totally taking over from scientific fact again, but I'm not going to argue this one

The 103 currently available isn't that low in compliance (higher than a Decca for example) and it's probably the extra mass needed which takes the arm/cart resonance down low enough to keep the audible bass range secure and flatter. Use one in your Alphason if you wish - you won't do any harm doing so...

I'd still like someone to post on here just exactly how far one has to *really* go these days to genuinely trounce a Denon 103 - and don't joke about overpriced Koetsu's either - they're the most contrived of them all and I don't think they've got any better recently either!

The OC9 and 33PTG Audio Technica's track beautifully right to side end, don't have a "driving" bass though, but make up for it elsewhere IMO. If you really want to hear what a 103 can do, I'd suggest a 12" Jelco - as soon as Marco gets one on an SP10, his former deck as used today will be *pish* by comparison - you know I'm right


As said above though, so sad that Alphason turned their collective back so totally on their audio gear. I suspect the Linnie/Naimie thang had a lot to do with it (Richard Dunn isn't the only one with an old axe to grind I'm afraid..)

I believe Audio Origami do some good work on Alphason tonearm re-wires - worth asking at some point...


P.S. Oh, to have that tonearm collection of Stanley's........