Denon 301 mk2

[Firebottle]

I think Alex is referring to his 103 James

I have a DL-103 and it is a very rounded and full sounding cartridge, as you have said. It gives a magnificent body of sound, or 'molten lava' as you have eloquently put it.

It won't give the the airy, delicate, intricately elaborate filigree of sounds of other more expensive MC's, but it sure does boogie.



Where are you Alex, you would be welcome to a comparison at Firebottle Towers.

[Jimbo]

Thanks Alan, I was also corresponding with someone else on the post and got confused - its me age

Sorry Alex - I agree with what you are hearing from the 103. It is an earthy full bodied cartridge and does not really sound like airy fairy MC. The 301 is a bit more airy fairy but is still full bodied and lush in the midband.

[mindarelus]

From another topic, a guy suggested me Benz Micro MC gold, as more appropriate for my stock 1210 technics tonearm. Have anyone tried it and how it compares to DL-301 mk2?
It's around 150$ more than the denon though..

[Qwin]

James - As I mentioned, I'm exhibiting at the Wigwam show on the 19th March.
I will have a 301 mkII in my DIY deck with linear tracking Arm, so if anyone wants to hear the 301 mkII, I'm in the Syndicate 3 Room.

I've given the deck a bit of an overhaul, greased the bearing etc, while I was at it I checked the cartridge alignment and spent a few nights making sure I was in the "sweet spot".

In my set up, with the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS, this cartridge runs quite hot for a low output MC and the level is as loud as my CD source for instance. I'm using a Fountek Ribbon Tweeter capable of 2kHz - 40KHz, but more significantly, has a rising response above 7kHz.

Because of the later, I have found best results with a 1.4g stylus weight (1.4 +/-0.2 recommended) and the tail slightly down on the cartridge, so the VTA is slightly lower than the horizontal position. In conjunction I have found the loading best at around 200ohm, some tracks are ok at 300ohm but something like the first two tracks on Joe Jacksons "Night & Day" album will sound a bit shrill, drop it back to 200ohm and it tames it enough to sound more natural.
It's really filled out the mid range and added weight to the bass with this set up, note, drop the tail too much and the bass will start to sound muddy.

With a dome tweeter and Croft Phono stage, I found 300ohm, 1.2g and nose slightly down worked best, so you really do have to experiment with the settings.

[Jimbo]

James - As I mentioned, I'm exhibiting at the Wigwam show on the 19th March.
I will have a 301 mkII in my DIY deck with linear tracking Arm, so if anyone wants to hear the 301 mkII, I'm in the Syndicate 3 Room.

I've given the deck a bit of an overhaul, greased the bearing etc, while I was at it I checked the cartridge alignment and spent a few nights making sure I was in the "sweet spot".

In my set up, with the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS, this cartridge runs quite hot for a low output MC and the level is as loud as my CD source for instance. I'm using a Fountek Ribbon Tweeter capable of 2kHz - 40KHz, but more significantly, has a rising response above 7kHz.

Because of the later, I have found best results with a 1.4g stylus weight (1.4 +/-0.2 recommended) and the tail slightly down on the cartridge, so the VTA is slightly lower than the horizontal position. In conjunction I have found the loading best at around 200ohm, some tracks are ok at 300ohm but something like the first two tracks on Joe Jacksons "Night & Day" album will sound a bit shrill, drop it back to 200ohm and it tames it enough to sound more natural.
It's really filled out the mid range and added weight to the bass with this set up, note, drop the tail too much and the bass will start to sound muddy.

With a dome tweeter and Croft Phono stage, I found 300ohm, 1.2g and nose down worked best, so you really do have to experiment with the settings.

Hi Ken, thanks for sharing your insights in setting up the 301. I have not messed with mine too much but will try a few options when I get time. It is a great cartridge for all round long listening fatigue free vinyl spinning!

[mindarelus]

On my Phono Ifi 2 I have the following settings:
22, 33, 75, 100, 250, 330, 1k, and 47k
So I guess my best bet is using 330 Ohms for the 301 mk2 cartridge in my setup.
On the gain, should I use 60db or 72db gain? Any recommendations?

[Qwin]

At a guess, it would be the 250 or 330ohm setting, depending on the rest of your gear.
As a rough starting point, 10 x the cartridge impedance is often recommended and as that's 33ohm your 330ohm setting fits the bill.

I'm using 66dB Gain and its more than enough with the rest of my gain structure, 72 may be too hot, depending on down stream sensitivity/Gain, I would start with 60dB and see how you get on.

There is never a definitive answer with these things, as so many variables effect the end result and personal taste comes into it as well, but you won't be far out with those settings, if at all. I usually start with the cartridge VTA set so the arm is horizontal and experiment with it from there, noting the setting so I know whether I have it nose or tail down when I adjust.

At it's price point, it is a very good buy, it replaced my Goldring 1042 and I don't miss it. As James pointed out, its ability to ignore much of the crackles and pops on older vinyl is a valuable feature, most of my collection is pre-owned so it works well for me. I would only consider changing if I was moving to the next level, which would be three or four times the price, Cadenza Blue etc.

[magiccarpetride]

I think Alex is referring to his 103 James

I have a DL-103 and it is a very rounded and full sounding cartridge, as you have said. It gives a magnificent body of sound, or 'molten lava' as you have eloquently put it.

It won't give the the airy, delicate, intricately elaborate filigree of sounds of other more expensive MC's, but it sure does boogie.



Where are you Alex, you would be welcome to a comparison at Firebottle Towers.

I am in Canada, Alan.

Thanks for confirming my initial impressions, good to know that this peculiar sound is not due to some misconfiguration in my system

Thus far (and I think I'm on my 17th or 18th hour of the cantilever break in), the sound emanating from my DL-103 is decidedly NOT hi fi. Now mind you, my understanding is that these cartridges are assembled and tested manually, so there are no two identical ones coming off the assembly line. Maybe I've received a peculiarly odd one? Examining the supplied frequency response graph that was included in the box, I see that there is a slight dip bending down towards the highest end of the spectrum. Maybe that explains it?

Whatever the case, I've never heard such fiery sound coming out of a stereo system, at any level of price range/sophistication. This thing is spewing fire! I got literally blown out of my seat last night when I put on Bach's harpsichord concerts. Molten lava and melted chocolate, sheer testosterone and brawn! I had no idea Bach could sound so raw, punk, so impolite! Almost like I was listening to Motorhead...

[magiccarpetride]

Sorry Alex - I agree with what you are hearing from the 103. It is an earthy full bodied cartridge and does not really sound like airy fairy MC. The 301 is a bit more airy fairy but is still full bodied and lush in the midband.

Good to know, thanks James. Like I mentioned elsewhere, I am a vinyl rookie, so this is my first foray into the moving coil sound. Previously (before CDs replaced LPs during that shameful period throughout the 1990s - 2000s) I was only listening to my records on Thorens 145 MKII with a fairly high end Ortofon MM cartridge (forgot the actual model). It sounded hot back then (if my sonic recollection is worth anything), but nothing even close to the fiery hotness of DL-103!

[Qwin]

I don't believe it!

My 301 mkII has just died!

I was listening to London Grammar and could hear a strange background noise out of my left speaker. When I looked at the cartridge, it was running very low, almost dragging on the record surface. I lifted the tone arm and the cantilever dropped back to its normal position, so I lowered it on to the record again, but it collapsed completely. I took the arm off, it just lifts off on my deck and looked at the needle through an eye glass, everything looked ok with the tip and cantilever. I touched it with a cocktail stick under the eye glass and it just fell away from the cartridge, with the small plate holding four coils attached to the end.

I presume this means its buggered?