Spent some time with a rusty nail

[paulf-2007]

Apologies to any 103 owners that may be offended but in some circles the trusty old denon 103 has been dubbed " the rusty nail "
I bought one recently and only had a brief listen before this evening. Fortunately the Stax arm has a removeable head shell and I have four so changing carts is straightforward enough just checking vtf. My PX25 monoblocks take an hour to sound their best so Spotify was used to play some old favourites while I set up the 103. The whole set up sounded fantastic this evening and with some good recordings absolutely sublime. Roy Orbison was playing in my small room although the drummer sounded like he was 20 feet away and the room was bigger. I know some of you will be saying " I thought Roy was dead " and in reality he sadly is but he lives on through the amazing recordings he made. But how many people have heard that magic, not that many I think.
So having had a longer listen to the 103 I am very happy to keep it along with the Benz Wood SL.
I may try it with more headshell mass as I believe it likes a heavy arm please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Barry]

I agree Paul.

The Denon 103C has some detractors (some because of the conical stylus fitted, some because of the 'resonant' plastic case, and others because it was designed in the '60s).

But I don't care: conical stylii can sound good (witness the Ortofon SPUG and EMT XSD15) and if carefully set up, the end of side tracking is acceptable; it was designed for the Japanese Broadcasting Company so had to meet exacting standards as well as being reliable.

I use a Denon 103C (along with an Ortofon MC25FL) as my 'everyday' cartridge. To improve on it, you need to spend a significant amount more.

[paulf-2007]

Am I right in thinking a 12" arm will have less distortion on the inner grooves because the angle of the arm to groove will be less than a shorter arm.

[Barry]

Am I right in thinking a 12" arm will have less distortion on the inner grooves because the angle of the arm to groove will be less than a shorter arm.

Not necessarily. If you are talking about tracking distortion, then in general a 12" arm will produce about 3/4 of the distortion that a 9" arm will produce. This is the distortion caused by the angular deviation from true tangential tracking by the arm over the whole of the record playing surface. There are two points (called the null radii) where the angular deviation is zero. These null radii are independent of arm length. Depending on the design of the arm, one of these radii may be the innermost groove radius (the SME 3000 series arms are such; being designed to comply with the Stevenson geometry), so in this case the length of the arm is irrelevant.

The only real advantage a longer and hence heavier arm will have is to increase the arm/cartridge resonant frequency, which for many low compliance cartridges is no bad thing.

If you are talking about tracing distortion, caused by the path of the stylus in the groove not being the same as that of the groove itself, that is solely due to the radii of the stylus being larger than the smallest radius of the record groove encountered by the stylus. It has its greatest effect on the inner groves and at high frequencies (short wavelengths), and will not be ameliorated by using a longer arm. The only way to reduce the tracing distortion is to use a stylus which has a small radius where it contacts the groove walls, such as one having an elliptical or 'fine line' profile.

[paulf-2007]

That's me told then
I would have to say I've never experienced tracking distortion but then I suspect it would only come to light with a test record. Anyone that can hear such things has my sympathy

[jandl100]

I'm a 103 fan, too.
I've only ever owned a standard one (i.e. not a 103R etc) but in normal form and also housed in a couple of massive/solid aluminium bodies (including a Zu).
All have similar magic, it just gets better when the plastic shell is replaced!

I would have to say I've never experienced tracking distortion but then I suspect it would only come to light with a test record. Anyone that can hear such things has my sympathy

That goes for me, too.

[Marco]

Hi Paul,

As a user myself of various DL-103s, I can only thoroughly endorse your comments. For sheer 'sound-per pound value' it is almost impossible to beat, particularly when used in the right tonearm, of which your Stax is one

Fitting a heavier headshell will only improve matters further, thus increasing your listening pleasure accordingly. Enjoy!

Marco.

[Barry]

That's me told then
I would have to say I've never experienced tracking distortion but then I suspect it would only come to light with a test record. Anyone that can hear such things has my sympathy

Apologies for the lecturing tone. I used to work at an electronics research centre and in my later years wrote many technical reports. So I'm afraid if asked a tecnical question my replies tend to be in the passive voice and appear as if from a textbook. Sorry.

You are fortunate in that you have never heard tracking distortion - not even 'end of side' distortion? I have had a couple of LPs which had to be replaced by the CD version, as I simply could not put up with the end of side distortion occuring with some high pitched notes. But then I'm very sensitive to distortion.

[paulf-2007]

Apologies for the lecturing tone. I used to work at an electronics research centre and in my later years wrote many technical reports. So I'm afraid if asked a tecnical question my replies tend to be in the passive voice and appear as if from a textbook. Sorry.

You are fortunate in that you have never heard tracking distortion - not even 'end of side' distortion? I have had a couple of LPs which had to be replaced by the CD version, as I simply could not put up with the end of side distortion occuring with some high pitched notes. But then I'm very sensitive to distortion.

no worries Barry, just kidding.