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Thread: Denon 103SA

  1. #41
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Nice one, Jamie. Glad the advice I've given you so far seems to be paying off

    What downsides have you been having with the battery - did you use a Duracell, like I said? The fact that the Lentek is battery operated, btw, is one of the reasons why it sounds good!

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  2. #42
    Join Date: Sep 2014

    Location: brighton uk.

    Posts: 4,737
    I'm jamie.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Nice one, Jamie. Glad the advice I've given you so far seems to be paying off

    What downsides have you been having with the battery - did you use a Duracell, like I said? The fact that the Lentek is battery operated, btw, is one of the reasons why it sounds good!

    Marco.
    oh yes,keep it coming please

    re the downside, its only the fact that from what ive read the performance drops off after 2 hrs use,ive yet to hear this by the way,the tip you mentioned about using Duracell batterys is spot on,im sure i had a bit of grain to the top end,this has gone using a duracell.
    what is the general view on upgrading the caps in the lentek?,ive asked nick to do the work which he's happy to do.
    My System
    John Wood KT88 Amp.
    Paradise Phono Stage
    Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
    PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
    Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
    Sony X555ES Cd Player
    Yamaha NS1000m Speakers

  3. #43
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Gravesend and France

    Posts: 1,498
    I'm paul.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jamie123 View Post
    oh yes,keep it coming please

    re the downside, its only the fact that from what ive read the performance drops off after 2 hrs use,ive yet to hear this by the way,the tip you mentioned about using Duracell batterys is spot on,im sure i had a bit of grain to the top end,this has gone using a duracell.
    what is the general view on upgrading the caps in the lentek?,ive asked nick to do the work which he's happy to do.
    could you use ultimate lithium, they last much longer.
    Bakoon 13r Denon DP80 Stax UA-70 Shure Ultra 500 in a Martin Bastin body with jico stylus, project ds2 digital Rullit aero 8 field coils in tqwt speakers

    Office system, DIY CSS fullrange speakers with aurum cantus G2 ribbons yulong dac Sony STR6055 receiver Jvc QL-A51 direct drive turntable, Leema sub. JVC Z4S cart is in the house

    Garage system another Sony receiver, cassette deck


    System components are subject to change without warning and at the discretion of the owner.

  4. #44
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jamie123 View Post
    oh yes,keep it coming please

    re the downside, its only the fact that from what ive read the performance drops off after 2 hrs use,ive yet to hear this by the way,the tip you mentioned about using Duracell batterys is spot on,im sure i had a bit of grain to the top end,this has gone using a duracell.
    what is the general view on upgrading the caps in the lentek?,ive asked nick to do the work which he's happy to do.
    Yeah, no idea why Duracells 'sound' better in the Lentek, but they just do.

    In terms of modding it and changing the caps, I'd be wary of also 'modding out' its fun-factor (the dynamic alacrity it seems to imbue on the music, as that's what I found a bit when Nick done mine. Not his fault at all, as he was unfamiliar with the unit and doing it pretty much on instinct, the way he thought would be best, based on his experience of electronic components.

    Don't get me wrong, many things about the Lentek's presentation improved, such as refinement and finesse at the top end, and it had a smoother sound overall too, making the stock item sound rather 'rushed' and 'uncouth' - *but* some of its dynamic attack and musical verve was also lost along with it [some might call it PRaT]....I'm unsure what was responsible for that (perhaps the blue Tants being removed), but I suspect it was one of such cap changes, which upset the 'sonic synergy' a little.

    This would make me want to do one cap change at a time next time, if modding another Lentek, and listening for the effect (holding onto what was taken out, just in case it was needed again), and making sure that I liked the difference it made before proceeding further - and stopping once I considered that the sound was right, rather than simply ripping out everything in one go, which superficially seemed as if it should be replaced, when perhaps some of it was necessary for the unit to retain its 'magic' (fun factor).

    That's why, with my current Lentek, I've not gone any further yet than replacing the input sockets (the originals on mine were shocking) with solid-copper varieties, together with the output cables and RCA plugs, all of which on mine were really crap (simply showing their age), which resulted in a significant all-round improvement. The thinking was to allow myself to hear exactly what the existing circuit was doing before beginning to alter that - and the old wires and sockets in that respect were acting as a major bottleneck.

    It sounds great, but no doubt that some judicious cap and/or resistor changes would reap similar benefits, so it's just a matter of getting round to doing that. Hi-fi has taken a bit of a back seat for me in the last 10 months or so, as I've had other priorities with various renovations at home taking place and my room being temporarily used to house a load of kitchen stuff, which has prevented me from using it, and as such I've been listening to music on my downstairs system.

    That's all due to change though, very shortly!

    Anyway, hope what I've said helps. Just be careful when you're modding the Lentek and take your time doing it, listening as you go along. One other tip, which I found improved matters sonically, if not visually, is removing the heavy metal outer casing, which is ferrous, leaving the main unit, which is also housed in a metal case, but there's nothing you can do about that for now, and also removing the top plate of the inner case, covering the battery, which is metal, then using the unit 'nuded' that way.

    Basically, the less metal surrounding the circuit, the better, as the magnetic effect it produces is sonically detrimental, so removing as much of it as possible (as outlined) I found improved the sound. The ultimate way to address this issue would be to build the circuit into a new non-ferrous case, which is what I may do with mine, but that's for another day!

    Keep us posted how you get on - oh and make sure you're tracking your 103SA at 2.65g (with 2.5g anti-skate), as that's where the sweet spot is in most set-ups

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  5. #45
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    I modded one of my Lentek's to work with an external DC power supply. That seemed an improvement. Don't ask me what the PSU was, I can't remember. It was on one of a batch of Lentek's I bought NOS donkeys years ago.

  6. #46
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Interesting, Geoff. However, for me, keeping the unit free from mains-borne noise/interference is the way to go (I really do think that's key to its sound), which is why I'd continue persevering with battery power.

    Perhaps the way forward is to work out how to use it with a bigger battery?

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  7. #47
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Perhaps the way forward is to work out how to use it with a bigger battery?

    Marco.
    Yes. That is definitely a superior way to go. Compact lead acid gel batteries are not expensive, but finding 9v items may not be straightforward. I suppose NIMH batteries could be a possibilty, not looked into that. You'd need a suitable charger too. An SMPS would do it.

    You can buy 'mirror' connectors to fit the battery clip on the Lentek.

  8. #48
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Hartlepool UK

    Posts: 1,640
    I'm Alan.

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    I built a little MM phono based on a Bugle 2 Chinese copy board.
    I had the Lentek along side it and it sounded good
    I then put the lentek inside the MM phono box and used a lithium battery to power it and it sounded better however there was a downside there was a little mains hum due to the proximity of the mains cable and transformer.
    I then tried powering everything from external batteries and that certainly sounded better all background noise gone, but again the battery's were always needing charging and became a pain. That's when I built my Paradise phone so I put this to one side for a while.
    Reading marcos thread about the mods that Nick did to his Lentek got me curious again so I modified a friends lentek similar to Nicks mods only using Elna Silmic 2 caps and I compared it to my standard one with the tants
    The modified one sounds smoother and sweeter as Marco stated but overall I still preferred this as the standard version does have an edge to the sound that can be fatiguing in the long term and I would agree this is the classic solid tantalum effect.
    I then modified my own the same as steve's and I'm happy with it great little head amp this Lentek, Ill have to try the Duracell battery, and maybe it can be enclosed in a Mu Metal case?.
    Anyway sorry to side track your thread

    119 by Alan Towell, on Flickr
    . by Alan Towell, on Flickr
    20161127_190556 by Alan Towell, on Flickr

    Alan







    Alan
    Turntable - Garrard 401/Jelco 750L/Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, Pioneer PLC 590, Micro Sieki MA505 , Denon DL103R - DIY Paradise Phono stage - Reel 2 Reel Studer A810, Otari MX55,Tascam BR20, Revox A77, B77, PR99, TEAC X1000 & 3440, Digital HTPC / Young Dac - Preamp - DIY B4, 821, Power Amp's DIY Avondale NCC300 Mono Block, Speakers Wilmslow Kit Volt BM220.8 / Scanspeak D2905/9500

  9. #49
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Always good to hear from you Alan. As another aside I heard another Kontrapunkt B, I know you use one, yesterday and it was very impressive. My casual impression was it was an even handed MC cartridge from top to bottom, great detail and easy dynamics.

    Back on post, I may well pick up a Lentek myself as it will be useful for a little project I have in mind Having had some experience with head amps I definitely think battery (Duracell) power is the way to go.
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

  10. #50
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Hartlepool UK

    Posts: 1,640
    I'm Alan.

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    Hi Jim
    Actually I keep flipping between the Kontrapunkt b and a Denon DL103R and like them both very much

    Alan
    Turntable - Garrard 401/Jelco 750L/Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, Pioneer PLC 590, Micro Sieki MA505 , Denon DL103R - DIY Paradise Phono stage - Reel 2 Reel Studer A810, Otari MX55,Tascam BR20, Revox A77, B77, PR99, TEAC X1000 & 3440, Digital HTPC / Young Dac - Preamp - DIY B4, 821, Power Amp's DIY Avondale NCC300 Mono Block, Speakers Wilmslow Kit Volt BM220.8 / Scanspeak D2905/9500

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