Denon turntables

[Filterlab]

Ok, I'm a bit of a turntable novice, well I've had a nice turntable in the past (Thorens TD160mk2 with a Shure arm and cartridge) but I was young and foolish and threw it in the bin!

Anyway, what's the deal with Denon turntables / cartridges? They seem to be the choice at the moment.

[johnrtd]

Denon, as far as I know, did make a very nice turntable with a nice arm. I don't know if it's still (new) available. In the nineties the price was around 1000 €. But ......... why not take a model 1200 from Technics.
The cheaper high output cartridges, like the DL160, are very good value for the money. When considering MC I would look around for a different brand.

[max-greece]

Respectfully disagree on MC choices. First off the 160 is an MC cartridge albeit a high output one - similar to the 110.

For low output MC the 103 is the best bargain in audio. There are also many updated / upgraded versions of the 103 both from Denon themselves and other companies.

Bear in mind, however, that Denon cartridges are low compliance. If you put in on a low mass arm it will not work properly. In general terms the higher the apparent mass of the arm the better it works for normal arms. There is an Origin Live arm that comes in at 14 grams apparent mass that works brilliantly (the Silver I think).

Also - if you are running a passive linear tracking arm the high tracking weight of the 103 (2.5 grams) combined with the low compliance makes an amazing combination.

IME for no reason I can fathom the 103 works better on the Project 9 arm than on an equivalent Rega 250 - where the sound is only acceptable.

[The Grand Wazoo]

From The Grave

[MartinT]

All I can add is that I still have a Denon DL-160 high output MC cartridge and it's an impressive performer, giving a glimpse of true MC sound for little (then) money.

[Canetoad]

I've got one (DL-160) I'm going to put on my PL-71. I'm expecting it to sound very good!

[Canetoad]

Double post! Doh!

[walpurgis]

The DL-160 is a great little cartridge. It may not be quite as revealing as dearer, low output types, but it is very musical, has no nasties, tracks well and is amazingly quiet with surface noise. Way better than the rather bright and lightweight sounding DL-110.

[MartinT]

The only difference is the stylus profile.

[DSJR]

Actually, I understand the differences to be in the tapered cantilever and slightly different compliance. At the time they were fully reviewed, the sonic and measured difference was so small as to not bother with the dearer one, unless you preferred the blue body over red... [edit] - lest you think this is only opinion, I did sell both back in the day, although for some reason, the K9 ruled the grooves at this price - actually, the K9 cost more in the end

Hasn't the 160 now been discontinued in any case?