Ortofon or Denon ?

[Haselsh1]

Current turntable: Modified Project RPM-4 with standard aluminium tonearm not carbon fibre.
Current cartridge: Ortofon OM30 Super

Question: Ortofon OM40 stylus upgrade or Denon DL-103 with additional arm weight.

The current effective mass of the tonearm is 12g but I have a small headshell weight that I could add for more mass. I have an mc/mm phono stage but if I go the route of the OM40 stylus, my intention would be to buy at the end of the year a Graham Slee Era Gold V.

Your thoughts please...?

[NRG]

OM40 is the safer bet. Think you'll end up going down a rat hole with the 103 on the standard arm IMHO. However, as a test, load up the cartridge end of the arm with the combined weight of the 103 and additional headshell weight and see if you can balance out the arm and get the tracking force to the recommended 2.5g... most likely you'll need to add weight to the arm to balance it...what loading can you use with your MC stage? I'd recommend 5 to 10x the 103 impedance of 40R so between 200 to 400R loading...

[Clive197]

Ortofon OM40 would be my recommendation.

[6L6]

Om40

The DL-103 can, as mentioned, open a can of worms. Said can can be quite nice if it all works out... But the Ortofon is as close to a sure thing as you can get.

[Haselsh1]

Many thanks for your comments. I thought the OM40 would be the best bet to be honest so that is the way my plans were going.

[Arkless Electronics]

The spherical stylus of the 103 is a big no no for me. Bad end of side distortion and treble that's not all it might be... The versions with the elliptical stylus are a big improvement.

Phono stage wise check this out:http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=126877

Yes I produce them.... I think you may find all the user reviews interesting ;)