Denon 103 Pro and his step up

[Marco]

Hi Paul,

Glad you guys are safe and well

Interesting you say that the Denon is less prone to IGD than the AT or Benz Micro, as technically because they have the 'superior' styli, it should be the other way round!

I don't doubt what you're saying though, as with my Denon 103GL, I get *minimal* (virtually inaudible) IGD, as I'm super-fastidious with set-up and also about ensuring that the cartridge I use is ideally suited to the partnering arm, especially in relation to mass [crucial in minimising IGD].

Using, say, a low-compliance MC cartridge with too light an arm (and/or headshell) is a recipe for creating all kinds of nasty distortions, or for that matter, when a 'posh' fine-line stylus (of an expensive MC cartridge) isn't optimally aligned with the grooves it's tracing, such as would be the case if VTA, VTF and/or azimuth weren't *absolutely* bang on.

In terms of the two cartridges I mentioned, I can't say whether or not they're less prone to IGD than the AT or Benz, simply that they'll likely sound as 'musical' and 'richly toned', as the Denon, plus be a little more open, detailed and 'well behaved' at the top end, and so would give you a nice option to have sometimes instead of the Denon, if you fancied a slightly different 'flavour'.

Marco.

[Paulie72]

Hi Paul,

Glad you guys are safe and well

Interesting you say that the Denon is less prone to IGD than the AT or Benz Micro, as technically because they have the 'superior' styli, it should be the other way round!

I don't doubt what you're saying though, as with my Denon 103GL, I get *minimal* (virtually inaudible) IGD, as I'm super-fastidious with set-up and also about ensuring that the cartridge I use is ideally suited to the partnering arm, especially in relation to mass [crucial in minimising IGD].

Using, say, a low-compliance MC cartridge with too light an arm (and/or headshell) is a recipe for creating all kinds of nasty distortions, or for that matter, when a 'posh' fine-line stylus (of an expensive MC cartridge) isn't optimally aligned with the grooves it's tracing, such as would be the case if VTA, VTF and/or azimuth weren't *absolutely* bang on.

In terms of the two cartridges I mentioned, I can't say whether or not they're less prone to IGD than the AT or Benz, simply that they'll likely sound as 'musical' and 'richly toned', as the Denon, plus be a little more open, detailed and 'well behaved' at the top end, and so would give you a nice option to have sometimes instead of the Denon, if you fancied a slightly different 'flavour'.

Marco.

Thanks for your reply. For now i am busy buying other speakers. Almost pull the trigger on Vivid Audio K1. After that i will invest some more time in setting up the AT to see if i can solve this issue. For me i need to be relaxed bec i am not that good of a fiddler .

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

[Marco]

Sure, and good luck with that

However, although I'm not a big fan of AT cartridges in general, if they're optimally set-up (all having very good quality elliptical or fine-line styli) they should display almost inaudible IGD.

One thing to try also (as I'm not sure which tonearm you use) is adding some extra mass to the headshell, (with the use of a shim) as most MC cartridges, apart from the highest compliance varieties, like to 'see' some mass, so flimsy lightweight headshells sometimes cause distortion.

In that respect, a couple of grams can make all the difference, and always apply VTF towards the upper end of the specified range.

Or you may like to fit a Houdini: https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...Houdini-review

That will KILL your IGD dead...

Marco.

[Paulie72]

Hi Marco,

i am using an Yamaha GT-2000 with an YAS-39 arnm. The headshell is an Jelco HS-25BR i will check what will happen with some extra weight should that perhaps also being the issue for the Benz Micro?

[Marco]

Hi Paul,

Nice T/T and arm. Also, the Jelco headshell is pretty solid, so there's no big issue there, although you could try adding a couple of grams at the headshell (as long as you can balance it out at the other end), and see if that improves matters or not, but I think the IGD you're hearing is more likely to be a set up thing.

Have you used an alignment protractor to set up your cartridges (either AT or Benz), and if so which geometry have you selected, Stevenson or Baerwald? With a Japanese arm like yours, I'd always use Stevenson, so if you've aligned it with Baerwald, try it with Stevenson, and I reckon that will eliminate much of the IGD.

Let me know how you get on

Marco.