English aluminium shell for Denon 103

[Historicus]

I had a great surprise after changing the plastic body of my Denon 103 Pro with an aluminium body from the Analogue Factory in Haverhill, Suffolk
The body is a CNC machined aluminium that fits very well to 103 (better then the wooden bodies).
The sound improvements were great just as I rewired my tonearm: A larger sound stage, more depth, etc.
The weight of the alu body is about 6 gram, the original plastic body 1,5.
The benefits of the weight improvements for the tonearm/cartridge comnination are evident.
Aluminium absorbs the resonances very well (it's used for many cantilevers).
These aluminium bodies are similar to the ZU 103 that cost, of course, much more.
Here are some links about ZU 103:
Sterophile (they prefer here the Zu103 to Koetsu Black)
http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcom...7zu/index.html
6moons.audio:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/zu14/denon.html

I just wanted to share here my impressions and suggest to all that want a new life to their 103.

[DSJR]

Haverhill eh?

C'mon AlexUK, methinks we'll have some fairly local shopping to do

[jonners]

They come in pretty colours too! http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/just-a...__W0QQ_armrsZ1

[Alex_UK]

Oooh yes, purple will match my room!

[Historicus]

Though the odd colors, I had chosen the blank aluminium one.
The one in blue is perfect for the Sumiko cloners! But I really don't understand why the red one costs more ... some Clash remembrance?
Anyway it wasn't a practical jokes a 103 with this body sounds really good.

[kcc123]

I have also bought a blue one from Analogue Factory but I 'll have to find time and patience to fit my 103R into it, may be next week.

[NRG]

I had a great surprise after changing the plastic body of my Denon 103 Pro with an aluminium body from the Analogue Factory in Haverhill, Suffolk
The body is a CNC machined aluminium that fits very well to 103 (better then the wooden bodies).
The sound improvements were great just as I rewired my tonearm: A larger sound stage, more depth, etc.
The weight of the alu body is about 6 gram, the original plastic body 1,5.
The benefits of the weight improvements for the tonearm/cartridge comnination are evident.
Aluminium absorbs the resonances very well (it's used for many cantilevers).
These aluminium bodies are similar to the ZU 103 that cost, of course, much more.
Here are some links about ZU 103:
Sterophile (they prefer here the Zu103 to Koetsu Black)
http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcom...7zu/index.html
6moons.audio:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/zu14/denon.html

I just wanted to share here my impressions and suggest to all that want a new life to their 103.

How does it fit better than the wood bodies like the ones from Uwe?

[Historicus]

Neal, for these matters: 1) the CNC cut; 2) aluminium is malleable and more steady then wood; 3) the inside of the wooden bodies is empty. The alu body has two "spools" inside; 4) alu is more elastic (7 kp/mm2) and this has a good effect on resonances between cartridge and vinyl record; 5)alu is heavy as the heaviest wooden (panzer) body.

Anyway the seller from Haverhill could do his job better because milling was done in a very quick way to produce more bodies in less time. With a fine sand paper it was easy to correct it.

[REM]

The Zu version has a clear (dental?) compound of some sort as well which I assume is there to provide extra damping. No way of knowing how this affects the final sound but it must do something.

Cheers

[NRG]

I've added extra damping to the yoke on mine as well, it does make a small improvement. Historicus, I think the Uwe bodies are also CNC cut....certainly the Panz version I have is very accurate in its cuts....what do you mean by 'spools'? The inside of my Uwe body looks very similar to the one in the 6moons review, I'm not questioning your points but your post seems to imply these are better than a wood version because they are Ali and CNC cut....that surley is subjective and only an opinion