Denon dl103 or dl103r

[Marco]

Indeed... Are you familiar with those devices, Mike?

Marco.

[Mikeandvan]

Indeed... Are you familiar with those devices, Mike?

Marco.

Yeh< i've got one sitting on my bottom hi fi shelf, its Graham slee era v, MM stage. But thought I heard someone say hear the 103 was good with MM stages, might be confusing it with another cart, my dl 110 may'be? Which is shagged.

[mikeyb]

Denon 103s are MC

[Mikeandvan]

Denon 103s are MC

so are Denon dl 110.

[mikeyb]

so are Denon dl 110.

High output though, that's why you can use it on an MM stage, the 103s are low output hence the need for an MC stage, SUT or Headamp into an MM stage.

MC cartridges can 'sometimes' be better using a SUT or Headamp into an MM stage, it's down to personal preference.

[walpurgis]

Yeh< i've got one sitting on my bottom hi fi shelf, its Graham slee era v, MM stage

The Slee Era V Gold is a nice sounding MM phono stage and works well with a decent SUT. Unfortunately, most SUT's are not great. Cheaper offerings from Audio Technica, Ortofon and Sony for instance are not very satisfying.

[Barry]

One of the best SUTs for the Denon 103 is the Haufe T-7883. It is specifically designed for cartridges having a source impedance of 40 Ohm and has a transformer ratio of 1:10 (20dB)


The data sheet specific to the T-7883:

Übersetzungsverh. : 1:10 (transformer ratio 1:10)

Quellwiderstand : 40 Ω (source impedance 40Ω)
Lastwiderstand : 47 KΩ (load impedance 47KΩ)
Primarpegel : dBu 0.05V
(Primary level 50mV maximum, this is a misprint: ignore the dBu)

Frequenzberich : 20 Hz 20kHz +/- 1dB ref. 1kHz (frequency response)
Klirrfaktor < : 1% (distortion factor)

Impedanz Z : 6,8 kOhm 1 kHz +/-30% an rt-gn Farbe /Pin
(Impedance 68kΩ at 1kHz +/-30% between red –green coloured leads. This implies a primary coil inductance of 10.8 +/- 3.2H)

Vormagnetisierung DC : 0mA
(DC magnetising current 0mA, i.e. don’t allow any DC to flow through the windings.)

Wicklungswiderstand : 11.5 Ohm : 1.3 kOhm +/-10%
(primary and secondary coil/winding impedance (resistance))

Thus the transformer has a turns-ratio of 1:10 and will, when terminated with the 47KΩ input impedance of a typical preamplifier, present an impedance of 494.5Ω to the cartridge (this latter figure takes into account the DC resistance of the windings), so 12.4x the source resistance, which is ideal.


Other SUTs which are worth consideration are:

Lundahl LL1933 (ratio 1:8)
Vanderveen MC10 (ratio 1:10)
Sowter 9580 (ratio 1:12.5)

[Marco]

Yeh< i've got one sitting on my bottom hi fi shelf, its Graham slee era v, MM stage. But thought I heard someone say hear the 103 was good with MM stages, might be confusing it with another cart, my dl 110 may'be? Which is shagged.

Hi Mike,

The Era V is only an MM phono stage. To use an MC cartridge with it would require either a step-up transformer (passive device) or head amplifier (active device), to raise the output of the cartridge to the correct level.

In terms of head amplifiers, Graham Slee do an excellent one called the Elevator EXP (featuring very useful variable loading), which I once used to great effect with their matching Reflex MM phono stage: https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/graham...CABEgICxPD_BwE

So, in order to use an MC cartridge in your set-up, you'd need something like that, or what Barry' s just mentioned, some transformers, which do same job. electrically, but in a different way

Also, the DL-103 is a low-output MC cartridge, so cannot be effectively used into an MM phono stage. It needs to be used either with a standalone MC stage or one of the devices I've mentioned above. The DL-110 is a high-output MC cartridge, so that one can be used straight into an MM phono stage.

Hope that clears things up!

Marco.

[Mikeandvan]

I'll keep an eye out for a Trichord Dino then.

[Papa Dee]

The Denon arrived yesterday whilst I nipped out to the corner shop for a pint of milk,so I had to wait till this morning to collect it from the sorting office.Then a boiler breakdown came in as an emergency and I’ve been on it all day in Chelmsford and just got back home..too tired to set it up now ..but I’ve got all day
tomorrow to work on it...No Mpingo and no s/steel fixing bolts...but I’ll go ahead and set it up without them
and then apply them as they arrive.Each application will help me identify the improvements or lack of them
each addition brings