Just pulled the trigger on one of these babies....

[julesd68]

In summary, I'd advise against using it for classical music if you're unable or unwilling to modify it from stock, as described above, although much depends on how fussy you are and also how well, or otherwise, a stock 103 gels in your system. In some circumstances its limitations may not be as apparent as they are in other systems.

Hope this helps!

Marco.

Hi Marco,

Most helpful indeed. The combination of my Garrott cart with the hybrid amp is quite sublime with classical music and am slightly reticent to change it. However it is just a little on the 'soft' side with my 70's rock lp's. This is more down to the amp than cart, but a slightly more explicit cart could be worth a try - am still wondering if there is a cart that can 'do it all' out there and for sensible money. I was wondering about the 103R as I recently acquired a nice little Lentek head-amp which will of course be a good match. Not much point in buying one and changing body and stylus as this would bring it up to the price of the DL-S1 I think!

[shane]

Thanks Marco, much food for thought!

[Marco]

Hi Jules,

That's the trouble with hi-fi: there's never a 'free lunch', and so some sort of trade-off is inevitable. Like you say, a cartridge that excels with classical music rarely pulls off the same trick with rock and pop, as the requirements are somewhat different. That is precisely why I've invested in a DL-S1!

A 103R will be better than a stock 103, but it's still not ideal for classical music. You have to watch the 103R, as it can get a bit 'shouty' in some systems, and it too has a tendency towards brightness (although loading can help here), especially if the partnering tonearm has insufficient mass. You could consider a DL-301II, which has a higher output (0.4mV) and a nice 'punchy' and open sound.

Ironically, as I've just slated the DL-304, if you were to use it solely for playing classical music, its traits (and overall voicing) would be more suited to accurately reproducing that genre of music, so you could give one of those a go. Another option would be the 103Pro, as the Highphonic boys have modified it to be a rather more musically mellifluous item than the stock DL-103, and it would sing its heart out through your Lentek head amp.

Is your Lentek completely original? If so, if you want, I could loan you my Nick G-modified one, which is a considerable step-up from the stock unit, and if you like what it does, you could get Nick to carry out similar (fairly inexpensive) modifications to yours - just a thought!

Marco.

[Marco]

Thanks Marco, much food for thought!

You're welcome, Shane

Marco.

[jandl100]

Marco, are you familiar with the DL304? I'd be interested to know how it compares to the DL-S1. Superficially, I would expect it to be closer in character to the DL-S1 than the 103 is.

Bearing in mind what Marco has just posted, nonetheless if you just plunk a DL-S1 in a fairly basic tt rig where a 103 is happy, you can take a line from the 103, lighten the balance and increase refinement to get to a 304 and take that line even further and you get to the S1.
At least that was my experience.

I'd say you need the tt system sophistication, skills and investment of Marco to get the best out of the 304 and even more so for the S1.
Check out my comments on my Denon cart group review here http://hifipig.com/a-cacophony-of-ca...t-2-denon-mcs/
Just my 2-penneth.

--- note also the comments at the end of my review from two folks - I am not alone!

[thankyoumisterman]

I also agree that the 304 is a bit "sanitized" compared to the other stars of the Denon lineup. If most of what you listen to is classical or small group acoustic music, it might, however, be just the thing for you. The thing is, the price is just close enough to the DL-S1 here in the States that it only makes sense to jump to the top of the line S1. I'm not sure what the price disparity might be in the U.K. The Zu Denon I have addresses some of the issues inherent in the stock 103, but that could be also be done with an aftermarket aluminum or heavy wood body and potting the internals after setting the cartridge into the new case. I can vouch for the aluminum body and stylus guard sold on Audiogon by "daiwok", who also posts on lencoheaven.net; it's a quality aftermarket modification.

Marco, I see that you run an amp with KT120 tubes - do you find them to be a worthy successor to the various KT88s? My current amp can accept them with a bit of bias adjustment, but the transformers aren't stout enough to safely provide the full current that the 120s can put out - I just don't know if being unable to fully exploit the tube's potential would be worth the outlay over the KT88s I'm currently running.

[thankyoumisterman]

Bearing in mind what Marco has just posted, nonetheless if you just plunk a DL-S1 in a fairly basic tt rig where a 103 is happy, you can take a line from the 103, lighten the balance and increase refinement to get to a 304 and take that line even further and you get to the S1.
At least that was my experience.

I'd say you need the tt system sophistication, skills and investment of Marco to get the best out of the 304 and even more so for the S1.
Check out my comments on my Denon cart group review here http://hifipig.com/a-cacophony-of-ca...t-2-denon-mcs/
Just my 2-penneth.

--- note also the comments at the end of my review from two folks - I am not alone!

I hadn't read your website before - some good stuff there! You'd already anticipated some of the very things discussed here. I liked your take on the Cartridge Man, which is probably a much better deal purchased in the U.K. - the price is rather high over here in the States for a moving iron cartridge, as good as it is.

[Marco]

Hi Trey,

I'll get to your tube query in a moment. In the meantime, I've just found this old thread on AoS, in reference to the DL-S1:

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...or-Denon-DL-S1

Stephen seems rather happy with his!

Marco.

[jandl100]

I hadn't read your website before - some good stuff there!

Thanks for the compliment - but it's not my website, I'm just one of the contributing reviewers.

[Marco]

Hi Trey,

I also agree that the 304 is a bit "sanitized" compared to the other stars of the Denon lineup. If most of what you listen to is classical or small group acoustic music, it might, however, be just the thing for you.

I would agree with that. It could just be the ticket for Jules, as indeed could a DL-301II, which has a different presentation again that would lend itself to playing a wide variety of music, not just classical/acoustic.

The Zu Denon I have addresses some of the issues inherent in the stock 103, but that could be also be done with an aftermarket aluminum or heavy wood body and potting the internals after setting the cartridge into the new case. I can vouch for the aluminum body and stylus guard sold on Audiogon by "daiwok", who also posts on lencoheaven.net; it's a quality aftermarket modification.

Yup, that would be another option. The Zu-modded DL-103 is arguably the best of the 're-bodied breed', and up there with the 103SA. However, you're still dealing with the 103's stock conical stylus, with its inherent limitations, not best served for optimising classical music, which requires a tip with more finesse to tease out the inherent subtleties in that genre of music.

Marco, I see that you run an amp with KT120 tubes - do you find them to be a worthy successor to the various KT88s? My current amp can accept them with a bit of bias adjustment, but the transformers aren't stout enough to safely provide the full current that the 120s can put out - I just don't know if being unable to fully exploit the tube's potential would be worth the outlay over the KT88s I'm currently running.

The 120s are superb, and IMO smoke ANY KT88, but the best are the hand-selected, matched and cryo'd ones from Upscale Audio in the States (good video to watch here): http://www.upscaleaudio.com/tung-sol-kt120/

That's where I got mine from, and they are superb. The dudes at Upscale are total perfectionists!

*HOWEVER* make sure that your amplifier can SAFELY take KT120s, by FIRST checking with the manufacturer and/or a qualified electronics engineer.

I'll shortly be ordering some cryo'd KT150s from Upscale, as my Copper amp is also safe to use with those. I'm hopeful that they will kick ass even more than the 120s!!

Marco.