So, Martin, how's it going with your 103 - is it still hitting the spot?Originally Posted by horace
Aha! A cunning plan indeed....
Cheers
Martin
Marco.
Site Owner/Administrator
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK
Posts: 110,672
I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.
So, Martin, how's it going with your 103 - is it still hitting the spot?Aha! A cunning plan indeed....
Cheers
Martin
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp, fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Senior Member
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 233
I'm Martin.
Hi MarcoSo, Martin, how's it going with your 103 - is it still hitting the spot?
Marco.
It was - but one of my amps has had a very nasty transformer meltdown, so it may be a little while before I'm spinning vinyl again.
I was just at the stage of realising that I needed to raise the arm height considerably to get the best sound - in fact, rather than parallel to the record, I found the tecnoarm needed to be sloping down towards the headshell to a surprising degree. Otherwise, the bottom of the cartridge was looking frighteningly close to the vinyl....EDIT: and the sound was dead and 'sat on' with little top end and compressed bass.
I'll post again when my system is up and running - probably with different amplification, but we'll see if my amp is fixable.
Cheers
Martin
"Music is the space between the notes"
Debussy.
"I'd buy me a used car lot and I wouldn't sell any of em
I'd just drive a different car every day dependin on how I feel"
Tom Waits
Senior Member
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 233
I'm Martin.
Well, I'm up and running again with a very nice Bantam T-Amp (loaned to me by that very nice Hamish fellow).
First things first. The 103 seems to like my tecnoarm to be higher at the bearing than at the headshell - considerably so, in fact. I've never encountered a cartridge quite as fussy about arm height. With the arm anywhere near level the sound is horribly sat on - compressed bass and flat treble. The close proximity of the cantilever housing to the surface of the record came as a surprise too, though that has been alleviated by raising the arm height
I still think there's more tinkering to do, but it's starting to sound right. Big, bold and vibrant. I'm beginning to see why the 103 is so popular.
Martin
"Music is the space between the notes"
Debussy.
"I'd buy me a used car lot and I wouldn't sell any of em
I'd just drive a different car every day dependin on how I feel"
Tom Waits
Member
Location: SW England, UK
Posts: 76
JerryStay with it, Martin!
Well, this seems an ideal opportunity for another photo of my re-bodied Denon 103...
Yes, some news for Marco (or have I already mentioned this?) - I've sold the DV17D3 and gone back to the Denon with a sense of musical relief! - less 'sophistication' but more music! Full bodied and loadsa bounce!
Let me know when you get the urge to swap cartridges again.
It would keep it in the county.
Regards
Roger
Roger.
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