The Great Denon DL103 Debate...

[Marco]

Yup

I find at 2.7g everything 'clicks into focus', with the ideal balance between good bass weight and top end clarity. Also, difficult recordings are handled more securely and with greater 'authority'.

Oh, and on the Technics arm, set the anti-skate to just a fraction under '3'.

Marco.

[bong]

cool. will give it a try later and see how it goes.

also, my kab deck is finally done, and should be shipping out very soon. let's hope i can get it in by christmas!

[Marco]

Here's hoping, Kelvin!

Another little tip - have you tried removing the little rubber washer fixed to the back of the bayonet fitting of the headshell? I've found that doing so gives better coupling to the armtube and results in improved detail retrieval and 'focus'.

Marco.

[Peter Stockwell]

But I invested in Doc Feickert's alignment tool, and figured that the 103s weren't getting a proper fit on the stock technics headshell, so I put in an order for the lpgear zupreme. while this was happening, I had brass counterweights and a couple of mats coming in that I could experiment with on my table too ...

Kelvin,

I have the Feickart thingy and an SL1210. In my view, the Feickert guage is useless with a Technics tonearm, because the alignment is "Stevenson", which is similiar to the "rega" alignment.

Essentially, the Stevenson arrangement is optimised for LPs with longer playing sides. I can't remember the exact radii, but Stevenson is good down to inner groove radius of 60mm, whilst Lofgrin & bauerwald are more like 66mm.

OTOH, if you only listen to classic jazz and classical recordings, with only 15 -> 20 mins a side, the Lofgrin and Bauerwald would most likely be fine. I reverted to Stevenson, more or less, but you can, in effect have you own "custom" alignment, You just choose where you want your null tracking error points to be. With a pivoted arm, there is no "correct" alignment.

Anyway my Feickart guage is waiting for me to sell it to an interested party.

cheers

[pure sound]

Do you have any idea what the catalyst was for the significant 'tonal shift' between how the best classic MC cartridges sounded and the di rigeur presentation favoured by most manufacturers nowadays? Surely with the technology available now one could have the best of both worlds, instead of some of the 'chrome-plated', soulless, anaemic sounding crap foisted upon us?

An interesting question. I do wonder whether it was something to do with trying to get records to sound 'pristine' like CD sometimes does. The usual 'chasing the specs' bollox!

[Mike]

Anyway my Feickart guage is waiting for me to sell it to an interested party.

Interested party sitting right here!

[Clive]

Did the Feickart gauge give correct overhang? This for me is what the Feickart does best, along with rapid setup. Checking many peoples' TTs I've been horrified to find the no one I checked had the correct overhang. This is not surprising as these guys had simply setup via 2 null point protractos. The chances of getting overhang correct by this method is remote. I'll shutup now as this this OT.

[Marco]

An interesting question. I do wonder whether it was something to do with trying to get records to sound 'pristine' like CD sometimes does. The usual 'chasing the specs' bollox!

Indeed. It's all wrong, wrong, wrong...!

Those who judge hi-fi equipment of any description solely (or mostly) on that basis, not just cartridges, will always ultimately miss the musical message. That's why I laugh when I see the word "accurate" applied to this, that and the next thing. We seem to have been 'conditioned' to accept that a brighter, more forward, sound is consequently the most accurate when in reality that is far from always being the case.

I mean, accurate to what I wonder? How an oscilloscope or some inanimate piece of test equipment reads music signals, or the human ear and brain? Both are rather different!! I sometimes wonder if manufacturers who design their products on those principles are catering for human beings or robots...

Marco.

[bong]

Here's hoping, Kelvin!

Another little tip - have you tried removing the little rubber washer fixed to the back of the bayonet fitting of the headshell? I've found that doing so gives better coupling to the armtube and results in improved detail retrieval and 'focus'.

Marco.

i haven't yet. i've tried removing it previously from the stock technics headshell and i agree that there was definitely an improvement in focus. let's hope it'll bring the same to the zupreme. the rubber washer feels stiffer on the zupreme compared to the one on the stock; i wonder how removing it will affect the sound.

[Peter Stockwell]

Did the Feickart gauge give correct overhang? This for me is what the Feickart does best, along with rapid setup. Checking many peoples' TTs I've been horrified to find the no one I checked had the correct overhang. This is not surprising as these guys had simply setup via 2 null point protractos. The chances of getting overhang correct by this method is remote. I'll shutup now as this this OT.

Yes it does, but only for Bauerwald and Lofgrin. It's abeautiful piece of kit, really easy to use. Just no use for Technics SL1210 with a standard arm, IMO.