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

[julesd68]

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.

Many thanks for your kind offer! My Lentek is completely original - I'd like to see what it can do in its current state, and if I like what I hear I might well take you up on that. I read about the mods Nick did for you on an old thread. I don't think I will bother with the 304 as I think I will find it too polite for the likes of Black Sabbath!! The 103 pro is a new one for me and will do a bit of research into that. Cheers.

[Marco]

No worries, Jules. You can let me know about the Lentek. The Nick-modified one sounds sublime and is about 80% as good as my £1600 Paul Hynes head amp/SR5 PSU combo, at a mere fraction of the price! Defo worth a listen...

Here is the technical spec for the DL-103Pro, plucked from the Net (and details of how it differs from the stock 103):

The improvements (mainly cantilever and damper) as per their claims are:
little higher compliance 6cu with VTF2g+/-0.2g (original 5cu and VTF 2.5+/-2g),
improved (titan coated?) cantilever avoiding partial resonances, 20-55kHz (original 20-45kHz)
output 0.35mV (original 0.3mv) at 1kHz Lateral Modulation 5cm/s
Impedance 38 Ohm (original nominal 40 Ohm)
Separation 26dB (original nominal 25dB)

Having used one, I can tell you that it is a superb cartridge, and one of the best derivatives of the DL-103, arguably only outperformed by the (now discontinued) 103SA.

Available from here (as well as other Japanese outlets, such as Eifl): http://www.audio-accessory.com/denon_dl-103pro.html

As an aside, if you're not totally wedded to DL-103s, the new AT-33PTGII is also a fabulous cartridge and would be excellent with classical music: http://www.audio-accessory.com/audio...t-33ptg_2.html

The AT is also a total bargain!

Marco.

[thankyoumisterman]

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.

Thanks. The amp I have now is essentially made for the KT88/6550 type, and the transformers are specified as such. The builder tells me he has used the Tung-Sol 120s with success, increasing the bias to accommodate the tube, but the amp just can't be run "balls to the wall" with the amount of current the Tung-Sols can maximally draw. He bumped bias down to a bit above his usual recommended levels and the transformers ran a bit warmer but well within specs. He just didn't believe the KT120s performed at their real potential in his particular amplifier, and thought the Primaluna Dialogue lineup would probably be a better option as an amp that can exploit the 120s more effectively.

[Beobloke]

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..

Sorry, Marco, but I'm going to have to sneak in here and respectfully disagree with this.

A good cartridge is a good cartridge, full stop and it should be able to cope with any kind of music thrown at it. A cartridge (or indeed amplifier, pair of speakers, turntable etc) that "only good with xxxx music" isn't really 'good' at all, IMHO.

[MartinT]

I agree. I don't think any really good system (or component) should favour one kind of music over another.

[Marco]

Sorry, Marco, but I'm going to have to sneak in here and respectfully disagree with this.

A good cartridge is a good cartridge, full stop and it should be able to cope with any kind of music thrown at it. A cartridge (or indeed amplifier, pair of speakers, turntable etc) that "only good with xxxx music" isn't really 'good' at all, IMHO.

Lol... After all that's been written, is that the only comment you can make?

I know where you're coming from, Adam, but the fact is that NO piece of hi-fi equipment is perfect, and therefore excels at every aspect of music reproduction, and that includes cartridges - or otherwise we'd all be using the same one!

If you've read my comments properly, you'll have understood that the DL-S1, although excelling mostly with classical music, is far from being a 'one-trick pony'... I can assure you that it isn't. Last night I was listening to Jeff Buckley, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Count Basie and Miles Davis, with the DL-S1 at the helm, and all were reproduced with a big cheesy grin on my chops!!

It's a perfectly valid and recognised fact, for example, that certain loudspeakers favour some genres of music more than others (e.g. Quad ESLs), but whilst being 'none too shabby' at reproducing the others - and one could extend that principle to almost any equipment. In that respect, a cartridge is no different.

Another example of this is the way that the Ortofon SPU handles jazz music, and how realistically it portrays the sound of saxophone, trumpet and piano. No other cartridge I've heard gets it so *right* in those areas, in a similar way to how very few (if any) conventional 'box' loudspeakers can compete with the midrange prowess of Quad ESLs (or other high-quality electrostatics), and how lifelike they make any musical information sound, reproduced at those frequencies.

In summary, that's kind of what I'm getting at with the DL-S1: it excels at accurately reproducing classical music, in the same way as electrostatic loudspeakers excel at midrange transparency, thus achieving their primary design goals, whilst simultaneously being more than adequate in other areas.

Anyway, the Audio-Technica AT6106 headshell leads and Isokinetik graphite cartridge stabiliser have arrived, so more toys to play with, and thus the possibility of extracting even more magic from the DL-S1... I'm off to have a play!

Marco.

[Marco]

I agree. I don't think any really good system (or component) should favour one kind of music over another.

Yes, Martin, but that's not what I'm saying (see my reply to Adam).

I'll be bringing the DL-S1 down with me, when we fit the MN bearing base-plate, so I'll demonstrate exactly what I mean, after which all will become blatantly clear

Marco.

[jandl100]

How sweetly naïve.
If you have a perfect component / system (unachievable) then sure, it will play all music perfectly.

But any imperfection is likely to favour one musical genre more than another, simply because different music types make different demands on an audio system.

So, for example, a component good at classical is not necessarily what you want for techno. And vice versa.

[MartinT]

But any imperfection is likely to favour one musical genre more than another, simply because different music types make different demands on an audio system.

Agreed with the latter, but are you not conflating style of presentation with capability?

We all have a preference for style of presentation, but in my experience a system improvement usually improves all of my preferred music. Once a system reaches a level of all-round goodness, it should be able to handle anything played on it. After all, it doesn't know the difference between classical, jazz or rock, does it? I never go for upgrades or mods that work with only a particular type of music, in fact I can't see how that would or could work.

[jandl100]

I never go for upgrades or mods that work with only a particular type of music.

Oh yes you do.
We all do.
We are limited by the musics we listen to, however wide our musical tastes there is always a hell of a lot more music out there!

I've never heard a system that is equally good at everything. They all do some things better than others.

But I suspect this is something we will never agree on.