Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Uwe's Wood Body/Denon 103/103R Ebony Wood Body Phono Cartridge by Paul Tobin

Model:	Ebony Wood Body
Category:	Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price:	$Contact Inmate Uwe
Description:	Custom Wood Body for Denon 103/103R
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by Paul Tobin on January 24, 2008 at 08:41:54
IP Address: 202.164.204.60 Add Your Review
for the Ebony Wood Body

I put this 'mini review' in as a comment to a thread elsewhere - but thought it might be useful to put my impressions in the review section as well.

When I initially installed the cartridge and tweaked it up, I was bowled over by the major improvements in detail, space, air and imaging precision over the standard 103R (which I thought was a pretty good cartridge).
The Uwe modded cartridge retains all the Denon's engaging qualities and tonal richness while adding considerable refinement. Some records I played sounded amazing, but others less so.

Once I became accustomed again to the typical (but enhanced and refined) Denon sound, I began to notice the shortcomings. While the cartridge sounds less colored in the ebony body, tonal colorations are far from banished. Nothing sounds as natural and real as it does through my Ortofon Jubilee - and this extends across all instruments and voices (as beautiful as they sometimes may sound). I actually found it difficult to really enjoy solo piano recordings (knowing how much more realistically the Ortofon rendered these). And like I said this is true for all recordings - even though many sounded fantastic with the ebony 103R.
For example, Ray Charles "Genius loves company" sounded great with the Denon - loved it - but when I put the Ortofon back in, the voices sounded so much more individual and like themselves. And the thing is the Ortofon also sounds plenty rich and tonally beautiful, it just also sounds much lower in tonal coloration. Deep bass tightness and weight is also superior with Ortofon - and I think I sold the Jubilee short when I said the Denon matched it for detail, it doesn't (though neither the Ortofons superior detail nor imaging is a deal breaker for me - it's considerably better, but the Denons deficit here doesn't bother me like the tonal colorations).

So the Ebony body much improves an already great, bargain priced, cartridge - but I don't think people who value tonal neutrality highly will find it fully satisfying. It sure can be a beautiful (and fun) cartridge to listen to - but so is the Ortofon Jubilee - and I love the latter more.

System Details

Product Weakness:	While it often sounds beautiful, the cartridge is still tonally colored and less 'real' sounding than the (admittedly much more expensive) Ortofon Jubilee I compared it to.
Product Strengths:	Significantly added refinement, detail, imaging precision and less 'lumpy' sounding than the standard 103R. Retains/enhances the engaging qualities and tonal richness of the unmodded cartridge.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Plinius 8200
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Plinius Cdlad
Sources (CDP/Turntable): VPI TNT - updated series 1
Speakers: Harbeth C7es2
Cables/Interconnects: Goertz speaker, Chris VH interconnects, Silver Audio phono
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Rock/pop/Jazz - some Classical
Room Size (LxWxH): 6m x 4.3m x 2.7m
Room Comments/Treatments: JR Bass traps and panels
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Chris VH hotboxes and PCs
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Plinius 8200
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Plinius Cdlad
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	VPI TNT - updated series 1
Speakers:	Harbeth C7es2
Cables/Interconnects:	Goertz speaker, Chris VH interconnects, Silver Audio phono
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Rock/pop/Jazz - some Classical
Room Size (LxWxH):	6m x 4.3m x 2.7m
Room Comments/Treatments:	JR Bass traps and panels
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Chris VH hotboxes and PCs
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner