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Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm

115.64.12.54

Hi everyone

I bought this oh about 20 years ago, and never played it. I haven't used vinyl since I was a teen with Dad's very basic Sansui rack turntable - basically been too scared to get into the rabbit hole and have used digital all these years. Table and arm are in excellent shape - mint as far as I can tell.

Son now wants to get into vinyl, and we want to use this table I've kept just for this rainy day. I have a Parasound Zphono as a phono stage. I might also do a needledrop and apply digital RIAA equalisation at some point.Been folllwing John Elison's and others posts on this very topic.

Just for starters I thought I would seek the forum members sage advice on a suitable cartridge.

Seeking any thoughts or experiences with this combination. Apparently this is a low-mass arm, and doesn't play nice with a DL-103 cartridge.

Would be grateful if I could get advice on what currently available cartridge might suit this combination.

I'm operating with a family focused budget, so probably less than $300 would be my start point, or maybe slightly more but that starts to get painful real quick.

Thanks in advance everyone!

Jay

Follow Ups:

RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - JoseM 16:47:40 02/14/21 (0)
Much much appreciated everyone!

I wouldn't have known where to start with this other than to read up but your real world input is extremely helpful.

Thanks again

Jay
RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - Lew 08:48:52 02/14/21 (0)
Nagaoka? Consider the best of the Nagaoka's you can get for your price point. You probably need a high output cartridge of some kind for that phono stage, so MM types are in play.
RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - fstein 04:28:41 02/14/21 (0)
LP Gear OEM like the vessel or Audio Technica 500 series, or AT95 variant if on a budget.
RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - BCR 03:31:36 02/14/21 (0)
The DA-401 is a light mass arm. Any Grado would be a good fit!
- https://www.vinylengine.com/library/denon/da-401.shtml (Open in New Window)
RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - mg16 17:04:35 02/13/21 (1)
Hi,
The best bang I ever got for my 300 bucks was with either a Denon DL-110 high output moving coil, or A Goldring 1022GX.
Both very fine sounding cartridges at the $300 price point in my opinion.
BHPHOTOVIDEO online has the Denon for $299. You can pick up a new Goldring 1022GX on Ebay for a few bucks cheaper.
I found the Denon to be clear, detailed, with a wide soundstage.
The Goldring sounded a bit "richer", more dynamic sounding, with excellent bass and mids.
Also enjoyed the Grado prestige series cartridges around that price point.
I had the Prestige red at $260, and enjoyed it very much.
Happy listening!
MG16

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/431455-REG/Denon_DL_110_DL_110_High_Output_Phono.html?msclkid=a2fc3a4cce62154a33405a64bb6dffbc
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Goldring-1022-GX-Moving-Magnet-MM-Phono-Cartridge/164188031035?hash=item263a5e883b:g:220AAOSwHnpd5SA4

Edits: 02/13/21 02/13/21
- RE: Help - Vinyl noob with Denon DP-3000 'table and Denon DA-401 arm - John-from Seattle 09:12:46 02/14/21 (0)
  +1 on the Grado, even on a lower mass budget arm, they mate well. Had my Prestige Green 1 on a budget Kenwood deck without issues, well dialed in as far as alignment went, it tracked even the most scratched albums without issue and no "Grado dance" that some report. I think that entails poor cart to arm compatibility.
  
  It's working well on a low/medium mass Rega arm (the RB330) on a newish Rega P6 now and no issues.

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