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I agree with many things that have been posted...

The 103's magic is in its midrange and it is very forgiving in that it comes with a conical stylus. I am a proponent of VTA on the fly and have heard first hand what the correct VTA/SRA can achieve.

The use of a conical stylus is very forgiving and sounds better through a large range of VTA/SRA settings. All you need to do is get the VTA/SRA in the "ballpark" and the 103 will perform well. It is a characteristic that makes for a great first impression for the cartridge.

I also own a number of DL-103 models and first discovered the DL-103D in late 1979. It was a discovery that would stick with me for many decades. In fact nothing other than a DL-103 cartridge has been on one of my tonearms until this year.

The midrange magic of the 103 is a hard thing to talk about. The only thing that can be stated is it is one of those cartridges that gets it right. There are a handful of cartridges over the decades that stand out like the 103. The cartridges come in all types (LOMC, MM, MI) and from many different manufacturers.

The one thing that each of these cartridges has is a loyal following of users who stick with what works. The 103 has a loyal group of users all over the world and these include people who can afford and own or have owned very high end cartridges. The 103 eclipses many other cartridges in what it does well and it can be improved.

The 103 is a great platform that can be made better by the addition of a better cantilever/stylus, by changing its body or potting the entire assembly. The midrange magic of the 103 is not destroyed by changing the cartridge. What happens is you get a very musical cartridge with much improved resolution. A industry of people who specialize in improving the 103 has existed for decades.

One last thing. Comparing cartridges without noting their stylus and cantilever is pointless. I cannot count the number of times where a comparison of cartridges is written and the cartridge with the conical stylus is always less resolving than a cartridge with a boron cantilever and line contact stylus (for instance).

Excuse me but that type of observation belongs in the "duh" department. Of course the more resolving stylus profile will result in a cartridge that resolves music better. The stylus and/or the cantilever are doing their job. If you take a plain jane DL-103 cartridge and replace the aluminum cantilever and conical stylus with something like a boron cantilever and line contact stylus guess what happens?

Yes the DL-103 is much more resolving. Its the same for all cartridges. Not all of them have great generators and some of them cannot be made great by improving their cantilever and/or stylus. In fact there are cartridges that have cheap cantilevers and conical stylii for the sake of hiding the cartridge's problems.

The 103 is not one of these.

Ed
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof


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  • I agree with many things that have been posted... - EdAInWestOC 05:17:49 06/21/17 (0)

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