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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

Yesssss, my precioussss [looooooong]

is the 103 lots better? Yes, but you have to do a few things to make it do it's best, the wood body being one of them. First you should get arm mass and loading right.

* Arm effective mass 20+ grams

* use correct loading. I use a low end transformer and load a 47ohm resistor at the primary which matches the 40 ohms on the cartridge closely. You can also use 100 ohms into an active stage. You should really try to vary loadings until it sounds right to you.

* The plastic carapace that the cartridge is housed in 'rings'; damping it will show this to be true. Use a small amount of duct tape on the sides and front. When convinced remove the body, leave nude or replace with a wood body. If nude you should attach the cartridge to a heavy piece of aluminum, brass, etc which would also help in getting the mass up on the arm. It is said that nude is a little more hi-fi rather than the tone depth you get from a wood body. I don't know that to be true but recommend the woody body ... cuz that's what I do.

* Ultimately get the cart re-tipped with the fine line option which will deliver a higher level of detail.

* If you have a Rega arm use the TWL mod

I have the Denon DL-160 is the 103 lots better? Yes, but wait a minute. The 160 is a good sound and if you are not feeling any loss when listening to it then moving on might just be a busy road. I had the DL-110 and DL-160 across two years time and just wanted 'something more'. I thought it was detail I was lacking but after hearing the tone depth of the 103 that is where it is at. The 160 seems to animate using dynamics. It has the right amount of tone weight so that it's exuberant dynamics make it exciting and 'correct'.

I ran the 103 for a while and after putting the 160 back on it sounded thin and the weight, authority, and some love was lost. After a week the 160 wins back your affection because it delivers. I don't think the 160 has a high level of detail and neither does the 103 but the tone thing is what they both try to do. The 160 flirts with it, the 103 goes there. The 160 is exciting whereas the 103 is dramatic. There is no way I can deliver the goods on what exactly I mean. Too subjective.

Is it worth it? the tedium, the twiddling around with arm mass, fooling around with loading and making y-adapters, taking the cartridge apart? Absolutely, especially when someone else has already taken that road and has saved you from having to rediscover the route inch by inch.

Jump in, the waters warm.

Cartridges I've known:
pre history = some kind of shure, pickering
lately = see link


Pat O'Malley

"Your talking to someone who really understands rock music." -Tipper Gore



Edits: 09/23/07 09/23/07

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