Affordable Mono Cartridge For VPI Scout

According to this web site, it appears that the DL 102 was not actually designed for playing mono records but was intended for mono playback of stereo LPs in radio stations and transcription studios.

Denon DL 102 Instruction Sheet

This would seem to make it less than ideal for the best fidelity when used for playback of mono LPs through a stereo system. As there is a single mono output, it will work best with a purely mono (single channel) system downstream. Also, if the 102 is like the 103 family it is not the best match for the JMW arm.

I would suggest that a dual mono cartridge would be a better choice. Personally I would recommend the Soundsmith SMMC-3 mono setup for medium compliance. But there are other manufacturers that offer similar carts.

Plinko, if you read the specifications for the Denon DL 102 it does have vertical compliance. This is what makes it suitable for mono playback of stero recordings. But this will also make it noisier than a mono cartridge that does not pick up information in the vertical recording plane.

From the DL 102 Instruction Sheet:

Unlike conventional mono cartridges, this one is most effective when utilized in mono replay during stereo recordings because of its ability to comply to appropriate up/down movements.

If it's working well for you, great. I'm sure that there are a lot of happy campers using the DL 102. It's a great family of cartridges. But for the OP's intended use (50's era mono recordings), my opinion is that the Denon may not be the best choice.

Plinko, I will try to answer your question and address your comments to the best of my limited ability.

1- re: the Soundsmith cartridges - I do not believe that there are any differences besides the coil detail. Having said that, since Soundsmith is also offers a premier cartridge re-tipping service there are opportunities for customization. One can select between a variety of stylus tips.

2- I think that we can both agree that the DL 102 was designed to output a single channel (mono) signal. As you have suggested, the common practice is to connect both channel leads to the single signal pin on the cart. The problem with this, of course, is that by passing the high output of a single channel to both channels of a stero preamp you are effectivey reducing the output by half. So it then becomes necessary to increase the output of the phono stage, by either increasing the gain or the volume at the preamp. This leads to more noise. This same problem exists if you utilize a mono switch on your preamp. The dual-coil design of the Soundsmith (and other) mono cartridges mean that you have a seprate mono signal generator for each phono stage channel. This would not be preferred if you were using a single-channel (true mono) system.

3- re: the DL 102 page - I saw the same text that you copied. I can't explain it because I didn't write it, but it seems to be in contradiction to what Denon claims is the intended purpose of the cartridge (mono playback of stereo LPs). Also, if there is no output in the vertical plane why does Denon bother to publish a vertical compliance figure for the cart?

Stanwal, as I recall we (and others) had a discussion about this subject a few months ago. All I can tell you is that I did not find the DL 103R to be the best match for my original JMW (10") tonearm. Admittedly, I have not tried a DL cart on a 9 or 9.5 arm. But in general I find that the JMW unipivot arms seem to do better with lower mass cartridges. But I am glad that it's working well for you.