2. analog
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DL-103r with a Soundsmith Retip revelation

I've been sort of a DL103 naysayer for awhile. Tried them on numerous occasions, in different forms. I've had them nude, with a wood body, with a metal body, and stock. I've never been engaged. I've been using a Herron VTPH-2 with plenty of gain so that hasn't been the problem. I've been looking for a backup cartridge while my Decca London is back getting retipped and I went ahead and purchased a 103r with a wood body that was just fitted with a aluminum cantilever and a Line Contact stylus from Soundsmith. And now I get it! Such a pleasure to listen to. Clean and wonderful and smooth. Vocals are awesome. Violins really get you. I'm very happy. Sold off my 2M Black, my Audio Note IQ3 and selling my AT150sa. All really great cartridges but not as good in my system.
dhcod
tonyptony
614 posts
 
How did you get Line Contact on the aluminum cantilever? I thought the AL pipe came with a hyper-elliptical. I was looking at a SS retip as I recently bent the cantilever on my 103R. I was hesitant because I frankly like the conical stylus on the Denon. My copy, before it’s unfortunate accident, could track anything and sounded great in its aluminum body. I wasn’t sure if going with the line contact or even the hyper-elliptical would make it more "picky" - more finicky about how it was set up. For a few dollars more I could just get a new 103R.

Can you describe how it's improved over the Denon's conical? Is it harder to align?
dhcod OP
706 posts
 
It was super simple to align for me on my SME M2-12R but almost everything is on this arm for some reason.

I think the sound just opens up enough to not be so dark but still retains the tonal strengths of the conical. It's definitely more dynamic.
tonyptony
614 posts
 
Thanks. I don't see the line contact / aluminum cantilever option on the SS site. How long did it take, and what was the price?
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Indeed, it’s not difficult at all to set up any cartridge with LineContact or even FritzGyger stylus and relater profiles. The required tools are: Test Record (like Hi-Fi Test LP), Decent protractor (like Feickert) and Digital Scale (like Ortofon). If you can setup a Conical tip then you can setup a LineContact too.

The only benefit of the Conical tip is that a setup can be completely wrong and you will barely hear any difference.
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