Well, I called Parts Connexion today, and should have what I need by tomorrow. Getting there!
Showing 10 responses by jphii
Well guys, a little bad news. I broke a stinking cartridge clip while swapping in the ZYX. Since I sold my spare tonearm, it looks like it will be another week before I can get the clips to get it repaired. And what really pisses me off is I was sober when I went to change them! That's about to change since I'm stuck with the cd player for the next week. I know it's really no big deal, but being caught unprepared sucks. I could have sworn I had some clips around here somewhere. Oh well, time to hit the bottle! Joe |
It's up and running now. So far I've gone through the first three Led Zep Classic reissues, figuring that oughta help it break in. After #4 I'm going to throw on some vocal and acoustic stuff. I'd have to say I'm impressed with it out of the box. I really like the 103r, but this just has a "liitle more" of everything. But damn this thing is light. I played hell getting the counterweight up far enough so it would track at 1.8 (actually 1.78, close as I could get it). Don't worry, I'll post more as I get a few hours on it. I do want to do some direct A/B with the Denon. And big thanks to Vicki at Parts Connexion for getting my order to me in less than 24 hours. Great service!!! |
Larry, I have it, but I had a need for some music first! I will run the Cardas lp sometime this week. Remember, I kept the copy from our Wally adventure. Doug, Now I know why you all consider the base an essential element for a ZYX. And, I will try 1.90. I wanted to get it set up and running first and then dial it in over the next few days. I still need to optimize VTA too. I also have the HFN Test LP that will be used to help getting it dialed in. The main problem I see is doing an A/B comparison. After all of this setup, there is no way to do a valid comparison without buying another arm and swapping them out. So I figure I've got about 1000 hours listening to the 103r, and I'm just going to use albums I know VERY well. Once again, I'll keep all posted how it goes. Joe |
OK, I've got a couple of minutes here so I'll get started on my feelings about these two cartridges. First off, I've listened to a lot of cartridges, and I still think the Denon 103r is one of the best out there, regardless of cost. It has been my main cartridge. Bash all you want, but this is MY OPINION, and I like it. If it was a POS cartridge, I'm sure you would never see one on a Schroeder. I now have a couple of hundred hours on the RS20. The first 50 I just played it with a ballpark setup. I noticed it started to get smoother about then, and started the looking for the ideal setup. I found at about 100 hours it settled in, and hasn't changed too much after that. Neither has the setup. The setup it critical, and I should have tried harder in the beginning. But I wanted to hear music, not screw around with setting up the cartridge. More on this in a minute. This is a very neutral cartridge, and very fast, tight, and detailed. Almost zero inner groove problems. It picks up detail and nueance, reproducing them without any bloom or artifacts. It's dynamics just ran circles around the 103r, and that is not easy. Amazingly quiet (will check crosstalk when I can get the Wally tool) on acoustic and vocal music. Can handle the most powerful bass. Rocks the House with Zepplin. Makes you think your in a smoky room listening to Coltrane. Plays at low volume so well some times you just don't want to turn it up. I guess the best way to put it is it just plays MUSIC extremely well. I'm sure all have read Doug's reviews of the higher end ZYXs. If you haven't, you should. Being "in control" translates from those lofty cartridges to the lowly RS20. I'm not nutso particular about setup, because I am basically lazy. The Denon sounds great without a ton of dial in. Sure you can make it sound a lot better, but the sweet spot is a hell of a lot easier to find than the ZYX's. But the RS20 made me keep tweaking, adjusting and fiddling like no other. Because once you find the sweet spot, you will be amazed, and forget all about this being an $800 (retail) cartridge. So what it boils down to, and the point of this is: How does it compare to the Denon 103r. Setup goes to Denon for ease. They are both also very quiet. Aside form this the edge goes to the ZYX, all the way. So is it better? YES, for me, in my system. Doug, BTW #2, how do you use the HFN record for dialing in a cartridge? I find it about 95% useless for that purpose.Like this. A little more than 1/2 way down, under Test Record Time. EDIT: Just found this, for those of you who do not share my feelings on the Denon 103r: [url=http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=vinyl&m=448012]Denon[/url] |