I now have about 45 hours on the 103.3 and it has opened up quite a bit. One of the main differences I hear between the 103.3 and the stock 103r are primarily in the high frequencies with the 103.3 playing far freer and possessing a much more open top end. It actually makes my stock 103r sound muted or overly damped. The other big difference is in the area of intelligibility. The 103.3 sales through complex passages of music whereas the 103r can sound confused, especially if the complex riff contains a good deal of high frequency content such as flute.
I did compare it to my MC Anna. Well, even I was shocked at the result. As good as the 103.3 is, $9K does buy you something and in this case the Anna serves up a plethora of information and spatial cueing that the 103.3 simply can not duplicate (nor would I expect it to do so). I did note that where the 103r was sompletely missing the spatial cues the Anna so easily brought forth the 103.3 DID hint at them. The 103.3 does give you a small taste of that information. I am assuming this is due to the micro-ridge stylus vs the old style conical stylus of the 103r.
I still use my 103r for my less than pristine albums as it plays them well do to the stylus not being able to go as deep into the groove.
The London on jazz is just simply breathtaking. One of my female acquaintances asked me just last evening what makes the London sound so real :)
I was going to run 3 arms across my two tables as I was about have the Kuzma Air Line installed on my SP10Mk3 along with the 4 Point. Due to my being spoiled by the absolute supreme usablity of the arm on my SL-1200 GAE I changeed my mind on the Air Line. I want to be able to change headshells, VTA, VTF just as easily as I can with the GAE. I found and purchased a mint Technics EPA 100 mk2, so I will see how that goes. If that works out I will be happy with my SP10 MK3 and the two arms.