Ana Mighty Sound 103.3


I am offering a quick description of my modified Denon 103r. I have read reviews about how great the already good sounding Denon 103R or plain 103 can be once re-bodied. I am the type who has to try it for myself in order to be sure eveything is optimized. After looking at the various companies performing mods, Zu, Sound Smith, etc. I decided to go with Ana Mighty Sound in France. One of the things that helped me make my decision was the fact that I mistakenly thought the cue was up on my SL-1200 GAE and I ended up knocking the cartridge into the platter thereby scewing the cantilever. Choice made, get the mod :)

While I waited I bought a second Lp Zupreme Headshell and a second 103r so that I could do a head to head comparison once my modified 103r was returned to me.

I received the modified 103r (henceforth referred to as 103a, for "103 Ana") this past Friday so it is REALLY new, read not run-in.

Even so, cold out of box it is better than the stock unit but after about two hours it is surprising me with just how well it is performing. It is at this point far beyond the 103r. Whereas my mac mini with LPS and Uptone JS-1 power supply (also with the fan kit), iUSB 3.0, x2 iFi Gemini II USB cables, AMR DP 777 se, HQPlayer and Roon, easily outperforms the 103r, the 103a has pulled slightly ahead of my digital on the admitted limited testing I have been able to do.

I purchased the 103.3 with the Malachite body, boron cantilever with micro-ridge stylus and the 22 degree angle adjust for the modern stylus (Ana Mighty Sound are the only modifiers I know of who correctly adjust the angle of the cantilever on the 103 after installing a more modern and acute stylus).

I now have a cartridge that is absolutely world class for 783 Euro (plus the original) cost of the 103r. I have compared it directly to my London Reference ($5K) which is mounted on a Schick Oil-Soaked graphite headshell. They sound very close but the 103a has a bit better body on female vocals. If 50 is dead neutral I would say the London is 49. It is on jazz or blues, basically anything with drums, piano or large dynamic swings and peaks where the London just simply cleans the clock of any other cartridge I have heard. The London very much reminds in some regards to my R2R running 15ips.

I am going to order another Lp Zupreme today so that I can compare my Ortofon MC Anna to the 103a.

I will say that my SL1200 GAE with the SPL Phonos and my 103a is absolutely world class. I don’t know at this point if I will ever purchase another expensive cartridge. I actually was not prepared for my secondary analog rig to take that big a leap in performance. I am very very pleased with the purchase.

I will continue to comment as the unit runs-in.

The linear power supply project for my SL 1200 GAE was delayed do to extreme flooding in the area which delayed parts delivery. That project will probably commence in about the next 4 weeks and I will write that up. I am glad it happened that way as I don’t like changing more than one variable at a time.

Until next time.
audiofun
For those of you who wanted to know how good the 103.3 is, I hope my first hand review (you know, from someone who has actually broken it in and listened to the item) was beneficial. It is a wonderful product and they do much more than just cantilever/tip/body change. They are the ONLY firm to correct the SRA for the more modern diamond installed.

If you try this wonderful cartridge I think you will be very very pleased indeed. I can answer direct questions for people really interested in the cartridge, other than that I'm dropping off.

Happy listening.


As far as i know Francois was and still is a dealer of Thomas Schick tonearms and some other high-end stuff. Thomas Schick is a DIYer, who started "hot rodding" low compliance cartridges like Denon, EMT, SPU with passion for Cala Mighly Sound (later renamed to Anna Mighly Sound). Francois always praised T.Schick for his works. 

I can be wrong, but i think it's Thomas Schick who's still refurbishing cartridges for Anna Mighty Sound. Correct me if i'm wrong. 
I do not usually post on forums anymore as I am a professional and I do not want to tamper with end-users, but I feel that some of the questions raised here need some answers.

Thomas Schick did provided services for our company in the past. It is not the case anymore. We have now a team of engineers working around the repair / tuning / transformation and building of our own cartridges. We are still Thomas Schick dealer / distributor in France and we do still appreciate his works.

Our team is composed of broadcast engineers with our lead engineer having more than 40 years in broadcast and hifi cartridges repairs allowing us to have access to a wide variety of technics and the experience of repair ing ancient broadcast cartridges like Neumann DST but also the latest cartridges. We also have some tools and batches of original parts coming from main original European brands, Japanese parts as well as a selection of coil wires of different periods in order to use parts that are of the same quality and aging as original. We are also able to rebuild coils either by machines or on our high end models with a 100% hand winding process.

Just a few factual remarks on what was previously said :

- the compliance of the original Denon DL-103 103 is of 5.10^-6/dyne in static but we measure our on all of our La103 range of cartridges rebuilt at 12.10^-6 in dynamic… making it a medium compliance cartridge. But please check out the dynamic compliance of a standard Denon DL-103 (and it’s original tracking ability) : you might be very surprised.

- we do not just "glue in a cantilever" to realize our La103 range (or any of our repair works). And we have access to a wide variety of "standard" cantilevers and diamond tips, like most builders and rebuiders of cartridges. We also still have to follow vinyl engraving norms and much more... as other builders also have to do in order to provide a mechanically coherent phono cartridge. One thing we can tell you is that we do ask for specially tight tolerances on our batch of parts and that we do have some additional processes after receiving them (surface high polish is one of them).

- Installing a new cantilever/diamond tip is not enough to repair a cartridge. Even if it is the same exact models as original. A cartridge is affected by time and playback conditions. Dampers alter with time, fixation screws get loose, piano wire tension alters, coils can move on the coil former or even the coil varnish can migrate over time, magnetic flux can also alter (especially with AlNiCo magnet). We cannot repair every cartridges for instance we will never add additional mass on the moving assembly of a cartridge which means that we are never going to add a tube on the remaining part of the cantilever holder (or cantilever itself) in order to install a new cantilever. What we do is remove/drill out the remaining cantilever parts from the original cantilever shaft in order to adapt a brand new cantilever of the same exact diameter to the original one. Not a so simple process.

- In addition to installing a brand new cantilever in the original cantilever shaft with aim to keep the same or if possible even smaller moving effective mass of the coil former/coil/cantilever/diamond tip assembly. If it is not possible : we will rebuild completely the cartridge with a new coil former, etc... or simply refuse to perform the repair as we will not be able to provide repair specifications and rebuild that will suit our standards.

But back to our La103 range, we also perform different operations, of which I will name only a few :

- Coil re-adjustements and optimal centering of dampers + piano wire tension ajustements to optimize mechanical response (tracking, bandwidth, and enhancement of the position of the coil former in a as close to ideal position in the magnetic flux). For this we use technical procedures and measure instruments.

- Fine tuning each of our work by adjusting the setting of the cartridge in order to get get the overall best sound performance possible combined with best tracking measurements. This is absolutely crucial for us. Keep in mind that from our our La103 .deux range and above : effective tracking measured is of a minimum of 80micron at 315/Hz in both lateral and vertical.

As a reminder the Denon DL-103 is/was a broadcast cartridge that was indeed built for the first time more than 50 years ago, it might sound archaic for some of you but they do have something special that makes them not only an iconic item but also a standard cartridge in order to evaluate a system. Modifications on the 103 has been going on since the beginning of the cartridge production and... never stopped. I had, we had quite a few of thee iterations around the 103 and from these experiences we developed our own version.

I hope these few lines will have answered some of the question raised in this thread. I do realize that this post has some commercial content and intent and this is why (I repeat myself) I try to avoid answering on forums.

Best regards,

François Saint-Gérand - Ana Mighty Sound


@francoissg Nice to hear from you, Francois. Thanks for detailed answer. It's always importasnt to get the info directly from the manufacturers and you're not alone here (Lyra and Atmasphere manufacturers are always helpful on our forum and it's great), so don't hesitate to post. 

I memeber another retipper who praised oldschool cartridge after rebuild, that was Northwest Analogue and the cartridge was a refurbished Goldring G800, classic British MM design. Many happy owners on audiogon compared refurbished Goldring G800 to some very best carts. What is questinable is the total cost of that work/investment compared to the price of the better carts available. 

 
Thanks @audiofun , how does the SPL Phonos compare against other higher end phono stages like the Pass or your AMR ?