Has anyone taken the body off a Denon DL103?

[bear]

I don't want "amazing" I want "music"...

Music without any holes, or too much zing on the top, or the "Shure" sound (boom and sizzle), or the Grado sound (all mid, all the time)... few carts I have heard compare with the Koetsu line, and the Black sounds like a more refined and better top end 103... whereas the Rosewood is a bit gentler on the top end than the Black which to me is a bit more dynamic although perhaps not as smooth... at least that has been my perception.

All I want is the music to "live" and to come off the disc effortlessly. But that's me and my way of looking at it.



_-_-bear

PS. the phono stage plays a major role in what one hears, so you have to take everything in light of that... as does the arm and TT... it is a closely coupled sub-system in that sense...

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by vinylkid58

I have both here in stock form. The 103R has a much better top end than the 103. Buy the "R", or if you're really lucky, look for a "D", and then send either off to SoundSmith.



One of "the" coolest looking headshells ever IMHO.

jeff

I'll try to get my hands on a good 103R or perhaps a D then..

Yes the Orsonic is cool looking, and works very well with the Zu. The additional mass made a significant improvement in warp tracking (under damped before) and improved the bottom end significantly. Other changes all subtle were also improvements. Scored a new one on eBay this morning for a reasonable if not stellar discount.

[Sourdingue]

Good evening, other body models of DL 103 in europe: DENON DL 103 WOOD BODY en vente sur eBay.fr (fin le 26-févr.-11 16:13:15 Paris)

I made a few in the "cedar burl"

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by Sourdingue

Good evening, other body models of DL 103 in europe: DENON DL 103 WOOD BODY en vente sur eBay.fr (fin le 26-févr.-11 16:13:15 Paris)

I made a few in the "cedar burl"

Price seems pretty reasonable, and they look well made. I might try contacting the seller at some point about purchasing one.. Currently they are listed as for sale only in France.

[vdi_nenna]

I replaced the body on a DL-103R...on the second try. Bent the stylus and broke it.

It is not easy. The most extreme care when removing the body is paramount.
I can't stress that enough. If you think you are being careful when removing the body, you need to be even more careful!

Anyway...I bought a second 103R and sucessfully installed a Midas aluminum body. Sent the first 103R to Soundsmith for repair w/ Ruby stylus.

There is a video on youtube.com on how to remove it.
If I could make one suggestion. At all times you should watch the stylus when removing body from the 103R. If you have to exact any kind of force to remove the body, it means the glue is still holding the body to the cartridge. Go back and use a very fine blade to carefully cut through all the glue on the 4 corners. See the video on youtube.com.
An Exact-O blade is not fine enough and that is what I used. Find a finer, but strong blade. The Exact-O medium bent back and forth a lot.

Good Luck!

Vince

AudiogoN ForSale: Midas Denon 103 / 103R

[Sourdingue]

good night, bad luck for the stylus! on the picture below with white points and glue the blade I use (not worth going on the sides of the hull, only the blade passing level white dots)

[bluepearl]

It seems many of the wood bodies available are "pressure fit" meaning the tolerance is tight enough that it simply holds in place, I am concerned that this would lead to resonance. Is the pressure fit sufficient? Epoxy glue? What is the consensus?

[coolzero]

Done it. You need to always look at the stylus no matter what. Clinamenaudio.com has wood body for reasonable price.

Know that this is kind of late reply but wanted to share my experience with you guys.

One other thing. Below item works really well with DL103 too. cheap but a nice tweak.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/cartridge-is...50770994098%26