Denon DL-103R Wood Body Mod

07-10-10: Gadfly
I will really test my opinion when I finally pack this ebony 103 off to SS. Now, with the elliptical I feel no loss of detail. I mean I do not crave for more. Very satisfactory.

I'm absolutely amazed at the level of detail available from the Panzerholz 103R with stock cantilever/stylus. At this stage I feel no inclination to investigate an exotic re-tip - and this is following about 6 months with the Ortofon A90 in my system.

Of course the A90 does things the Uwe Panzerholz 103R can't - mostly notably it's see into transparency and extreme clarity in the soundfield. The Uwe 103R still does well enough to satisfy (me) in these areas though.

What amazes me though - and has every time I've played a 103R variant over the last 5 yrs - is the musical rightness and engagement of the Denon. The tonal colours and textures capture some lifelikeness that is quite compelling. With the 103R in the panzerholz shell (on the Phantom II) I find the shortcomings of the stock 103R - somewhat bloated mid-bass, lack of mid-band clarity, lack of speed and 'snap' on transients, lack of HF refinement/apparent extension - are, at least to my satisfaction, gone. The Denon also sounds very dynamic and lively, with a great knack of reproducing instrumental 'action'.

The modded Denon still won't satisfy those who want to count individual players of an orchestra at the rear of the stage, but I think many would be genuinely shocked how good it sounds. I am.

Tobes: It's been almost 3 years since I replaced the plastic body on my 103R with an ebony and I still remember those improvments.

I have no experience with the A90 so can't say how it would compare, but I would say that, from my perspective, the SS retip improves things in a very big way above and beyond the wood body. In two areas in particular which you mention, mid band clarity and HF refinement/extension, the SS retip probably equals or exceeds the jump in performance you experienced moving to the wood body. The SS retip brings about a huge improvement in the "hear through" quality in the mid band. It's quite amazing how much information the conical is actually missing.

It's pretty astonishing how much more detail it digs out of the grooves and it does tend to move the cartridge well into the area of being able to "satisfy those who want to count individual players of an orchestra at the rear of the stage" without really giving up that "musical rightness" IMO.

Hdm, since I now have the panzerholz on my turntable and prefer it to the ebony, I suppose I could send the latter off to be retipped.
Here's the thing though: firstly I find the detail of the uwe cartridges more than adequate. Secondly, I strongly suspect that some of the special qualities that I admire in the 103R result from that conical tip/aluminium cantilever. I find the more 'relaxed' presentation of detail very easy on my ears, natural and unforced. Its like my brain isn't being over overwhelmed and I can more easily concentrate on the music.
Every fine line cartridge I've used is different in these respects - and in a way more overtly 'hifi'. I read somewhere that the distortion products of conical styli are different to elliptical/fine line etc - maybe this is some of what I am hearing.
I won't rule out getting a retip, but I'm not in a hurry to go down that path at present.

Tobes: I felt exactly as you did for a long time before I did the retip. In fact, I may well have posted almost word for word either here or at the vinyl asylum about my reluctance to lose that "Denon magic" by doing the retip.

If you have the ebony sitting around, I think that is the perfect one to send off. As I said earlier, the ebony has a darker, weightier less detailed presentation than many of the other woods that I think is a really synergistic match with the line contact. Kind of a yin and yang thing.

My clavellin body was a bit lighter on its feet and more detail oriented than the ebony but that combination (clavellin with line contact) may well be one that might be a bit over the top and a bit too hi-fi-ish in presentation.

I have a clavellin bodied 103R in a drawer here. Perhaps I should sent that one off to Soundsmith for a simple aluminum cantilever and elliptical as per Pat's suggestion.

I really like the ebony though; when the time comes I believe I'm just going to pop for another ebony body to replace the clavellin and then send that one off to Peter Lederman.

Hdm: I think we are on the same page here, time will probably tell whether or not I find the panzer 103R lacking in detail.

I've gone through the stages with the 103R. When I initially put the stock cartridge in my system I thought it was awesome - though eventually my enthusiasm tempered when I did further comparison with my Vdh tipped Crown Jewel. Which I wrote up in this review here: http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Phono-Cartridge/Denon/103R/vinyl/484083.html

Then I got the Ortofon Jubilee and favored it for a long time - even after adding the ebony wood body to the 103R. That chapter is recorded here: http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Phono-Cartridge/Uwe-s-Wood-Body-Denon-103-103R/Ebony-Wood-Body/vinyl/72/722633.html.

Then I upgraded to the Phantom arm and the ebony 103R regained the ascendency: http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=vinyl&n=858582&highlight=

The Ortofon A90 followed and blew me away - such clarity, transparency and liveliness. Sadly the A90 was sold (to pay some bills!).....but inserting the ebony 103R immediately after the A90 was not the downgrade I expected. I was really surprised how great it sounded - I didn't find myself wanting for anything, just enjoyed the music.
What had changed in the interim?
Well I'd upgraded my Harbeth speakers from C7ES-2 to the current ES-3. As it turned out everything about that change suited and enhanced the sound of the Uwe 103R.
The Panzerholz 103R was just icing on the cake, more revealing, airy and balanced in my system than the ebony (though in fairness this was a new 103R base cartridge vs my older sample in the ebony).

At the moment I don't want to mess with the magic in search of more detail - but like you say, my ebony 103R would be perfect candidate for a retip experiment.