New Cartridge advice

I ended up buying a Denon 301MKII with a Denon head shell. The combined weight of the head shell and cart is about 15-16 grams which falls into the sweet spot for the S arm, (11-20 grams including head shell. spacers, and screws.) I plan to set my phono amp to >330 and gain to 62db. Can't wait to hear what it sounds like.

Thanks to all for your knowledgeable advice.

@porchlight1 I'm loving my Linn Nexus speakers. I originally bought them new in 89 for $1100 I think. They demoed with Linn cd player and turntable at the time. Had an A/B switch so you could compare. They played Sheffield Labs James Newton Howard and Friends on vinyl and I was sold. I recently bought some Tekton Lore Be's and gave my beloved Nexus speakers to my son. He called a few months ago saying he saw a pair of Linns for sale on local marketplace. The Linns were in fantastic condition and I purchased with a Denon Amp for $150. My son won't budge from my original set. Both sets have the KuStone Stands. I'm running a Hsu sub via high level connection from my amp. Sounds great.

They are amazing and definitely improve with each upgrade I've made.

I'm blessed to have 2 pairs:)

You might think about compliance as well as “weight”. A lightweight cartridge can have low compliance and would work best with a high effective mass tonearm. Conversely a heavyweight cartridge can have high compliance, etc.

All good cartridge advice, but what piqued my interest was your use of the great Linn Nexus speakers from the 1990’s. When I worked for a Linn dealer during that period, the Linn Nexus were the speakers (along with the Linn Intek integrated and an LP-12 - Ittok- Troika) I would listen to when I just wanted to chill with some music even though we other high-end speakers like B&W 801’s and Martin Logan electrostatics on demo.  I always thought the Nexus sounded best right up to the wall behind with nothing in between the speakers.  I hope you have the matching KuStone stands for them.  It was ingenious of Linn to design those stands with very, very long bolts that threaded up from the stands into the internal braces of the speakers. 

If your Q-damping is working well it may not matter. In general, the Denon 3-series carts are light and go well with lighter tonearms, like the short one, while the S might work better with heavier carts, but the Q-damping should make them relatively resonance neutral. One of my original 301s, the lightest of them all, is on a very light unipivot (Magenpan Unitrac) on a Denon 55k. The 103 is heavier than the 3-series carts, and you could try it on the S. The Hana is light like the Denon 3-series should sound fine I would guess. On these Q-damped tables/arms (I have a JVC, similar or the same tech to Denon, I believe), to my old ears everything sounds good.

@markmoskow 

My Denon Dl-62 has both the straight and s-curved tonearms. Which would give better results with the Denon 301MK2? In the manual, it looks like the straight arm is for lighter carts. I do like the head shell mounting system on the S tonearm.

Denon mc cartridges are still the best bang -for- buck mc cartridges. I have several, including a 304. In stock form they sound excellent! The Hana SL (Shibata stylus) sounds excellent too but at $700 is more expensive. 

@markmoskow 

Thank you for the specific information on what works with the Denon tables.. That's exactly the type of information I was looking for.

Thanks to that responded. Has anyone tried the Hana SL with a similar model Denon?

I have several Denon DDs, 59L, 60L, 61F, 47F. I have swapped a Grado RS with a micro line retip and a Stanton 881 with vivid line and a finer retip that kept its vtf at 1 or less on the 47F back and forth. And a retipped micro line Denon 303 and the Grado on the 60L, and a Nagaoka 500MP and a Benz on the 61F. Of all these combos I like the 303 on the 60 the best, but both the 881 retip (I like better than Vivid but Vivid is punchier and still good) and the Grado on the 47  sound very good but different. I also have a retipped micro line 301, a 301 Mkii, and a 302 I have tried. Of these I like the 301 best but not as much as the 303. The Benz is also good (used on 59, with bells and whistles arm) but I found even better on a higher end belt TT/Jelco 12"arm I have.  The point is, a better cart than the ones you have will sound different, and most likely better than what you have--up to a point (you may have to play the Darlington's HF jumpers). If you can find a 301, 303, 304, 305 for a low price and spend the 400 or so for the retip you will max out the sound. Anything a lot more $$$ on these tables I have is diminishing returns.

unless you are particularly wealthy $2K + cartridges are somewhat foolish I think, considering they a) wear out and b) are likely to suffer an accident at some point...  but  that is just IMO.

you don't gotta spend $2K to get great MC performance.  Obviously you need to make sure they work with the arm, but as it is a Denon, I'd say DL103R or 301 mkII are options worth considering.  Bear in mind both of those are ellipticals though.  the AT OC9 series has fineline and shibata options, but higher compliance than either denon so again research your arm.

What Mijostyn said.

Unless you plan on spending over $2000 on a moving coil cartridge I would stick with high output cartridges. You get much more for your money and in that price range better performance. Look at the Nagaoka MP 500, Any one of the high output SoundSmith or Clearaudio cartridges, The Ortofon 2M Black LVB and even some vintage cartridges like yours or a Shure V15. High output cartridges have many benefits like increased dynamic range and much better signal to noise ratios.

If you are determined to get a moving coil cartridge I highly suggest you save up for a Lyra Delos. IMHO it is the best relatively inexpensive moving coil out there.

I found this, just to see what you have, seems like a keeper,

liquid audio review of Denon DP-62L Turntable

I like the end of play auto up feature as well as the interchangeable arm wands, and that the S has a removable headshell.

I would use a blank lp to see anti-skate set rather than trust a dial's numbers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU6AD2E/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aref=phKFueGIsQ

changing arm height, two screws, hmmm, I guess I would use shims for each headshell/cartridge so the height of all my cartridges were essentially the same, simply change headshells, get alternate stereo, or mono, or MM or MC, VTA thus pre-set, adjust tracking force and anti-skate, done.