New Cartridge Time

@cub Here's a fairly straightforward guide to determining whether a cartridge will work well with your tonearm. 

https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_resonance_evaluator.php

You will just need to enter the effective mass of your tonearm (the Rega RB330 is 11 grams).  You'll see a chart pop up.  Then, you need to look at the specs of to get the weight and dynamic compliance of the cartridge(s) you are considering.  

The Denon 103r weighs 8.5 grams and has a (very low) compliance of 5 (this is listed as "5 x 10-6 cm/dyne".  If you look at the chart, you will see that this combination falls well outside of the optimal range.

Hope that helps, and feel free to ask more questions.  There are a lot of experienced audiophiles on Audiogon, and many are very generous with their knowledge.

Cheers,
Scott

 

Scott,

Judging from the chart, a tonearm would need to have an effective mass of ~31g for the Denon to be in the acceptable range. Am I reading that right?

@cub, here go. Perfect for your arm and also British. 
https://www.whathifi.com/us/goldring/1042/review 
It is certainly "fiddly" to install. Put the screws in from underneath and the bolts on top. Makes it a lot easier. This cartridge punches way above its price point, $600. It is very close to the Clearaudio Charisma at $2000!
The Audio Technica VM760SLC at $650 is another good choice but I prefer the Goldring. 

@ozzy62 Looking at it again, I suspect that the compliance listed for the Denon is a 100hz measurement (often used by Japanese cartridge makers).  The chart on vinylengine uses the standard 10hz.  So if the Denon was measured at 100hz, the basic conversion to 10 hz would be in the range of 1.5-2 times the 100hz compliance**.  Even with this conversion, a compliance of 7.5-10 would still put the Denon out of the optimal range (but a bit closer) for the Rega tonearm.  The Denon has a very low compliance, and therefore will be a better match with slightly heavier tonearm.  

**Note that I took this general rule from a discussion on Vinylengine.  There are more precise mathematical ways of doing the conversion.   

Thanks, I don’t understand. Give me some suggestions for the Rega RB 330 tone arm that would match well in the $750.00 range.

Ok, SONY XL-50 with Boron Pipe cantilever and Hyper-Elliptical stylus tip.
Excellent MM cartridge if you can find NOS sample with genuine stylus.
It was one of a few top MM from SONY in the 80’s.

You can also look for new mid compliance Garrott P77i (price in AUD), this is stunning latest version of the legendary P77 from Garrott Brothers.