Upgrade Denon 103 R to Shelter 501 II?

Patrick wrote

The only problem with the low price is that people constantly underestimate the value of the partnering equipment. The Denon wants a high-mass, heavy-duty arm with high-quality bearings to drive its stiff, short cantilever and comparatively high weight. Such tonearms do not come cheap - you're talking Ikeda, Ortofon, FR, old-style SME (with steel knife-edge bearings) etc

Considering that this cartridge was initially made for the broascast industry, You have given a very good explanation of its characteristics. That industry mostly used high mass 12" arms. This also explains why it is used more successfully by vintage equipment users as well, since vintage generally used higher mass arms than todays newer arms, which are usually low or medium mass. Yes, one can spend a lot of money to buy a 12" arm, but there are a lot of good arms which will not get optimum performance from the 103 due to incompatibility. In short, the cartride was engineered for 40 yr old table/arm combo, but is generall not a good match for newer lighter arms.

hi all
have owned a d103r fr many years
nowadays it just sits up upon my wardrobe as it has for the last 5 years
great cartridge in its day
but sadly
no jan allaerts
older audiophiles otoh love them
the midrange performance is very good
top and bottem end performace on the otherhand are questionable
you do actually get what you pay for
to an extent

the shelter is better in the frequency extremes but does not have the midrange majic of the denon
younger audiophiles wouldn't think twice and most would buy the shelter
horses for courses i guess
let your own ears decide
best regards
uktel

Let's put things into perspective here. The cheapest Allaerts is about 8 times as much money as the 103R. I would hope it would be better. Maybe it is 8X better, but forgive me if I'm skeptical.

As to proper cartridge/arm matching, it goes without saying that any buyer of the Denon should be looking at that. Hell, I bought a Pioneer PL-12D at a garage sale for my son recently for $5 and ended up spending a bit more money on an AT cartridge than I wanted to and waiting about 3-4 weeks for it to come in because the Ortofon and a couple of other cartridges that the dealer wanted to sell me was not going to match up well with the arm on the $5 Pioneer!!! All I had to do was read the Pioneer manual on vinylengine to figure about half of it out.

As to the compliance numbers on the Denon and its supposed need for a very high mass arm, this has been discussed ad nauseum at the Vinyl Asylum where many people have measured and or listened to the Denon in medium to medium high mass arms and had very good results. While any cartridge is going to benefit from better ancilliaries, there are many users of the Denon with what are supposed to be less than perfect matchups who have reported great results, including bettering cartridges which are much more expensive.

Are the Denons perfect? I don't think anyone is saying that. But to dismiss them as being archaic or poor value is pretty ridiculous.

The Denon 103R is a killer cart at a killer price. The poor man's Koetsu. While it may not have the frequency extension of some of the newer carts, what it gets right - the midrange and the PRaT, many carts just don't cut it.

As for matching tonearms, my Schroeder model 2 with the brass mounting plate(+6g) works like a charm. Another modern arm which works well is the Scheu 12" Classic which doesn't cost an arm and a leg, so go figure.

I'd like to open up the discussion a bit to include other things. I just picked up a used 103R from another 'gon member, and am waiting for the rest of my Scillia / Merrill upgrade bits to bring my AR ES-1 to a higher level (yeah, I'm one of those guys). I picked the 103R because I have a high mass arm and because it is a match for this configuration, and is well regarded for its price. At a good price used it's almost a shoo-in.

In looking at the 103R frequency sweep I see that it has a broad shelf starting in the upper midrange through the treble. Less than 1dB, but as I understand it something that broad can be "heard" even if it is at 1dB or less. At 20KHz it is still within 1dB, so at least on the sweep it is not lacking in frequency extension but the profile may help explain its reputation as not being extended. I'm a believer in system and component matching, so I guess I'm wondering if the arm and table are a good basic match for the cart why wouldn't I be equally concerned about the tonearm cable? I think using a cable that supports the speed, openness, and extension that would complement the 103R would be the ticket. I'm looking for a cable that would fit that bill. For example, I've heard the Signal Cable Silver Resolution as an IC and found it to have many of the qualities that might make it a good complement for a 103R.

I guess my bottom line is that if careful matching is done to something like a 103R it may still be a viable solution for, maybe, high end analog (relative to its price).