ZYX RS20 vs Denon DL103

Hi all,

I did try to alter the Laoding from 47K all the way down to 10Ohms, I can hear little diff between 47K, 800Ohms and 100Ohms apart from a lower volume (the Gain is set at the same level). Anything lower than it is no good. The testing was done with the tracking force set at 2.3g as suggested by Amandarae. I found the sound is a bit thinner than setting it back to max. 2.5g. At 2.5g the sound is slightly thicker and shall I say more "body" per sa.

Flyingred just got me there, the belt! I actually noticed when I turn on the Pioneer TT, it's sort of slow to get up to speed, so maybe the belt has something to do with it. After all, the TT is made in the 70s.

I checked the Grace arm last night and is as parallel as the mat/platter, the only thing I'm uncertain is the anti-shaking, when I first bought the TT, it was set at 1 and I never changed as I couldn't find any info on the Grace F545 arm so not sure the factory recommended setting for that.

here is some pics taken last year, note that back end I still had the Monstercable Alpha 1 MC mounted onto the Pioneer. http://robogallery.blogspot.com

BTW, the TT is Pioneer PL-6 made in the 70s I think. The support I think is good enough for now as I have some anti-vibration thing out under the TT, I even tried to use my finger to knock the TT and I can hear no "hum" and the Denon never "skipped" the track while playing, so I guess the support is good enough for now?

One more thing to add, the TT is made in Japan so it takes 110V instead of 220V so I am using a power converter, not that that has another to do with it since TT doesn't really too cumsy about power....right?

Time to get a new belt and try out. Thanks all for yr help. Will keep you updated.

Cheers.

I just found this out. http://www.extremephono.com/Loading.htm

interesting.

with a 47K load on my supratek Syrah, my denon 103R sounds like ass. Very thin sounding. Pushing this down to 100ohms makes it sound MUCH better. More body. I would look into upgrading turntables before upgrading cartridges. Even a Rega P3 with an Expressimo RB250 with Twl's hifi mod would be a GREAT match for that cartridge. I use the P25 - and it is able to let me just enjoy the music as opposed to analyzing what I don't like about the sound.

Koalaray, try lowering the pivot point a little if you can - usually a cart sounds best with the arm slight headshell high.

If this still doesn't give you the 'body' you want then suspect the arm wiring and the table. There have been massive improvements in resonance isolation over the last 20-30 years and I'm finding that quite modestly priced carts, like your Denon, sound fantastic in good modern arms on the latest tables.

For a low-cost, fun alternative join the 'Building a high end table at Home Despot' action by re-plinthing an old Lenco.

Good discussion and suggestions so far. I certainly agree with Flyingred's last post. If a Denon 103/103R lacks "body" and adjusting impedance, VTF and VTA haven't helped, then something is probably wrong with the TT, tonearm or both. The 103 on my Teres/TriPlanar was one of the most present, full-bodied cartridges I've heard.