ZYX RS20 vs Denon DL103

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.

That's really the reason why I bought the Denon, it's good so far and I'm happy with it, just that the little bit of body lacking so trying to improve it (get the best out of Denon). Strange enough that the Grace 545 arm seems doesn't have the anti-skate (optional arm lifter as I was told), I'm not sure the "L" shape weight next to the end of the arm is indeed the anti-skate aas there is no idication whatsoever, My guess is it could be as it has "0" to "3" marking, that's all. Referring to the Grace manual (found at vinlyengine.com) but no mentioning on the anti-skate.

About lowering the pivot, will try that. By the way, what should be the "best" height for the tone arm? I know it should be in parallel but is there good technique to set the arm height? The overhang and other angle is set pretty much as spec'd, the only thing is the anti-skate and the arm height to make it "perfect".

ps: I did try loading 100Ohm last night and........maybe I still need more serious listening to compare with 800 & 47Kohms. Have to find a "test" LP though.

Thanks everyone who helped me so far.

There is no precise measurement for VTA/pivot height - it's done by ear. You lower the arm at the pivot in steps of 1 mm (approx) and listen to some music - full orchestral is good but I've also done it with Dire Straits. Keep going until you lose all the brightness and it sounds kind of horrible and mushy with indistinct bass. You know then that you've gone too far.

The trick then is to take the pivot up in small steps until the "soundstage snaps into focus." It's like focusing the lens of a camera or binoculars - you get the high frequencies back on violins, cymbals, vocals and you get the best imaging/placement in the soundstage. Go any higher and it gets over-bright, losing bass definition and lacks body!

Some purists would advocate that you re-set VTA for every LP you play. I'm usually happy with an optimized setting.

Anti-skate being off won't account for the lack of body. Not having anti-skate isn't the end of the world either - you might find that you can't cue a cut at the end of an album side and you might have to adjust the balance to compensate for one channel being louder than the other but if the spindle to pivot and overhang are spot-on you will be unlucky if you hear mistracking at the end of sides.

The usual advice is to set the anti-skate to half the VTF. I've experimented with mine on my Expressimo and it doesn't make a huge difference playing music, however I can reduce the distortion on the inner cut of HFS75.

The DL-103, with a conical stylus, will never be a great end of side tracker, however because the stylus is symmetrical it's much more tolerant of offset angle errors than an elyptical design.

Good luck I hope tweaking VTF gets you the sound you want.