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Ana Mighty Sound 103.3

I am offering a quick description of my modified Denon 103r. I have read reviews about how great the already good sounding Denon 103R or plain 103 can be once re-bodied. I am the type who has to try it for myself in order to be sure eveything is optimized. After looking at the various companies performing mods, Zu, Sound Smith, etc. I decided to go with Ana Mighty Sound in France. One of the things that helped me make my decision was the fact that I mistakenly thought the cue was up on my SL-1200 GAE and I ended up knocking the cartridge into the platter thereby scewing the cantilever. Choice made, get the mod :)

While I waited I bought a second Lp Zupreme Headshell and a second 103r so that I could do a head to head comparison once my modified 103r was returned to me.

I received the modified 103r (henceforth referred to as 103a, for "103 Ana") this past Friday so it is REALLY new, read not run-in.

Even so, cold out of box it is better than the stock unit but after about two hours it is surprising me with just how well it is performing. It is at this point far beyond the 103r. Whereas my mac mini with LPS and Uptone JS-1 power supply (also with the fan kit), iUSB 3.0, x2 iFi Gemini II USB cables, AMR DP 777 se, HQPlayer and Roon, easily outperforms the 103r, the 103a has pulled slightly ahead of my digital on the admitted limited testing I have been able to do.

I purchased the 103.3 with the Malachite body, boron cantilever with micro-ridge stylus and the 22 degree angle adjust for the modern stylus (Ana Mighty Sound are the only modifiers I know of who correctly adjust the angle of the cantilever on the 103 after installing a more modern and acute stylus).

I now have a cartridge that is absolutely world class for 783 Euro (plus the original) cost of the 103r. I have compared it directly to my London Reference ($5K) which is mounted on a Schick Oil-Soaked graphite headshell. They sound very close but the 103a has a bit better body on female vocals. If 50 is dead neutral I would say the London is 49. It is on jazz or blues, basically anything with drums, piano or large dynamic swings and peaks where the London just simply cleans the clock of any other cartridge I have heard. The London very much reminds in some regards to my R2R running 15ips.

I am going to order another Lp Zupreme today so that I can compare my Ortofon MC Anna to the 103a.

I will say that my SL1200 GAE with the SPL Phonos and my 103a is absolutely world class. I don’t know at this point if I will ever purchase another expensive cartridge. I actually was not prepared for my secondary analog rig to take that big a leap in performance. I am very very pleased with the purchase.

I will continue to comment as the unit runs-in.

The linear power supply project for my SL 1200 GAE was delayed do to extreme flooding in the area which delayed parts delivery. That project will probably commence in about the next 4 weeks and I will write that up. I am glad it happened that way as I don’t like changing more than one variable at a time.

Until next time.
audiofun
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@audiofun 

 it’s a current amplifier which means it will auto load the cartridge.

One of my phono stage works like that to auto load the MC cartridges, definitely not for every cartridge, but at the moment i like it so much with FR-7f cartridge. Sadly the unit is out of production and i believe they sold very few before the WLM company closed their operation.  
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rauliruegas
13,106 posts
 
Dear @audiofun : "  It’s +/-0.5db ...........Measurements seldom tell the whole story "

You are " incredible " for say the least .

Do you know why a phono stage has this name and not only pre-amp or gain stage?:

the main target in any phono stage is to been designed with the inverse RIAA eq. curve to mimic ( inverse. ) the de-emphasis RIAA that was used on the overall recording proccess trying that that inverse RIAA eq. curve be " extremely " accurated " to shows a flat frequency trhough the phono stage output.   

Is " incredible " that you try to diminish its main critical importance in favor of what?.

Do you know what means " accurate /accuracy " ? but more important: do you know why that RIAA must be accurate?

You are rigth when said that measurements does not tell the whole story ( well as a fact it can tell you if you know what to measure and where and how to measure. )  but when we are talking of the RIAA eq. curve accuracy is a design undisputable premise condition. That is the primary target and characteristic of any single phono stage. That's why exist a phono stage device

Swing of 1db is absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances, no matter what. 

But if you really accept your words then is only one more fact that you are in love with higher distortions, you are accustomed to and in your Iphono thread you proved with facts that you are in love with high distortions. That's why you own that kind of system that other characteristic that expensive  confirm what you like.

audiofun, it does not matters if you like what you are listening if that phono stage comes with that kind of RIAA spec. Got it?

Regrads and enjoy the MUSIC NOT D I S T O R T I O N S   .

R.
pani
1,219 posts
 
I had a discussion with Anamighty guys on this and they clarified that they measure their RIAA from 1hz to 400khz. The deviation for that range is +-0.5db. But from 20hz to 20khz it is only 0.1db.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
Pani:

They probably should place that on the site. Either way, I figured it was probably over a  B.W. outside of 20-20khz. This why I stated that listening is the ultimate arbiter. Thanks for getting the exact freq range information. 

audiofun OP
799 posts
 
Just a quick follow up on this cartridge. I had a chance to listen to the Ana Mighty Sound 103.3 on a replinth’d Technics SP10 R with a Schroeder CB-L arm. I was shocked, Chris of Artisan Fidelity was shocked. I even wrote François to tell him I found the cartridge to be far better than I initially thought. Evidently that combination of arm and cart is something that François has been aware of for some time,

The superiority of the Schroeder arm (plus the higher effective mass) propelled the cartridge far beyond how it performed on the lower eff. mass of the GAE ‘s stock arm.

I’m not often surprised in hi-end Audio, but I admit it, that surprised me. I’m sure the replinth’d SP10 R added to the overall result, but I know the vast majority of what I heard came from using an arm more in line with the cartridges lower compliance suspension.

It does play very very well with the GAE but with a more formidable arm, it starts to make one rethink some of these pricier cartridges.
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