Technics SL-23 TT opinions.. mated with Denon DL-103?

It’s a simple matter to turn a low or medium mass tonearm into a high mass one; just add weight at the headshell. For $150 it’s worth a shot. I would not be intimidated by the apparent mismatch between a 12g tonearm and a Denon DL103. If after adding 5-10g of weight to the headshell there is a problem with inadequate counterweight, that can also be addressed by sticking some bluetack to the CW. (Try it with no added headshell mass first and then add mass incrementally.) Have fun. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Chakster
Please do not insult my intelligence as though I do not know it should not work and that it is a total theoretical mismatch.

That is not remotely what I said.

I stated that it worked well enough for me to be a pleasant listening experience but obviously not as good as it could be.
Or indeed as a great lightweight vintage mm on same arm is.

But the point was it worked and was actually fairly resolving, much more so than theory would have you believe.

And that if the OP already has the 103 then he has NOTHING to lose by trying it.

As already stated there are plenty of ways to make a lightweight arm heavier, some prettier than others granted.

I have very successfully run an Acutex cartridge, with stated compliance of 42, in a Fidelity Research FR64S (high mass) tonearm using a 10g headshell.  (The original FR64S headshells were much heavier and only added further to the high effective mass of these tonearms.) I listened to that combo for months on end, and it always sounded great, with no hint of a problem with bass frequencies.  One reason for this result, in my opinion, is the age of the NOS Acutex; I doubt it exhibits the compliance originally spec'd for it because of stiffening of its suspension.  But I also take that to indicate that the compliance spec for most cartridges is an approximation at best, due to sample to sample variability in the construction of any cartridge.  Like Uber said, there's no harm in trying.

Presently, I have a Onkyo CF-1280f DD turntable with a Nagaoka MP-110. It’s a good looking old turntable from the 80’s I believe. I also have a Music Hall MMF 2.2 and did not like the sound of it with its factory cartridge.  I had heard some good things about the Denon cartridges and was interested in giving a MC cartridge a chance.

I thought that if I could get the Technics TT for 125.00 I wouldn’t have any issues epoxying weight to the counterweight or the head shell, but I also not crazy about throwing money away either. Maybe a better decision would be to buy a Denon DL 110 and mount it on a Onkyo head shell.