Yeti, thanks.
"A bit more output than the 103 wouldn’t go amiss if the 60dB quoted as the maximum gain for an unbalanced output for your phonostage by Absolute sounds is accurate."
Easily accurate, yes.
"What do you know about your arm, was the 103 a good match?"
Seems like a good match. 10 gram effective mass or so. It's written down somewhere.
"I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the performance of a London Decca I fitted to an Aro recently, and rather disappointed when it started humming when a neighbour turned something or other on in the adjacent apartment, probably his TV or a computer or some such."
I moved through testing many phono pre's before landing on the JC Junior precisely because it out right rejected RFI from a nearby antenna that the other 'stages couldn't silence.
"If you can get to hear one a 17DX might give the apheta a run for its money but you’re into micro line there so you’ll need clean records, the plus side is the 2000 hour plus stylus life if you don’t mess up the bias setting (like I did on my first D2)."
Well, depends how clean clean is. I have a RCM, but I clean once, and then just rely on new sleeves, carbon fiber brush and occasional groove glide. Also, I don't use anti-skating, not on my Thorens and the Bryston doesn't even come with it. I guess I fall in the school that doesn't believe in it.
"I’ve heard the Atom at the factory driving Sopra 1s and at a dealership driving some Russell K floor standers, on both occasions the object was to show the improvement to be had from the Star and Nova, I’ve not hears it with speakers that were chosen for the Atom, oh and I’ve heard it powering some Shahinian Hawks surprisingly well, though not well enough to live with, its still an entry level product, how much cartridge does it need?"
Well that's a great question. At some point, I may get an amp and use the atom as a streamer. Not to play louder, which I don't regularly do, but to provide more presence at lower volume.
But I've listened to very expensive cartridges on nominally very resolving systems, and I don't always hear more than what I hear with a 2k cartridge. So maybe my ears are shot (not what the tests show, though my highs do disappear at 12khz. This aging thing...)
Still, I tend to think that transducers are the parts of the system which make the clearest sonic difference, and that makes me think that a substantial cartridge upgrade is worth a try.