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Denon 103R on a MMF-7

I bought an MMF-7 with the goldring eroica cart from this site. Really simple set up. Not sure I like the cart - ear ringing has grown tremendously since I started listening to this TT.

So, I read up on bang-for-buck carts here. Decided on the Denon 103R and bought one from audio cubes. (Man that was fast from Japan - a week and it was here - at a shipping cost of $7!).

Dismounted the goldring, and found that:
- The male connections on the 103R are way too small for the female tonearem connections
- The bolts don't fit throught the pickup hanger atop the tonearm.
- I had to remount the Goldring

Amp - Conrad Johnson 2250
Pre-Amp - Musical Fidelity 3.2cr

Anyway, please offer suggestions/thoughts/brilliance on how to/should I modify the setup to accomodate the 103R or not. BTW - Vinyl Engine doesn't seem to be in business anymore and I can't read Japanese...so if anyone knows of another location for the 103R english manual I'd appreciate it.
swimmerone
jeepman50's avatar
jeepman50
1 posts
 
Hi - I just bought a new DL-103R and have installed it on my MMF-7. It is certainly a 'manly' cartridge. It has about 5 hours on it now and it sounds great but I've noticed that it sounds 'scratchy' on some lp's under certain situations. I tried it initially on some Rickie Lee Jones (self-titled and Pirates) and didn't notice the same noise. I presume I've not got the cart quite setup quite right. I'm using 2.48g as the tracking force. I also have the TT connected to a HagTech Piccolo and don't think the noise is being produced anywhere in the route. If anyone can point me in the right setup direction, that would be great.

Thanks.
jwglista
206 posts
 
I hope it works out for you. I've read that the Denon carts don't always mate that well with newer tables and tonearms. I tried a standard DL-103 on my Clearaudio Emotion table with Satisfy tonearm and it sounded horrible. The phono pre was a Cambridge Audio 640p, which may have also been a bad match, since the loading was hardwired at 100 ohms.
hdm
1,063 posts
 
Not sure about the Satisfy tonearm with the 103R as it likes lots of mass but the Cambridge 640P is just not enough phono stage for the cartridge if it is combined with the right arm and lacks enough gain. You will need 60-62 db of gain.

Jeepman: You will find that the 103R is a bit "steely" for the first 15 hours or so, after which it will smooth out considerably and almost instantly and then get slightly better through about the 50 hour mark by which time you should be fully broken in.

I would recommend taking the VTF up to around 2.625 or 2.65 and then maybe back off after the 15 hour mark but only to around 2.6 which I feel is the best tracking force after a lot of experimentation. Less than 2.6 IMO results in the cartridge becoming a bit grainy and edgy; above that and things start to thicken up and get a bit muddy.
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