Upgrade Denon 103 R to Shelter 501 II?

What were you tracking at before? I'd suggest tracking in the higher end of the range-at least 2.5 grams.

In my opinion (at least in my set-up) the cartridge sounds much better tracking at the higher end of the range. I track mine at 2.7 grams. The lower mass arm (if that's what you have) combined with the lower tracking force may be seriously limiting what you're getting out of the cartridge.

2.7. I'm not sure if it's better at low or high end. Just got the TT Saturday.

Assuming you just got then Denon Saturday as well, I would a) definitely track it at the higher end of the VTF range at least until it is broken in and probably after as well and b) not make any judgements about its sound quality until you have at least 12-15 hours (or the equivalent of about 40 LP sides) on it.

While the Denon sounds pretty decent out of the box, it is a little aggressive, a little "steely" as some others have described it. At around 12-15 hours, though, it should dramatically improve and really come into its own. You'll notice that it will really smooth out in that time period. Some will say that it requires around 50 hours to fully break in and that may well be true, but in my experience, there is a real transformation at the 12-15 hour mark that makes any improvements in the 15-50 hour mark sound pretty subtle. At 12-15 hours, it's as if, all of a sudden the "light comes on".

And, as mentioned above, if your arm is a bit lightweight (as in the 9-12 range), increasing the mass by 5 grams or so is definitely going to help as well.

But if the Denon is new, you are in for a surprise shortly if you keep playing records on it.

Absolutely! 2.5 to 2.6 grams, and remember to take the optimistic numbers that a Shure tracking force gauge gives you into account.

I mention this latter point only because so many folks rely on the Shure coupled with the fact that you haven't mentioned how you measure your tracking force.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Tom - Are you aware of other inexpensive tracking force scales that are more accurate?

thanks