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denon dl 103 w/ origin live silver mk II: help

I recently purchased a rega p3 with a origin live silver mk II tonearm mounted on it. It is hooked up via a musical surroundings mk I preamp. I had previously had a planar 3 with a denon DL 110 and was very pleased with the sound. So with the new deck I figured that I should go with a new cartridge. Enter the denon dl 103. No matter what I have tried (changing load settings, adding mass to the head of the tonearm), nothing improves the sound. It is shrill, sibilant, and fatiguing. I have had quite a bit of experience with mounting cartridges and always produced excellent results. I have been very pleased with rest of system sound wise. Is it just a bad match with my tonearm or do I just need to let it burn a lot longer. Suggestions???
micah79
micah79 OP
7 posts
 
The vta was going to be my first course of action. But given the length of the base on the origin live tonemarm was not adequate to add an aftermarket vta adjuster. At least not while mounted on a rega p3-2000 plinth.
gadfly's avatar
gadfly
194 posts
 
it will take more than two weeks for that silver to burn in. but it's worth it. get an old trashed record and run it continuous for 24 hours and see if you hear a change. 24 hours is not too much to lose on a cartridge life span.

actually you could get an old cart and run in the wire that way for a continuous week.
tbromgard
814 posts
 
The Riggle VTAF is a mod to allow vta setting on the fly (made by Pete Riggle). Google it.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Another way to lower the VTA is to add a thin turntable mat to the one you already are using. A lot less trouble than the tonearm-based alternatives.

Also, you didn't say how much weight you added to your tonearm. The DL103 is both light and VERY stiff (compliance of 5). That's one reason the Zu103 works so much better--it adds about 10 g of effective mass to the equation. You need close to 30g effective mass to get the DL103 to hit optimum cartridge/arm resonance capability.
tbromgard
814 posts
 
I think Johnnyb53 is correct. If the Denon is that light you could have compliance issues.

Also, another way to adjust vta is to add washers between the table and arm.
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