Make me feel better

Well David:

You have certainly improved since the time that you used a powered up Aleph 3 for a foot stool and ended up branding a portion of your body.

Now you can consider yourself an older/wiser much more delicate/refined "klutz".

Feel better?

I broke a cantilever off my Clearaudion cartridge with zero hours on it when I flicked the tonearm into the side of a record while unlatching the tonearm lock on my new Rega p3. I still have to be careful with that thing, it just doesn't suit my fat fingered approach. The vendor sent me a new cartridge for only $160, taking pity on the inept.

Thanks guys,at least you made me laugh!
Tom,hows a basic 103 sound? What do those letters mean anyway? 103S,103R etc..
Sean-Band camp? I should have known :~)
Jeff-I tore out a tonearm wire once too :>(
Nrchy- I broke your cantilever both times.I was with your baby sitter too.Didnt know?
Dekay-Im glad you remember the "aleph burn" I didnt know those suckers got so hot!
Thanks guys for the support.Time to shop around.

David, a basic 103 is nice, but not as nice as what you had. It would work on the Alphason, but the highs would not be as nice as the R,S,or D models. It has a different(lower) compliance(same as the R model), and the S model and D model are medium compliance family. Your S cartridge shared more characteristics with the D model, than with the basic 103 or 103R. Unfortunately, the D model costs even more than the S model. I think if you really liked the S, then you should get it again, or else step up to a Shelter 501.

Tom-The biggest problem is finding these Denon's.
The 103 is a easy find but the others,well you know.
I'd buy a 103S again in a heart beat if I knew where to get one.
The Shelter is out of my price range.
Im leaning towards a used Grado Platinum .5mv
I had the 4.6mv version and really liked it.
The LO are better sounding,or so I've read.
My phono has 65db gain and my Alphason likes heavy p.u.'s so I have to be careful.The grado's are rather light so that may not be a good choice anyway.
I need a 103S again I'd say.
I can live with my SACD's until I find one.