Cartridge Skips Beginning of Record

Hi Garibaldi, First I would try a couple of things. First make sure there is no problem with the bearings. When you move the arm around does it move smoothly? Then make sure your turntable is perfectly level. Next double check your VTF (vertical tracking force). The VTF for that cartridge is 2.5 grams +/- .3 grams. If you don't have a VTF scale you need one.

Another issue is the effective mass of your tonearm (9 grams) is not ideal for the compliance of your cartridge (5 x 10^-6 cm/dyne at 100 hz). I would look for a way to add mass to the head shell of your tonearm or use a different cartridge that has a higher compliance. To add mass to the tonearm head shell you could try using some blutack and a penny or nickel. If that works you could try to find a cartridge weight designed for use with your Denon 103.

Hope this helps.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/tonearmcartridge.html

Here is a link to a good primer on cartridge/tonearm matching.

I found out that the arm lift rest was set too high for the arm/cartridge combo. This is non-adjustable so I had to lower the VTA a little, maybe two mm. Problem solved.

I checked with Clearaudio and a couple of cartridge suppliers and was told the 103R was fine for the Satisfy arm. I used the calculator on vinylengine and I think the resonance was 8.5± hz.

Garibaldi, the one thing to watch out for is the compliance that Denon lists. I can't remember the exact "scale" for compliance ratings, but I remember reading that Denon uses a scale that is different from what most manufacturers use. I once tried using a DL 103 on my last turntable that had a Satisfy arm, and it was not a good match.