by TBR Contributor Alex Bunardzic

Five years ago I fell in love with the legendary Denon DL-103 low output moving coil cartridge. I wrote about my early experiences with it here.  Fast forward a bit and, seeking an upgrade, I reached out to my friend Robert (founder and principal contributor of this fine website!) for his recommendations on cartridges.

After a little back and forth over options and price points, Robert recommended I get in touch with Andy Kim of the Needle Clinic to discuss the option of re-tipping one of my trusty Denon DL-103s. Robert felt this would be the most affordable way to enter higher-end analog territory.

I trust Robert’s advice, but I remained a bit skeptical. I’d already tried to move up the food chain by purchasing a re-tipped DL-103 on which the original conical stylus was replaced by a nude elliptical stylus. The results were underwhelming, to say the least, and I promptly returned to my old DL-103 with the conical stylus.

Also, I’d tried on several occasions to replace the my DL-103 with more with more expensive cartridges, none of which was to my liking. With each that I tried, the sound was leaner, more stringent and less like the sound I was looking for.

Nevertheless, with some reservations but a hefty dose of curiosity, I contacted Andy. Much to my delight, Andy is a fantastic guy! He’s super knowledgeable, super friendly, and extremely responsive. It was a breeze for me to decide on Andy’s top-shelf package (i.e. retip the cartridge with micro ridge stylus on a boron cantilever and also nude the DL-103 body).

The work was done swiftly and before I knew it, the retipped cartridge was delivered to my doorstep! Kudos for the top notch turnaround and service!

First Impressions

After a botched set up attempt (me trying to set the cartridge on my Jelco tonearm), I had to call in professional help. Setting up a cartridge with a micro ridge stylus is not a task for the faint hearted! You need good lighting, strong magnifying equipment, a steady hand, and a slew of high quality tools, not to mention a lot of prior experience. Luckily my friend from Ventus Audio excels at all those things, and when he arrived with his arsenal of high precision tools I knew I was in good hands.

With the cartridge geometry set properly, it was time to sit down for a listening test. My favourite test record is Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark, side one. I put it on, and sat back to do some critical listening. After just a minute or so, I was almost shell-shocked. All of the Denon’s unique tonal characteristics (i.e., its saturated, thick, fiery tone) were intact. But on top of that, a plethora of never before heard delicate, intricate details that presented themselves in all their silky clarity. I was amazed!

I moved on to CSN&Y Deja Vu, side one. The opening track, “Carry on”, sounded like a brand new, never before heard song! The sound was fierce, yet interlaced with a delicate filigree of tiny sonic arabesques. This was indeed how I had expected high-end analog to sound.

Nuding the Body

After being so pleasantly surprised by the undeniable improvements that this cartridge modification brought to my analog front end, I started wondering – why were these improvements so dramatic? A few answers occurred to me.

First was the nuded body. When Denon was originally designed in 1963, the expensive quality parts (a very good generator) had to be offset by some cheaper ones so the product could better compete on the market. So the makers decided to go with a cheaper conical stylus, a lowly aluminum cantilever, and a flimsy plastic body. In this way Denon was able to keep the price very affordable.

Over the years, many have complained that the plastic body detracts from the DL-103’s sound reproduction as it vibrates and introduces unwanted noise. There is a whole cottage industry that offers body replacements for the DL-103, with some that go so far as to remove the plastic body entirely.

Which is essentially what Andy did to my DL-103, and by removing the body, not only did he eliminate unwanted vibrations, he also reduced the tendency for the generator to rapidly overheat. In my view, the resulting impact on sonics are spectacular.

The SPEED of the Boron Cantliver

The second reason the improvement in sound to my system was so great with Andy’s modified DL-103 is the boron cantilever. Much lighter and sturdier than most other materials, this boron cantilever is now audibly improving speed. You can hear, for instance, how the band on Deja Vu gels better as the rhythm section snaps into focus.

And third, there is the improvement offered by the micro ridge stylus. As I understand it, the micro ridge design is the closest available to the shape of the vinyl cutting heads used in the mastering process. This means the stylus can closely trace the movement of the vinyl cutting head, getting us very close to a level of reproduction that faithfully represents what’s on the master tape.

The AMAZING Micro Ridge Stylus

Ultimately, to get the results that I got with Andy’s modified DL-103, getting the installation right is essential (thank you Ventus Audio!). This is largely because of the very special nature of the micro ridge stylus. These types of styli are precision-machined diamonds that reach deep into the record groove. If the geometry of the tonearm, the cartridge, and the cantilever are not set with necessary precision, the micro ridge stylus ends up bouncing around the groove as the record is spinning.

This bouncing around means the cartridge will not be fed the groove content in a continuous stream, in effect sampling many many parts of the groove rather than all of it. This “sampling” makes analog playback into something more closely resembling digital. Imagine that!

Nothing beats a continuous stream of content that is transformed faithfully into an electrical signal that travels along the tonearm wire into the phono preamp. If that stream of information is choppy (with gaps of dead air as the stylus is bouncing around), the signal gets chaotic, and that degrades the sound. At least that’s how I explain these things after a couple of glasses of wine!

Quieter Playback

With the cartridge installed properly with the proper geometry, the sound is liquid and continuous, supported by the incredible speed of the super light boron cantilever. It’s a veritable breakthrough in quality for analog sound reproduction, and it comes with an unexpected bonus! Thanks to the fact that the micro ridge stylus sits so very deep in the groove, LPs that previously had quite a lot of surface noise now play much more quietly. Damage to vinyl, typically situated at the surface, often does not reach the grooves. This allows the stylus to pick up pure signal, undisturbed by marks on the surface of the record.

In conclusion, I would have to say this upgrade has rejuvenated my system and made me eager to delve back into my 800+ record collection. I highly recommend this Denon DL-103 modification and can whole heartedly endorse Andy’s work!

And my heartfelt thanks to Robert for recommending Andy!

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