Budget moving coil

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
Wammer
Jul 19, 2005
10,222
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sunny scunny
AKA
colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I currently use a denon dl 110 on a Rega P25/RB 600, which I thoroughly enjoy, but having aquired a Rega MC phone stage at sensible money fancy having a play with a Low Output MC as an alternative.

I have tried the denon 103, but found it a bit dark sounding, (could have been the NAD Phono stage I was lent with it), what can I try that is not going to break the bank- say £250 max.

The Denon will be staying with me, and I just fancy having a inexpensive play, something on the lighter side, but not screechy, that has more emphasis on music than Hi Fi.

 

Gromit

Wammer
Wammer
Nov 17, 2006
7,614
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Yellowbellyshire
AKA
Richard
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Dudy - if you found the cooking 103 a tad dark, give the 103R a try. It's a brighter, slightly more incisive cartridge - especially if you can get more than 200 ohms impedenceon the mc input.

I dearly love the 110 (who wouldn't for the money!) but in my systemthe 103Rreally is demonstrably better. It's much more dynamic, bass detail is lots better, more stop&start to notes and makes more sense of musical phrasing. The only thing the 103R doesn't do as well as the 110 is the stereo soundstage thing, but that's right at the bottom of my priorities anyway.
wink.png


 

griffo104

Wammer
Wammer
Sep 30, 2005
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Newport
AKA
Griffo
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Dudy, if you like the denon sound maybe moving to a DL304 would be an option.

I'mnot overly keen on the DL110/160/103 but thought 304 was a lovely cartridge. Very cultured,detailed sound, tracks superbly. Can sound maybe a touch laid back but the air and transparency give a sense of what a top MC is all about.

I have to say I found the DL103 a huge disappointment, tracking problems andthe sound was poor,imo. I've always wondered why these carts have such a following on the forums. It didn't stay in my system very long and it was returned to the owner, who had the good sense to replace with a Shelter. He felt the same as me regarding the DL103.

I prefered the Goldring elite which replaced the DL304, again a great tracker and more powerful driving sound which suits rock more than the DL304.

However I'd still look to see if you could get hold of a DL304.

 

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
Wammer
Jul 19, 2005
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sunny scunny
AKA
colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I have to say hat I did not have any tracking problems with the 103, unless it was a particularly long album, with a loud last track, in which case it sometimes struggled. It was a pain to get it set up properly though. It was just darker than I would like. They guy who lent me it has some MA speakers, and the Denon compliments them very well, calming the tendancy to shriek a touch at times. May be the 304 is what I need, as I do like the 110/160 very much, and may be I just want more of that.

 

TIU

Artist and daft as a brush
Wammer Plus
Dec 17, 2005
13,656
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Birmingham
AKA
Gary
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
What does Tony at Needles'n'spins have to offer or recommend? I don't think he stocks the Denons though.

 

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
Wammer
Jul 19, 2005
10,222
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sunny scunny
AKA
colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I had a look at Tony's site, but his main offerings are Ortofon which I find a bit too clean sounding for me, he has the A/T OC9, but it suffers from the Hi Fi conversion rate, ite £320 ish in the UK and about $280 in the states.

 

JPG

Wammer
Wammer
Jan 26, 2007
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Bristol
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James
Rudi got one for £150 inc. postage (exc. taxes). I dunno how much you would be hit for by HMarsey, but I would think that you could get it well within budget.

 
M

murray johnson

Guest
seconded.

did you come to a decision on your next cartridge Kenny?

 

kennyk

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
Aug 8, 2005
4,826
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0
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
ummm... well I've just had ANOTHER disaster
icon_redface.gif.eb51a1f92a0314cdfc14dd3cb4473da1.gif
, and my spare is currently sans diamond. so I'm going to have to get a budget spare in the meantime... so far the favourites are either the goldring eroica, or the ortofon salsa...

meanwhile, a rather aged and wavy-cantilevered shiraz is currently back in something approximating service. well it works after a fashion but sounds a bit boomy. think the suspension is, for want of a less technical term, "shagged"

 

kennyk

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
Aug 8, 2005
4,826
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0
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
nope no drink. an arm without an armrest was being tried out and the tip made heavy contact with the plinth during some adjustments...
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thommo

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 28, 2005
459
0
0
Essex, , United King
dudywoxer wrote:

I currently use a denon dl 110 on a Rega P25/RB 600, which I thoroughly enjoy, but having aquired a Rega MC phone stage at sensible money fancy having a play with a Low Output MC as an alternative.
The AT OC9 ml11.

Although it changes from good to bad overnight.

Apparently.
thumbs_up.gif.3c8ee62eda0e86146178ab30b9facd86.gif


 

Uncle Ants

Wammer
Wammer
Oct 11, 2005
4,154
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0
East Midlands, Unite
AKA
Tony
JPG wrote:

Rudi got one for £150 inc. postage (exc. taxes). I dunno how much you would be hit for by HMarsey, but I would think that you could get it well within budget.
There's maybe one going cheap in Sweden I heard, very few hours on it too.

 

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
Wammer
Jul 19, 2005
10,222
1,256
0
sunny scunny
AKA
colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Your all just being nasty to Ruudddi, I am going to get his dealer mate to check out my cable loom though

 

griffo104

Wammer
Wammer
Sep 30, 2005
7,311
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Newport
AKA
Griffo
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
dudywoxer wrote:

Your all just being nasty to Ruudddi, I am going to get his dealer mate to check out my cable loom though
just make sure he connects the mains loom correctly otherwise it could get a bit too interesting
biggrin.png


Go for a dl304 - you know you want to
biggrin.png
, just make sure your phono is ok with VERY low output carts.

 

dudywoxer

Looking for a bigger stirring stick
Wammer
Jul 19, 2005
10,222
1,256
0
sunny scunny
AKA
colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Having had a chat with the nice man at Rega it seems that the denon's output might be a touch low for Phono (MC) or the card for the Cursa, thats assuming Denon quoted 0.18 is right, so its back to the drawing board.

 
G

Guest

Guest
just buy the denon dudy you will need a good phono stage though.. mine runs through a dino with outboard power supply and sounds awesome.

the output is 0.21 dudy.. thats what the printout on mine says.

 
G

Guest

Guest
the beauty of the dl304 is it will play ANY record without causing a fuss.

bright recordings sound relaxing and old dull recordings come to life.. it realy is someting special i'm hearing it properly for the first time and i'm blown away... makes my cd player sound like a aiwa midi system

 

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