Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site
In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Where are our good phonostages?
Post Subject: Re: my take on the 103Posted by Thorsten on: 12/8/2004
Hi,
 Chirag wrote: |
| 103 or 103R + mass loaded SME headshell + 3012 or a 3009 + Seiki 1500 + hagerman opamp phono stage (good only with select parts and battery power) or an EAR 834 (with some mods) and some old Altec mic transformers. In that environment, it works quite ok...its quite a bit "harder" sounding on the opamp stage, but almost too slow on the 834. |
|
The EAR 834P is due to the use of "slow" and "veiled" sounding valves (ECC83's) a bit on the soft, slow and foggy sinde of the sound. That said, in many commercial (non-DIY) setups that is probably an asset.
| Chirag wrote: |
| This structure isn't so much an issue of "imaging" as its understood, but a lack of contrasty timber. I want to say its too flat in tone, but that wording is too strong for my tastes. |
|
I have used the term "literal" previously to describe the 103. It is ultimatly more of a "truth" than "beauty" cartridge, no doubt a result of it's primarily pro heritage and one trait that actually agrees with me, due to also some pro background.
| Chirag wrote: |
| They're both "good enough" cartridges for most people, and in the real world, a 200 buck cartridge that performs this well will make many people happy. But that def should NOT preclude thinking on "what could be". |
|
Absolutely agreed. I do not suggest that the 103 should be the only catridge you can have, but if you told me I can from now on only keep a SME 3009/10/12 Arm and Denon 103 on my turntable you probably do not get all that many complaints either.
I'd probably still prefer more choice, as I feel that as of now I have yet to hear "perfect" playback, so often it is preferable to have several arm/cartridge combo's available that have very contrasting sonic attributes and often cost all together less than top notch current "High-End" arms & cartridge combos and used judiciously can give better results for more records than a single combo
| Chirag wrote: |
| BTW, my unbacked up HD crashed last week...can someone send/link me an 834P schema? It would be rather appreciated. |
|
You can e-mail for the original scan, otherwise look here:
http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Carsten-RIAA/Carsten-RIAA.htm
This has a different powersupply and misses the component designations.
Ciao T
Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site