Denon 103 Re-tip

[Toontrev]

A thumbs up for www.nadelspezialist.de who fixed up a Denon DL103 for a retip some weeks ago.

I was offered a Shibata Stylus @ 150 Euro or retipping with an elliptical Stylus @ 70 Euro + additional Tax and Shipping.

I opted for the Elliptical which included a clean up & new Alu-Cantilever. Total cost came in at just over 100 Euro.

Turnaround time was about 4 weeks which I thought was pretty good. Very pleased with the results, can't offer a comparison with an original as I changed some equipment and I think it was quite worn at the time, I didn't buy it new either .

Have played a stack of records since it got fitted, most memorable was Talking Heads, Remain in Light. Must have heard it a hundred times. Adrian Belew's angular guitar work is all over this album and it's never sounded so vital to the music until now. One of those moments !

As the cart is supplied with a conical tip I dialled down the tracking to 1.8g which seems OK but happy to listen to any advice.

All in all a worthy piece of recycling, I hate chucking stuff out if it can be re-used.

[_D_S_J_R_]

That's very good when UK people want far more than that I gather. The original conical tip does soften the highs a bit I remember, especially at end of side when it's easily measurable too, but someone else I know who had his old 103 retipped with an elliptical diamond (nothing fancy I remember), really rated the improvement.

Regarding tracking force, can you ask the re-tipper? 1.8 - 2g does seem a universal range these days and if sibilance is ok at 1.8g and you still get the bouncy involving bass the 103 is renowned for, then leave it there