Denon Dl-103r Retip Or New Cart.?

[audiosoul]

I have the above Denon with ebony wood body. I am looking for a more refined sound. Does the Sound Smith retip take you there? Or should I just get a better (read more expensive) cart?

All opinions welcomed........

[Tonepub]

Sound Smith does awesome work, some times they do take a while to get things done.

[turntable]

I got ESC in the UK to re-tip my Ebony denon 103R. Its their ruby paratracer stylus I believe.

For the first 6 or so hours I thought WTF. agressive, thin and bright. Where was the luvely 103r tone.

Anyway, after 10 or so hours it started to settle down and is now sounding good. It still has that denon boogie in the bass and is a lot cleaner in the mid and treble. Frankly, it does not really sound much like the old denon 103r, however it does sound good. A really good rock n roll cartridge. I still still it lacks overall refinement - expecially if I compare it to my A90 (yes I know not fair comparo)

Personally, if you are looking for more refinement, a more expensive MC would be my choice. Which one, depends on what kind of refinement you are looking for.

[audiosoul]

I decided to purchase a DL-103D. It is much different than the 103R. It has a elliptical stylus, tapered cantilever, and higher compliance. The sound is much different to. More refined, which is what I was looking for. The bass goes deeper with more detail in the mid-range and high frequencies. The 103R betters the 103D in pitch definition in the bass frequencies. And this may or may not be conceived a being better but, the 103R has a more prominent mid-range. Over all I am happy with the 103D, for the price I think you have to spend hundreds of dollars more to get a little better sound.