Soundsmith Upgrade for the Denon 103R is up and running!

[schwarcw]

I sent my Zu Denon 103R to the Soundsmith for re-tipping and level 2 upgrades.  Since my Zu Denon was alreaded nuded and potted in an aluminum cartridge shell, I just wanted to have the ruby cantilever and the contour diamond stylus.  I also installed a set of Cardas headshell leads.  Overall, a very worthy upgrade!!  Some pics:

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Great pics.   Too bad we can't hear pictures.

[SunnyDaze]

That's some fine work! I'll bet it sounds tremendous.

What camera did you use for those photos? That's really good detail for such a small object.

[Kingman]

Looks great! How is the sound?

[bmwr75]

I would send it back Carl.  They didn't even remove the dust from the cantilever.   

[MacGeek]

Nice, Carl.  I have heard nothing but good things about Soundsmith.  I wonder how they manage to do such great work on very small stuff.

[MRHP]

I also have a Zu Audio Denon-103 cart. After the Soundsmith upgrade did you notice an improvement in sound quality? Just curious of your opinion.

[Reverend]

Very cool Carl.  Can you expand on the sound improvements the upgrade made? 

[schwarcw]

Thanks guys!

I have only had a few hours to listen since I put the cartridge in play.  There were some noticeable improvements.  I noticed the surface noise was lower, the bass had a little more punch, overall there was more definition of the instruments.  The female voices seemed to come forward a little.  I also noticed that where I heard a little distoration (siblence?) with "S" words.  I didn't have a lot of this with the Denon 103R before.  But with one of my Mary Black records she had this little distortion on her pronunciation of certain "S" words.  That was gone!

The stock stylus in the 103R is spherical shaped.  The Soundsmith had a contour design stylus.  Which rides more naturally in the grooves and will pick up more "information" from the groove.  Not totally analagous to a higher bit rate DAC, but I think you get my "point" (pun intended).

Pepe's "Moonflower" record sounds pretty darn good!

[schwarcw]

SD, my friend at work took the pictures.  He used an expensive Canon camera with some type of macro lens.  He is a photography nut.  I had him take the pictures so I could see the cantilever and the stylus.  In real life it looks almost invisible.  It's a little scary as it is fragile looking.

Everything that you've heard about the Soundsmith is true.  It's worth the money and it takes a long time.  Peter told me 8 to 10 weeks, it took less that 8 but it was a long wait.  Well worth it!

[SunnyDaze]

Damn. That's one impressive camera / lens combo Carl! It's really tough taking nano-photos like that.

You should see if he can do prolonged exposures on tubes. Those would probably come out gorgeous.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Looks great - clearly your friend has a decent macro lens and camera body.  I a now tempted to get another Denon MC cart.  Will consider.  Right now looking to replace the Maggies with the next "bucket list" speaker (some sort of Legacy product - probably Legacy Focus).  But will start exploring the Denon 103 sales.  Truth is I aslo need to upgrade the arm on my TT or just get a bad ass TT and get it done with,  as Rev suggests.  This Denon looks beautiful and tempting. 

[Jim Pittsburgh]

awesome...thanks very much for the pics and the observations.  I have a few old TOTL cartridges that I've been deliberating about sending to them... including a Grace 9, a AT and a Dynavector...  I have Sure V15 MR that has the SAS replacement but it will not work with my ClearAudio turntable/ tonearm... which was quite a story .... the Performance SEP requires a heavier tracking cartridge and is how I ended up with the Maestro Wood cartridge...which of course was just another unexpected expense lol welcome to the audio world LOL

If you are thinking "new" and would like to hear my table... you are welcome over... just bring some music.