The Perfect Ensemble – A Bronze Body for the Denon DL103 to match my SME Tonearm Kit

Hello to everybody. After a longer period of entries about complete audio sets and about the making of my Tannoy enclosures, I will continue with another entry about my SME tonearm conversion kit and its extension with a matching cartridge. Several customers do have confirmed my statement, that the converted SME 3012 with its heavy stainless steel tube outperforms almost any other available 12'' tonearm, when equipped with a low compliance pick up cartridge. The range of typical cartridges bringing out the highly improved dynamic abilities of such a mass-spring-system are today the Ortofon SPUs, the Denon DL103s, the Koetsus and some exotic brands from Japan. In this group the Denons are in a outstanding position, since these cartridges are by far the cheapest alternative.

The LignoLab bronze case, the only housing at the market which is closed from the underneath generator side. It features real bronze and not brass in a perfect matte blasted finish as optimized material.

The DL103 was once designed and exclusively made for professional broadcast use in 1962, right in the past time when stereo recordings with Long Play Albums did take the market. Several other brands tried to introduce competive cartridges (Fairchild, General Electric, Grado, EMT) in these days to follow the Ortofon SPU been the first stereo moving coil cartridge in history and dedicated first for this professional use, introduced in 1958. Four years later the Denon was exclusively handmade for the Japanese broadcast industry NHK, to be identifiable by its black bakelite body. Since 30 years it is machine assembled with a thin plastic body for common distribution to a general audio market. Denon produced the commercial DL103 series like its european paragon without technical change till today, but with several variations over the years to keep the interest up.


Denon DL103 Technical Specifications

• Stylus: 16.5 µm diamond spherical tip
• Cantilever: Aluminum
• Frequency Response: 20 ~ 45 kHz
• Output: 0.3 mV at 50 mm/s
• Output Impedance: 40 Ω
• Load Impedance: 100 Ω
• Channel Separation: Over 25 dB at 1 kHz
• Compliance: 5 x 10–6 cm/dyne (100 Hz)
• Tracking Force: 2.3 ~ 2.7g (± 0.3g)
• Weight 8.5 grams
• Stylus: 16.5 µm diamond spherical tip
• Cantilever: Aluminum
• Frequency Response: 20 ~ 45 kHz
• Output: 0.3 mV at 50 mm/s
• Output Impedance: 40 Ω
• Load Impedance: 100 Ω
• Channel Separation: Over 25 dB at 1 kHz
• Compliance: 5 x 10–6 cm/dyne (100 Hz)
• Tracking Force: 2.3 ~ 2.7g (± 0.3g)
• Weight 8.5 grams

The perfect moulding of the housing with thick walls to conduct resonances and their harmonic proportions within the pick up process

The Denon DL103 always had a extremely economical pricing, a important attitude for this worldwide longtime success. But as well its unbelievable good performance and its unique technical standards made this cartridge to one of the foremost values today to be used with twelve inch tonearms and broadcast transcription turntables by the vintage hifi scene. I would estimate that 70 % of all Garrards, Thorens 124, EMTs, Rek-O-Cuts, Commonwealths, Fairchilds and similar type of players use a Denon DL103 moving coil cartridge. So it is no wonder that in 50 years of production a broad aftermarket product range has been established. So several case modifications are offered by audio dealers and are worldwide sold at Ebay, made from wood, stone, aluminum, brass and composite materials. All these mods follow a very early modification schematic, published by Maison de L'Audiophile in the late 1970ties, showing a lead trimming of the enclosure to minimize the ringing of the thin plastic type. Together with a heavy cabling mounted outside of the arm tube, the mass of the unit did grow so high, that there was almost no alternative other low compliance cartridge available beside the SPU, to balance such increased masses. With a compliance of 5 x 10–6 cm/dyne (100 Hz) the DL103 is some sort of  extreme. I do remember my own making of such a lead case in 1992 for my first DL103, mounted with a SME 3012/II at a Garrard 401 on a 30 kg plinth. In these days I did not have the advanced experience with heavy arm tube materials, which I have today. I did not know that a silly light weight aluminum tube like the SME SII was a less than a perfect solution for such a modification. Even the later thin steel wand ( 0.25mm material thickness) of the stainless tube from the last series R, was made to allow the time typical high compliance cartridges to be driven, but it was not a optimized solution for a cartridges like the SPU or the Denon DL103.

My following years have been in a way a research time about the perfect matches of compliance to tonearm combinations. At the end of this research I had the reason to make my conclusions affordable to other users of such systems with my conversion kit. Now with the LignoLab bronze housing the kit has got a perfect extension with a modified DL103, excessively well made by Norbert Gütte and his company. In difference to all the other after market bodies, his case is a perfectly exact copy of the original. This means it features as unique and important technical difference to any other metal housing,  –  a closed underneath side. Near the generator almost all resonances have their origin and this means to be the most delicate region of the body in terms of resonances. The cubic closed form creates really a tremendous difference by its resonant absorbent abilities. The case is by far more stiff, with remarkable thicker walls comparing it with other cases, to prevent the ringing abilities to a unknown level with highly improved harmonic anticipation by real bronze as material. Since all other aftermarket products are open frame designs, which are a lot easier and cheaper to make, will have a more decorative intention than technical improvement in mind. These are mainly meant to be a optical revaluation of the outer appearance as material and design issue of the common and ordinary thin plastic case. They create a nicer and more expensive look, much more than to be meant a mechanical improvement of audible properties.

The cartridge slips in a perfect sucking manner into the housing, a effect of its advanced CNC moulding and manufacturing process. This perfection is a typical feature of all LignoLab products.

With the Lignolab body the Denon gets into another stage of refinement and dynamic property, where the standard cartridge is not able to follow. Unmodified it is a simple basic construction, a piece of thin moulded plastic holding the generator in place with two drops of glue. This detail is the "achilles heel"  of its basic design. With the new bronze housing the Denon playes in a new league, where only the very best phono cartridges gather. With a smooth but extremely dynamic extension to both ends and a highly integrated harmonic presentation of the middle frequency response, the Denon is now a unique cartridge. And even independent of its pricing, it is a top class moving coil cartridge for long broadcast tonearms. For myself it is grown to be real a alternative to my longtime favorite, the Ortofon SPU Gold. At the beginning of the making of my conversion kit, I had the very first SME 3012 tonearm in mind with its heavy weights (220 g) for the SPU. So I produced a good amount of this balancing weights, but subsequently it happened that the most cartridge/headshell combinations of my customers appeared to be to lightweight, so I needed to produce a second weight (160 g) exactly like SME did in 1959. The LignoLab housing with its extra weight of 25 g is a perfect match to my kit in combination with the heavy balancing weight. This extra high mass of this combination makes a extra sturdy armwand necessary to perform in a highly improved state. All other twelve inch arms beside the rare original SME 3012 MK1 are generally to lightweight built for such a mass and work much better with lower masses. No version of the standard SME 3012 weights will be able to balance this extra weight. As well here my heavy weight is a welcome extension for technical improvement and higher aesthetic claims at classic SME tonearms. Otherwise a typical additional rider weight with very unoriginal look will be necessary to make it work. With the 3012/R version the vinyl saddle will create additional problems and can be worn out soon. But as well the aftermarket brass versions of this saddle, as a typical replacement for the vinyl type, are acting far beyond their physical limits, when used with a extra weight of 150 grams. It definetly needs to be a steel saddle to prevent excessive wear at the fine blades with such a high mass and to take the advantage of a wide improvement of dynamic abilities.

The Denon with bronze housing mounted in Ortofon bakelite headshell balanced free to zero  in a converted SME tonearm with the large 220 g balancing weight.

As a conclusion of my evaluation of the LignoLab housing I did decide to dedicate my last 30 weights of 220 g solely for the use with this combination. Either the weights can be bought with LignoLab together with a bronze housing for additional 100 EUR (fitting physically to any SME 30XX tonearm).  Or the complete kit can be ordered together with the bronze housing and the 220 g weight for a limited special offer here. Both offers will be strictly limited to altogether 30 pieces, either or! Just inquire here at the mail template beneath or at the LignoLab web page. 

Read on soon, Volker

Incredible close to music IV – The Evaluation in a Different Set Up and Room

Mikes audio set up is by far the best sounding audio chain I do personally know. Since I do report about it, I wonder how the quality portions in his chain are shared? How much influence to the final stage of naturalness and finesse will each component have and if, are really the big horns with their wide frequency range are doing the main job for this refinement? How much influence does the tube amplifying components have here? How much quality will be inserted by the WE300B tubes, its enveloping exceptional power amplifiers, the driving preamplifier and finally at the beginning of the early signal, the Platine Verdier with its Shindo-tonearm, -cartridge and dedicated step up transformer? Or is this captured perfect harmony mainly formed with Mikes room and with its extremely treated surfaces, or what else might do such a coherent presentation possible? To find definitive answers to these questions, I made a visit to Mikes close friend Hans. He is owner of a very similar installation with the same LM22A/LM555 and LM597 horn array, identical dipole enclosures for the low frequency path, but different equipped with four RFT 15'' woofers, were Mike uses the Siemens Klangfilm KL405 units. Hans uses almost the same preamp and with his Platine Verdier as well a Shindo cartridge, but in difference a curved banana EMT tonearm and A23 step up transformer.

Hans room is some sort of extreme, with a reflective length of 6 meters (roughly 19 to 8 feet) and a width of 2,50 meters it is shaped more like a tunnel than a ordinary proportioned room. I know Hans struggling with these room parameters since I know him and that might be as well for the last 25 years. Like Mike he did use a baffle boarded PHY Salabert speaker set up before the Line Magnetic decision changed his audio life. As Mike, he did order his LM22/555W set with the very first delivery coming to Germany.
I still admire these guys for their 'coolness' to set a binding order with a five digit amount of Euros to some horn and driver parts made as replica in China, without having heard or seen anything in real. Maybe sometimes in life it needs such adventurous decisions to get highly rewarded with before unbelieved presents, to get luckily the best audio, the best house or even a lifetime partner? And such a unbelievable decision shows in a tremendous manner their confidence to their "drug dealer"! Whom of yours would do after 25 years experience with audio products, do a blind order for a unheard and -seen chinese speaker replica? Ok, no more questions for now…

When Hans used the PHY-Salabert speakers with full range baffle boards, he needed a lot of room treatment to make it work to a refined stage. The baffled units disperse the waves in almost any direction of the room, so the reflective wandering parts are quite dominant and needed a complex treatment. Hans covered complete parts of his room, the half were the speakers are positioned got covered with a second layer of wood panels, which are again covered with a layer of thick cloth. Such panels got mounted to the side walls, the ceiling and got unregulary dispersed in the other half around the listening position. Hans said: "since I got the horns, it is the first time that it works perfectly in my difficult listening position with a before unknown ease."
I could not imagine such big horns in his narrow room to work well when I heard some years ago about his investment to go for such a set up, the distance between the two unit is some 50 cm or two feet, – just unbelievable. I thought a single unit set up would do the same job…

Crossover update, after extension with two parallel woofers the auto former  is not anymore
necessary and the crossover for  mf/hf frequencies reduces to tempting simplicity.

But now, after I did hear it in his room, I have to say that it works almost perfect, even in such a wrong space. All these medium frequency horns, like the LM22A, the Satohorn, the Western Electric WE13/15/16As, and the modern japanese Gotos do focus their waveform a lot. They beam a tremendous part of their radiated frequencies so much, that the hot spot of the perfect listening position is extremely narrow, rarely more than the width of a head, sometimes some 60 cm, depending a bit on the distance to the array. This limitation in the stereo impression is so far my only known restriction using such horn transducers. But in the same way their unique forwarded projection reduce the typical amount of wandering room reflections almost completely, comparing it to ordinary cone speakers. This effect helps Hans now a lot in his less than ideally shaped room.
Such a narrow space makes audio life easy in other respects. To the left of his listening position he has big shelves for his record collection, on his right he has installed a wooden support system for the components, as well decoupled with air compressed feet. He is able to select his records and operate his components from his seat in the central listening position without standing up and with perfect ease. Sitting in front his laptop with its digital music library and the web, this position makes the perfect cockpit for the "aficionado".

Different woofers for evaluation, left a Isophon 15" mounted in dedicated baffle board, next to a pair of Altec Biflex 420 mounted against each other.

In difference to Mike, Hans uses RFT 15'' speakers for the low frequency support, as well in double stacked array to improve the energy output. This RFT speakers have been used in former East Germany for pa dedication. These units are quite easy to obtain and can be found for small money in four or eight ohm versions, both with hard edged paper roll. Listening to Hans installation I would not be able to define any difference in performance to Mikes a lot more rare and expensive Siemens Klangfilm KL405 units.

We did listen first to some digitally stored music and after a while of familiarization we switched to some vinyl records of mine to get myself into a real evaluation mode. From the first moment I was impressed that the set up did show almost 95% of the same qualities, which I did only know from Mike. It was really amazing for me to hear that this extreme room proportions not really to degrade the perfect harmonies with bouncing reflexions. I definitely did not expect such a high degree of similarity before. Even the chain is a bit different, were Mike uses the famous Shindo 300b mono blocks, Hans uses the much smaller Shindo Concertino 300b stereo amplifier. Almost the rest of the signal chain can be described as the same. The room and the power amplifier are the major differences, and both together might be responsible for a minimal difference in the naturalness of the presentation. I think it might be the sovereignty of the mono amps in the foremost stage which creates the main difference. But here as well the harmonic portions are present, the dynamic abilities and a indescribable refinement captured with lots of air is almost the same. Nothing superficial or conspicuous spoils the enjoyment. A absolutely amazing performance, which I only know from Mikes set up, all other hifi sets I do know, and believe me or not, I do know a few, are playing in a completely different league. A difference were in the most cases the technical perfection represents the aspects of music reproduction as a sort of superficial statement in contrast to a much more simple natural sounding approach here.

A pair of rare Shindou 1970ties 6bg6g-Mono-Amplifiers with doubled rectifiers tubes

Shindou-Laboratory Model 26 Amps

But I am here today to work out the reasons for such superiority? I do mind the Shindo tube amplified chain and the analogue filtered crossover as main reasons for such a harmony, but who knows? Hans owns another set of vintage Shindo power amplifiers, called Shindou-Laboratory Model 26 Amplifier (they seem to be early models Pavillon Rouge). This mono blocks do incorporate the 6bg6g-tube, a late tv-penthode, easy and cheap to optain. Untypically these early amps from the 1970ties are silver hamerite coated, since the better known Shindo amps are always appear with green metalized laquer and golden inscription. I do like the more purist approach of the early amps a lot better, but we do not discuss design issues here. These Shindo power amps give a good option to evaluate the portion of harmonic properties of the 300b tube in the final soundstage, since they are built as doubled mono set, with improved double power supply. Seen from this point of view they might have an advantage again the small Concertino stereo amplifier. We did set these amps up and to be honest, the difference is big, the 6bg6g-tube do sound very different. It must be these power tubes creating the major difference, since there are less than ten components inside the amp, the transformers look just by appearance a lot more refined than the ones from the Concertino. The marvelous homogeneity seems to be a part of the typical soundstage of the 300B directly heated triodes. Wasn't it at the early beginning in Japan and Paris that the 300B was described as a major component, a time when we were to young to really know? May be, we switched back to the Concertino amp and the major portion of harmonies immediately where back on stage. A well balanced transducer, like the LM22A/555W/597 with dipole low frequency extension, is able to show such a little detail with tremendous effect and insight into the overall performance. I would go as far, that the set up without the famous direct heated triode is something very different. But at this point I would rate the Shindo power amplifier as another causal major component for this stage of refinement, were other amplifiers will do a difference.

We did follow on with a blasphemic approach. A little class-d-amp from Hans, which he uses for television purposes, was set into service instead the Shindo tube amps. A so called digital amp with 10 watts of power and one RCA-input in size of two cigarette boxes. We did set it up with digital source as input and truly were impressed from this little "junk box". It did play with a good portion of harmonies in the foremost manner. So it showed a bit to present bass with little superficial highs, but with unbelievable refined mids it did astonish both of us. But who will spend a good 15k EUR on speakers and will set it up with a 50 EUR digital amp?

RFT 15'' speaker on the table, right the little class-d-amp in evaluation, weighted down to compensate the torsion of the cabling on top of two generations of Shindo(u) power amplifiers

Conclusion... Such a horn installation like the Line Magnetic, but as well with a Sato or some Western Elelectric originals, will mark a unsurpassed approach to music with properties no other speaker design can obtain. They offer a whole lot qualities other transducing principles are not able to match, but they need as well to be fed with the best refined signal quality. Only than they might be able to match some place in audio heaven. In reverse, they will dramatically show any roughness or impurities of the incorporated electronic components with emphasis. To my current knowledge the analogue crossover with mild 6db path has a widely underrated importance to the overall harmonic presentation, as a refined 300b-tube amp carries a tremendous part of the wonder. The extension with a dipole for the lower frequencies marks as well a exceptional statement in the lower registers and is a important contribution to the final harmony. To my taste such a installation betters any digitally filtered, corrected and delayed approach with length. But it needs a educated ear with a clear direction to naturalness to understand the differences, the most people rely to some more sensational performance.


Read on soon, Volker

The End 2014 in Munich from 15th to 18th of May

Hello to everybody,

thirteen times we will wake up and than again is time for the "High End Munich",  "the high end show for excellent home entertainment" so the subtitle of the organizer. I am curious if this fair will survive within the next five coming years. Founded in 1982, with a first event in Düsseldorf, its current successor in Munich marks a end of a cultural development. The most people do not use anymore specialized audio components to listen to their favorite music, they stream now their songs from web resources or clouds or they do use their universal remote for all options, their smart phone for their personal audio entertainment. (Attention dear public broadcast companies, it is just some years of advance, when a similar development will match your business, youtube is watching you.)














So, if we know that music reproduction does not anymore rely to dedicated hardware or a particular storage medium, what the hell will be exhibited in Munich 2014 and for whom? And what kind of people are going there? To my estimation the first, second and third generations, the audio aficionados, the hifi nuts and the audio users, must now have been died of age, or must be already deaf, or have shifted to other interests with better prestige factor or better entertainment factor. Or they might have been sustainable impoverished as third typical option of this age. The few exceptions which prove the rule, cannot carry this event into long time business?!
At the fair some extraordinary events will entertain some public interest. As in the last years, Silbatone will do a show (no, nothing to sell, just proud korean ownership on sale) again with rare historic vintage Western Electric Equipment, yeah, a must to be seen,  – really? If you want to listen to such rare installation with authentic Western Electric Horns, drivers and dedicated extensions in a less than optimal prepared room, but instead with superficial loudness to impress the audience, than this might be yours.
But it shows as well the poor constitution of the hifi business itself. Endless presentations of repetitive loudspeaker designs, amplifiers, oil rig designed record players and streaming clients with million-megacycle-oversampling in 248bit mode do not carry any ingenious content or idea, nor do they offer any audible fascination. In direct competition the Western Electric collection offers a unusual, unique and outstanding sensational approach to catch even the interest of the flaneur. This 80 year old equipment outperforms almost everything modern with length, and might be able to shows a way of high efficiency with a low energy consumption foot print. If you want to take care about your ecological behavior, the acoustic mechanical amplifier principle of the horn coupler is a ideal device for audio even tomorrow. If you don't want end up with electrical class M devices or if you are to old to have wearables all the time as fashion accessoir, such a transducer has a lot to offer for the coming future. This horn principle of acoustic audio wave coupling with its inherent mechanical amplification harbors lots of possibilities even for the coming age of restricted energy consumption. In short such a well designed horn can perform mechanically very similar to a gramophone from the old days with extremely improved amplification factor to a unbelievable degree of audio performance just without electricity. But even with lowest powered tube amplification concepts, it is possible to maintain perfect audio harmonies and dynamics at a relatively low power consumption level. We need a well working DAC with optical input to match a device like tablet, phone ore computer, a 20 bit non oversampling dac with a tube output stage, working into DHT driver stage together with a 3 watts DHT output stage for amplification. This might couple to the driver of a horn like the WE15A/WE597A combo. Such a set up can outperform almost any stereo set built up to highest standards, just with a 10th of its electrical energy input. I am working on such ideas, as long it is not realized, there are some cheap options already available to bridge the time (image). But even for such a solution you don't need to go to Munich.

Read on soon, Volker