Potting a Denon dl-103r


So I'm putting a wood body on my second Denon. When it comes to potting how much epoxy do you fill the cavity with?  Just the front cavity or is it more like a tub up to some point?
last_lemming
Interesting. Ive read that potting it makes for better bass response. The fit is snug to the point where a bit of hard pressure is required for the last 1/16th of an inch when you insert it. 

What at would be the negatives for potting?

"What at would be the negatives for potting?"

If you mean using the Epoxy to glue the wood body to the cart, it can't be undone. So, if it needs to come apart for some reason such as a repair, you won't be able to. I know people that have done this, but its been a while since I've spoken to them about this, so I'm not sure if there's any other reasons you shouldn't use Epoxy.

The epoxy may introduce unwanted damping resulting in coloration and loss of focus.
There are some folks who insist that more (or less) of a particular attribute is inherently desirable (e.g., increased rigidity, reduced resonance).  I don't think that is always the case.  I don't think more damping (less resonance) is necessarily better sounding.  If that damping changes the sound, it may make it sound better to you or worse, it is hard to predict the outcome.  I would note that there are plenty of ways to screw up the sound, and relatively fewer and harder to achieve means of improving something.  In other words, an sort of change is MUCH more likely to be bad than good.

The epoxy potting could also affect the effective mass of the cartridge/arm combination.  Again, who knows if that would be good or bad in any particular instance.

But, I do applaud anyone willing to take the chance and experiment, provided that a bad outcome is something the person is able to take in stride.
My ZU modified Denon DL103 is potted (from the factory) and sounds better than any 500.00 cartridge I have ever heard.