need some help with Denon DL-103r OR Suggest a different cartridge

regarding the Pickering XSV, if something should happen to it, can it still be fixed by Stanton or is that not possible ?

All Stanton / Pickering top of the line cartridges from the 80’s can be fixed by the UK company Expert Stylus with their Paratrace profile. That comapy was the original manufacturer of the Stereohedron stylus patented by Stanton Magnetics back in the day. The Paratrace is the closest profile. Actually every Stanton/Pickering collector aware of the Expert Stylus service. My friend @nandric retipped some of the very expensive LOMC cartridges from his collection in the UK at Expert Stylus with Paratrace profile, so i think you can trust.

BUT as i said the NOS (original) styli can be found sealed even today, so no need for retip or refurbish. I have much more expensive and rare Stanton cartridges with a bunch of NOS sealed Stereohedron styli for back up. The goal of the MM is replacement stylus, we don’t need SoundSmith or anybody else to keep vintage MM alive for years. The life span of the Stereohedron stylus is twice as much than the Elliptical

BTW SoundSmith cartridges are not High Compliance, they are 22cu @ 10Hz or even lower , while all 3 cartridges from my recommended list are 30cu @ 10Hz and higher in Complinace which is better for such a light mass tonearm (the OP said it’s just 4g)

I think you should buy a Ortofon 2M Black and be done with it. I was using a DL103 for a couple months and then moved to the Black and I was so happy. I got all the things I liked from the DL103 and more.You’ll need to spend time with setup with the Moerch because azimuth is important, but that’s such an underrated arm that I think will go well with the Ortofon.

had the Ortofon 2M Black and didnt care for that one,  had to much sibilance .

@chakster if went with the Pickering.....same arm tube can be used ?

Yes, Pickering XSV-3000 is a high compliance cartridge, if you have the light weight armtube then it was designed for High Compliance carts by default and must be used with a cartridge with compliance of 30cu and higher.

You will rarely find any modern cartridge with high compliance, but most of the greatest MM from the 80’s (golden age of analog) are high compliance.

The tonearms designed in the 70’s and in the 80’s for High Compliance cartridges are all have effective mass of 3-6g (Infinity Black Widow, Denon DA-401 just to name a few). The tracking force for High Compliance cartridges is no more than 2g, normally under 1.5g.

Pickering XSV-3000 like the Stanton has a longhair brush infront of the stylus to cleans the groove surfaces just before playing, and at the same time stabilizes the tone arm. This brush is removable.

XSV-3000 has the most advanced stylus shape called Stereohedron which is achieved by grinding four flat surface on the diamond at precise angles to each other and their intersection creates areas used to contact the groove. The advantage of the Stereohedron stylus is that because of it’s long and narrow contact surfaces it tracks high frequency modulation minimizing groove wear.

I know several users of Pickering XSV-3000 here on audiogon and everybody happy about this wonderful cartridge.

If you already checked this article all you need to know is that Pickering XSV-3000 is a prototype of the Stanton 881s, different branding, but the same manufacturer.