VPI Classic---Denon 103 won't fit on arm??

UPDATE: I talked to Mike at VPI---he told me that he himself hasn't tried mounting a Denon 103 on a VPI Classic, and he doesn't know of anyone having any problems attempting to do so, but if it does indeed pose a problem for this particular cartridge, VPI can simply mount the tonearm about 1/8" farther back to accomodate the Denon wanting to sit farther back on the headshell. He said this altered tonearm placement wouldn't affect any other cartridge that one would want to mount later.

So I went ahead and placed my order with Music Direct, and they're special ordering for me a VPI Classic with the modified tonearm placement to accomodate my Denon 103R.

So I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to buy the Classic and mount a Denon 103 or 103R on it to do the same to avoid any problems. Mike at VPI said there was no extra charge to do this.

One other thing---Mike also told me to have Music Direct specify that the armtube be stainless steel instead of aluminum, but Music Direct's website and every other online site that sells this table already lists as one of it's features "JMW-10.5i Classic Tonearm with Stainless-Steel Armtube", so I'm not sure why he told me that.

Any other carts that would be problematic with this combo ?

It works well for me, the compliance of the 103 is not that low. The tests of it in the 70s and 80s recommended a 6-16 gram mass arm. I have seen the classic Japanese detachable head shell arms of 20 grams + recommended on the grounds that the arm will flex more with them. I cannot see how that is a good thing, arm rigidity is more important with MC than MM. I owned many of the old arms when they were new, FR 64, several ATs, Luster 801, Micro Seiki 505 etc. and would rather have the VPI arm. I see questions about the VPI being a unipivot but there are several other top arms that are unipivot which are used with moving coil extensively. I also have an Aries with 12.7 that I use with a Denon 304. That sounds better than the Scout or Scoutmaster with the 9" arm and 103 but it dammed well ought to considering price differential. As a VPI dealer I picked out the 103 because I think it is good enough to give an excellent sound with the tables but not at a high cost. I am not a Denon dealer. The Dynavectors will give an improvement at a much higher cost. I am a Dynavector dealer but in this economy I am trying to put together a vinyl system that can be had at the most reasonable price and allow for cartridge upgrades later if desired. I recommend Bob's Devices step up transformers for MCs, major bargain. I have no connection with them except using one.

I'm running a Uwe-podded DL-103 on a 10.5i arm with no problems, and believe me the Uwe pod is more massive than the original DL-103. I'm not using the Classic TT, however.

After reading many of the posts and rave reviews for the DL-103 family last year I decided to mount a DL-103R on my original VPI Aries TT w/ JMW 10 arm. Compliance?... I don't need no stinkin' compliance! It sounded very good, but I eventually discovered that it tracked best at over 2.5g.

After 6 months I realized that as good as I thought the Denon cart was, I was missing much of the weight and rhythm I was used to hearing. I reinstalled my old Grado The Reference at 1.4g and it was better. Certainly not as open and detailed as the Denon but just a better for for the arm, IMHO.

I'm not saying that the Grado is the best cartridge for this arm (it is not); just that to my ears it was a better fit for my JMW arm than the 103R. I am going to be ordering a pair of Soundsmith cartridges from Peter soon and we'll see how that goes.