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

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.

Nolitan,
Again, I don't have first-hand experience with certain cartridges, such as Denon's or Shelter's, which i ASSUME would be problematic based on specs alone. I think the experience of Br3098 supports my concern about the Denon. I have stuck to cartridges that have been well known good matches to the VPI arm. I have run Dynavector, Grado, Audio Technica, Lyra, and Benz Micro cartridges all with great success. The Benz L2 Wood body that I use now is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Cheers

It seems the cat is out of the bag... VPI tonearms will now have a stainless steel arm wand. My 10.5i seems to be aluminum. I wonder what the sonic difference is.

UPDATE: I've changed my order with Music Direct, I'm no longer doing the special order thing, partially because it could take up to 6 weeks and I'm too impatient, but primarily because my research indicates that the Denon 103R indeed may not be the best match for the JMW 10.5i arm because of compliance etc. So I'm getting a regular in-stock Classic from their warehouse, and I'm trading in my dead Dynavector 17D3 (the suspension died after only 1 year!) for *another* brand new 17D3 that they will mount for me, and hoping *that* one doesn't meet a similar fate. It's such a great cartridge I'm willing to roll the dice.

Now I need to figure out what tonearm cables to buy for this baby. Think I'll start a new thread...