Can anyone compare the Shure v15VxMR and Denon103

I own both a Denon 103D and a Shure V15Vmr, both are one model removed from the cartridges that you are asking about. That said, the Shure prefers a light to medium mass arm, the Denon medium to heavy mass. The Denon is rich and liquid with a marvelous development of the mid-bass (some would say "coloration") and an easy character that extends through a layered midrange into nicely balanced highs. The Shure has much less layering of the soundstage and richness, but the eveness of the midband is just great. It sounds lighter and sharper and less developed. The very low output of the Denon will be an issue in many systems. If I had to choose just one of the two it would be the Shure, primarily because I think that it pulls the music off of the record with less editorializing, plus it is really a lot more forgiving and easy to set-up. Feel free to e-mail me directly.

Viridian, I appreciate your response. I had the same question so you helped both of us. From your description, sounds like my Decca arm would mate well with the Shure V15Vmr . Any other choices if you could have anything you wanted?

TWL suggested the Goldring as an option. I have no experience with any of these. My EAR 834-P should have enough gain for anything I can afford. By the way, this is for my Lenco project.

Albert, good to hear from you again. Unfortunately, my dog, "Lucky" has been taken with bovine spongiform encepolopathy, mad cow disease, no doubt from too many McDonald's hamburgers. Oh right, to the subject at hand. Decca, wow, that's a long time ago, do I remember that it is a unipivot? Or is it captured bearing? Tom swears that the Denon's do not do well with unipivots and has more experience with the other Denons. I have actually had good luck with my Denon in a Morch UP-4 with a heavy arm wand and in an Audiocraft AC-300 as well as a Grace 714. I think that the 103D is more compliant than the 103. Which brings up a point. The 103 has a conical stylus. In this day and age I really don't think that it will track worth a darn. This was the rap on it across the pond and it makes sense. The Shure is very forgiving of setup. Everyman's cartridge. The compliance is high. The brush, if you use it, acts as a shock absorber for less than well damped arms and the output is well judged for most MM input stages. The V15Vxmr, which I have also used, is a bit rounder and richer than the V15Vmr that I currently use; it may be the best of the lot for most setups. The only Goldrings that I have tried were the inexpensive MCs and they were not for me. Too bright and uncontrolled. Audio Technica makes a great cheapie, the ATML-440 that is pretty bright, but very good in other respects. It is high compliance and works quite well in a lot of systems. Of course, the venerable Grados will present a totally different sonic picture. They paint the music as if everything was opera (Joe Grado's love) and are very seductive in the right system. Don't let anyone tell you that they are not fully competitive, just in a different way.
Marty

Try the DL103R; different stylus shape, better sound according to most that have tried it. I use a 103R and it sounds very, very nice; quite different from my Dynavector DV20XH. The R model is about 240 landed from audio cubes in Japan. That makes it a bit less expensive than a discounted Shure, right?
And the shure replacement styli cost as much as a new Denon DL103 is my recollection.

C123666 - I have a DV20XH and am interested in the differences between it and the DL103R. can you please elaborate?

Thanks,
Bob