Affordable Japanese LOMCs--Recommendations?

Thanks Stan.

What if I narrowed it down to the DL103R and DL301 II? Pros & cons?

I have a Jolida JD 9A tubed phono stage coming in soon. It's highly configurable in resistance and gain for a wide range of cartridge matching. A little more bass in my system wouldn't be a bad thing. Current cart is an Audio Technica AT150MLX.

03-08-11: Stanwal
You picked two I haven't used; what arm are you using? The 103 series like more mass than the others listed.

I have a Technics SL1210M5G. The stock tonearm (with Technics headshell) has an effective mass of 12.5g, but I use an LPGear ZuPreme headshell, moving effective mass up to 19g (with cart mounting hardware). I could add another 5g with heavy screws and a headshell weight. I also have the KAB tonearm fluid damper, which reduces the amplitude of the cartridge/arm resonant peak.

I'm wondering if the DL103R is worth the extra trouble over the DL301 II, as the 301 would drop right in and also track at a lower VTF.

03-08-11: Buconero117
These comments just prove that 'colored' sound is alive and well in audio land.

Your comments prove that douchebaggery is alive and well in audio land.

03-08-11: Viridian
I have owned two sample of the 301 and still own a 103 and a 103D, and the choice depends totally on the effective mass of your tonearm. If it is over 11 grams 103, under 11 grams 301.

How do the tonal balances and behaviors of the 103 and 301 compare? For example, if I went for the 301 II what would I be giving up compared to the 103R?

Thanks Mr. Viridian, that's exactly what I'm trying to find out--what are the differences in personalities of the two cartridges. The subjective descriptions of the 103R do sound pretty attractive, but I have a Technics SL1210 and currently the effective mass is about 19g. I could probably bump it up to 24g with a headshell weight and heavy screws. The 301 II should drop right in without much arm tweaking, and it tracks lighter, so that's a plus for me too.

The $64 question is which one would ultimately give me more musical satisfaction. I like my MM AT150MLX but I wouldn't mind a little more bass fullness. If the DL301 II has better bass response I'd probably be happy with that.

I'm getting a new preamp in today (Jolida JD 9A). It has some impedance and capacitance loading DIP switches, but the impedance choices are 100, 300, 1000 and 47K ohm, so I guess I'd have to use 100 ohm for either cart.

It sounds like the 103R slightly tweaks up the bass and midrange. That always works for rock and pop, often for jazz, but not so much for classical. However, I also get the sense from the descriptions that the 103R's dimensionality and musical cohesiveness is the stronger feature and any frequency emphasis is minor by comparison.

Sound about right?

Well, I just replaced my entry-level Cambridge 640P with a tube-driven Jolida JD 9A phono stage. I replaced the stock Chinese 12AX7's with mil-spec NOS Sylvania Gold Tube 5751's equipped with Herbie's Teflon HAL-O tube dampers.

The increased musicality and resolution of this unit shows me that my AT150MLX is even better than I thought. The midrange is very alive and transparent, and it tracks the high frequencies and very high overtones with great speed and aplomb. There was a very noticeable difference on how brushwork sounded on the snare drum and cymbals. So now I think I need to let the system settle in as is for awhile to determine if I really need a new cartridge yet, or if I just needed a better phono stage.

Concerning the cartridges, however, If the DL103R plays some tricks with the frequency response curve (or could it the plastic body resonating?), I'd probably lean toward the 301 II.