Denon DL-103 -- Was it a mistake?

Great cartridge, and not just for the money. Problematic though -- it has never sounded less than good on three of my arms -- that cheap 12" cherry wood tonearm, a JMW 10.5, and an SME IIIs (with added headshell weight) -- but one friend with a superb system couldn't make the same cart (mine) sound halfway decent. Loading appears to be critical. People recommend 100 ohms but my Aesthetix Rhea sounds WAY better at 500 ohms,

Finally, this thing really take wing when treated to a Soundsmith retip. Mine now has their Optimized Contour (OC) line contact ruby cantilever ($350) and is in a whole other league from the stock conical version. Good luck, Dave

Best results I got with a heavy Tonearm (FR, Ikeda...this direction).

Muddy bass could be a sign of excessive feedback from the speaker. You might want to move the TT around a bit to see if the bass improves. Another way to test it is to lower the cart on a record without turning the motor on, than slowly turn up the volume and see if you get any feedback.

Well, first, add mass to the arm. Second, the 640P was a bad match with the 103 in my system. The brightness at the top of the Denon's midrange not matching well with the upper midrange brightness of the 640P. But in a darker toned system, it may be heaven. You will know the answer to that one soon enough though. The 100 ohm load impedance is a little low for the 103, as well, matching the lower internal impedance of the 103R a bit better.

Well I guess I'll find out when the 640P arrives. I never heard anyone say that it was bright before, after reading several reviews. I wish I would have known that beforehand, because my system is definitely not dark. I'd say that it's fairly neutral as is. It may be possible to mod the 640P to change the loading on the MC section. I'm not afraid to use a soldering iron, I just need to know which caps/resistors to change.

I could also try moving the TT around, because it is fairly close to the speaker. I never noticed a feedback problem before, but that was with a higher output MM cart. Maybe it is more sensitive now with a low output MC.