Affordable Japanese LOMCs--Recommendations?

"Douchebaggery"! Why sir, I resemble that remark.

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?

Hi Johnny

I have the DL103 ,103R and the OC9MLII.

If it were me I'd send the 103R to Soundsmith and just grab a straight 103 to keep you going unti it gets back.
If you like the 103 series sound I think you'll find the OC9 just too lean - I sure did (mine's sitting in a box right now)

I've been tempted to try the 301 or 304 but my 103s have very low hours and I'm happy enough with the sound to bother right now

Hope this is of any value to you
kevin

Johnny, they sound different, but I don't know if there is much giving up to be done. The 103 has a very full midbass and an extended and prominent deeper bass, but only in a high mass arm. This conceit is very finely balanced by a very nicely developed midrange, with good dimensionality, and bit of a push in the presence region to offset the bass somewhat. The problem is that it is like talking about sex. You never really get it, because the greatest strength of the 103 is how well it melds all of it's elements and how hard the seams are to hear. No doubt, others will feel differently.

The 301 is more modern and extracts more detail, without throwing it at you. It's more even, with a more compact image, with sharper edge detail, and greater extension into the upper treble. The midrange is quite good without as much dimensionality, but greater eveness and uniformity. The lower midrange is less zaftig and the bass leaner, though not lean, and a bit faster sounding. Again, only in a sympathetic arm. Loading on my transformer was 40 ohms for the 103, and 3 ohms on the 301. Is that what you are looking for?

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?