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Any Comments on the Denon DL 301 Mk2 Cart?
- Thread starter braxus
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Fasterdamnit
Super Member
I love mine. Mated with a good pre-amp it is a killer cart!! 
:thmbsp:
:thmbsp:
braxus
FeCr Type III
Well I just BIN'd the 301 off Ebay I was watching. Hopefully it arrives with no issues. They guy seems to have quite a few of them, even though he comments on only one in the listing. So I hope my Thorens TD 147 will be happy with this cartridge. Now I have to figure out what MC phono stage to eventually go with. I will be using my preamp one for now and it lacks in dynamics a bit.
braxus
FeCr Type III
What settings does one recommend this cart with my Thorens? It states 0.4mv on the output of the cartridge with an impedance of 33 ohms, and tracking at 1.2 grams on a 6 gram heavy cartridge. My Rotel pre has a 70db s/n on MC and listed impedance at 100ohms. With this combo work? Also Im assuming I set tracking on the tonearm to 1.2 (or 1.5) and antiskate to??? Which on the Thorens again is the antiskate (the square silver box with chart and side knob, or the ring near the shaft that is black)? Its been a while since I adjusted these.
Last edited:
rcspkramp
Super Member
Denon recommends >100 ohms for a load or 40 ohms for a step up transformer.
Your Rotel should give you a good starting point. Antiskate the silver box with the side knob. Set it at the tracking force number and experiment from there.
Best of luck.
braxus
FeCr Type III
I received the cartridge today. Since I didn't have screws long enough, I had to drill holes in the Thorens metal plate that is used for the finger to pick up the tonearm. This piece originally held the screws in place, but since the supplied screws I got were a lot thicker then the holes in the plate, I drilled them out. I ended up using the fasteners supplied to hold the screws to tighten. I made a boo boo and scratched the front of the cartridge in one spot. So much for a new looking cart.
I rebalanced the tonearm and set everything to 1.5 on the antiskate and tracking. So far she seems to like my setup. The Rotel phono stage produced more dynamics then I've heard from it before and this was using its MC selection. And bottom end is good if maybe a bit much so. Highs are nice and sharp too. I'll have to hear how it sounds once the cart starts to break in more. Since it seems to sound pretty decent coming out of the Rotel for now, Im in no rush at this point to upgrade to an outboard phono stage. I didn't hear it through speakers yet, but through headphones it sounds pretty good. Better in some ways then the Blue Point I had on there. And the Blue Point sells for more money then this Denon. It was a good buy and I think I'll be happy with this cart.
I rebalanced the tonearm and set everything to 1.5 on the antiskate and tracking. So far she seems to like my setup. The Rotel phono stage produced more dynamics then I've heard from it before and this was using its MC selection. And bottom end is good if maybe a bit much so. Highs are nice and sharp too. I'll have to hear how it sounds once the cart starts to break in more. Since it seems to sound pretty decent coming out of the Rotel for now, Im in no rush at this point to upgrade to an outboard phono stage. I didn't hear it through speakers yet, but through headphones it sounds pretty good. Better in some ways then the Blue Point I had on there. And the Blue Point sells for more money then this Denon. It was a good buy and I think I'll be happy with this cart.
I liked mine in the beginning. However later I noticed that the front rubber needle support adds some noise (quite noticeable) when needle rubs against it. This is two-point cantilever support design (same as DL-110 and DL-160). Since then I moved to single point suspension carts (DL-304, ZYX, Benz) that do not have this issue.
braxus
FeCr Type III
Interesting as I am getting some electronic noise coming from my phono section. I just assumed it was because the MC section in the preamp has never been used and some parts may not be working properly. This cart was sold as new, so I don't think it would have the problem you site yet.
I got my cart new from Cometsupply. I discovered this issue after roughly 30 hours. BTW DL-110 has same issue although not as bad as DL-301. It is very much noticeable when I lift the tonearm from the LP. It is also noticeable on warped records on silence between the tracks. The sound is similar to static. However it is not static but suspension rubbing against the cantilever.
braxus
FeCr Type III
Sounds exactly what mine is doing. Very light static. I wonder if mine is doing it because its been sitting around for a few years and the rubber is getting hard?
I have a Denon DL-301 MKII. Bought mine at Comet Supply, was one of the lucky ones, took 6 weeks to arrive. Tracking it at 1.25 grams with anti-skating at .5 grams. Love the sound of it, sounds warm and musical. I listen to all types of music and not disappointed by it's performance. The first thing I noticed is it has very low surface noise. Bass is full & rich with nice punch. Also has nice wide soundstage. The wonder cartridge that does it all at it's price point. The DL-301 MKII is a high compliance (22) and would be a good match for a low to medium arm mass. I have mine mounted to a SME 3009 II Improved arm and sounds wounderful.
