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Apparently I Am Collecting Interesting Out Of Production Cartridges

M

Mister Pig

Pigamus Maximus
So I got a big daddy cartridge as my reference.

The other cartridges I own are now out of production classics.

Ortofon MC2000/MC3000 II
Kiseki Blackheart-original
Transfiguration Audio Proteus

I need another cartridge like a hole in my head. But I bought a Denon DL-S1 with original cantilever and diamond, supposedly low hours. It's an intriguing design so it's worth owning. It's getting harder to find these carts where someone has not knocked off the OEM cantilever

Should have it in about 10 days or so.

Screenshot_2023-10-06-08-39-17-15_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
 
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Who's your daddy?

Even if the Denon's stylus assembly is in subpar condition it would be worthy of a modern stylus and boron cantilever "upgrade."
 
nailer said:
Who's your daddy?

Even if the Denon's stylus assembly is in subpar condition it would be worthy of a modern stylus and boron cantilever "upgrade."
Click to expand...
No this is a DL-S1, their flagship cartridge. Air coil design with a ceramic frame, and delicate suspension. I would keep the cantilever OEM to maintain it's presentation and only change a diamond when necessary.
 
"3 days after I received my DL-S1 and set it up in my modified Rega P5 with Rega RB 700 tonearm (GrooveTracer sub-platter and Michael Lim tonearm braces, metal belt pulley, motor isolation kit and finally 2 silicon belts) I accidentally brushed the cantilever and - GONE! Luckily my charge card had 90 day replacement insurance coverage so they covered the full cost for a new cartridge. I packed up my broken DL-S1 and sent it to Sound-Smith to have a Ruby cantilever put on. When it returned in about a month I set it up and it is a DEFINITE step up in every way. If compared to a stock DL-S1 it's as if you've gone from 480p to 1080p. Everything is enhanced - greater depth, detail, smoother highs exceptional bass and track-ability. The few sibilants that were heard before the re-manufacture are gone. If you have a DL-S1 that needs a new stylus/cantilever don't hesitate - give Sound-Smith a call you won't be sorry! He's just added a boron cantilever to the choices which is lower mass than the Ruby and judging from my experience with the Ruby I know the Boron would be an excellent choice as well."

Denon DL-S1 Cartridge Reviews - The Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com www.vinylengine.com

Still curious as to who's your daddy.
 
nailer said:
"3 days after I received my DL-S1 and set it up in my modified Rega P5 with Rega RB 700 tonearm (GrooveTracer sub-platter and Michael Lim tonearm braces, metal belt pulley, motor isolation kit and finally 2 silicon belts) I accidentally brushed the cantilever and - GONE! Luckily my charge card had 90 day replacement insurance coverage so they covered the full cost for a new cartridge. I packed up my broken DL-S1 and sent it to Sound-Smith to have a Ruby cantilever put on. When it returned in about a month I set it up and it is a DEFINITE step up in every way. If compared to a stock DL-S1 it's as if you've gone from 480p to 1080p. Everything is enhanced - greater depth, detail, smoother highs exceptional bass and track-ability. The few sibilants that were heard before the re-manufacture are gone. If you have a DL-S1 that needs a new stylus/cantilever don't hesitate - give Sound-Smith a call you won't be sorry! He's just added a boron cantilever to the choices which is lower mass than the Ruby and judging from my experience with the Ruby I know the Boron would be an excellent choice as well."

Denon DL-S1 Cartridge Reviews - The Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com www.vinylengine.com

Still curious as to who's your daddy.
Click to expand...
I am glad to hear it worked out for you. I have a similar story, had a beautiful OEM MC2000 that I had on a Dynavector arm. It popped out of the cradle when adjusting VTA and bent the cantilever. I cried on that one. I was lucky enough to know someone in Europe who had another stock one. He sold it to me. I sent both to AllClear for a new diamond on the OEM one, and the damaged one got the same diamond with boron cantilever. Of the two i prefer the OEM one and the one with the boron cantilever is a bit leaner and drier, and I use either it or the MC3000 II as my casual cartridge.

Crazy thing about the OEM MC2000 is its so resolving I can hear print through on the tape master of George Winstons December all the way through the recording. No other cartridge I have can find that info.
 
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nailer said:
"3 days after I received my DL-S1 and set it up in my modified Rega P5 with Rega RB 700 tonearm (GrooveTracer sub-platter and Michael Lim tonearm braces, metal belt pulley, motor isolation kit and finally 2 silicon belts) I accidentally brushed the cantilever and - GONE! Luckily my charge card had 90 day replacement insurance coverage so they covered the full cost for a new cartridge. I packed up my broken DL-S1 and sent it to Sound-Smith to have a Ruby cantilever put on. When it returned in about a month I set it up and it is a DEFINITE step up in every way. If compared to a stock DL-S1 it's as if you've gone from 480p to 1080p. Everything is enhanced - greater depth, detail, smoother highs exceptional bass and track-ability. The few sibilants that were heard before the re-manufacture are gone. If you have a DL-S1 that needs a new stylus/cantilever don't hesitate - give Sound-Smith a call you won't be sorry! He's just added a boron cantilever to the choices which is lower mass than the Ruby and judging from my experience with the Ruby I know the Boron would be an excellent choice as well."

Denon DL-S1 Cartridge Reviews - The Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com www.vinylengine.com

Still curious as to who's your daddy.
Click to expand...
IMG_20230607_073222.jpgIMG_20230607_071947.jpg
 
That’s a very nice cartridge!

I have an original and also one that has been re-tipped. If you find that you like it you should look into getting the matching transformer, it does take it up a notch.

The re-tipped one I bought used that way. They changed the cantilever to something thicker. I’m unsure as to what kind of diamond, it doesn’t sound as good as the original though. I bought it because it was pretty cheap and they had just discontinued it.

IMG_3996.jpeg
 
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Mister Pig said:
I am glad to hear it worked out for you. I have a similar story, had a beautiful OEM MC2000 that I had on a Dynavector arm. It popped out of the cradle when adjusting VTA and bent the cantilever. I cried on that one. I was lucky enough to know someone in Europe who had another stock one. He sold it to me. I sent both to AllClear for a new diamond on the OEM one, and the damaged one got the same diamond with boron cantilever. Of the two i prefer the OEM one and the one with the boron cantilever is a bi leaner and drier, and I use either it or the MC3000 II as my casual cartridge.

Crazy thing about the OEM MC2000 is its so resolving I can hear print through on the tape master of George Winstons December all the way through the recording. No other cartridge I have can find that info.
Click to expand...
Don't have a DL-S1, but wouldn't mind adding an "affordable" MC to my string of cartridges and it's good to know the Denon responded favorably to a full blown retip.

The review I posted is gbsterophile's on Vinyl Engine.
 
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nailer said:
Don't have a DL-S1 yet, but wouldn't mind adding an "affordable" MC to my string of cartridges amd it's good to know the Denon responded favorably to a full blown retip.

The review I posted is gbsterophile's on Vinyl Engine.
Click to expand...
Oh! OK! I missed that. These were rare cartridges because they were spendy for a Denon. Lots of interesting engineering in it though. The tough part is dealing with the lowish output voltage.
 
The DL-S1 will be a challenge to get "right" without the matching Denon transformer made specifically for it. I had a Swiss army knife of a phono pre (Pass Xono) and could never get any meaningful bass and impact out of it.
What it did well (the transparency of the upper registers) might have been enough for someone else with different priorities to keep it but for me I just couldn't love it.

Best of luck with this one...I can tell you that it's not a plug and play kinda deal by any stretch...

Jblnut
 
nailer said:
Was thinking that was the TA you'd use, but I could be wrong. Love my DV 505 but haven't mounted it in ages.
Click to expand...
I use a Denon PCL-5 headshell for my MC2000 cartridges so I can get low vertical mass on the auxillary arm wand. The DL-S1 is a higher type compliance cartridge so it should be a good match also. I could use it on a SME V, but I love the Kiseki Blackheart on that table.

So the Dynavector with PCL-5 it is.
 
nailer said:
"3 days after I received my DL-S1 and set it up in my modified Rega P5 with Rega RB 700 tonearm (GrooveTracer sub-platter and Michael Lim tonearm braces, metal belt pulley, motor isolation kit and finally 2 silicon belts) I accidentally brushed the cantilever and - GONE! Luckily my charge card had 90 day replacement insurance coverage so they covered the full cost for a new cartridge. I packed up my broken DL-S1 and sent it to Sound-Smith to have a Ruby cantilever put on. When it returned in about a month I set it up and it is a DEFINITE step up in every way. If compared to a stock DL-S1 it's as if you've gone from 480p to 1080p. Everything is enhanced - greater depth, detail, smoother highs exceptional bass and track-ability. The few sibilants that were heard before the re-manufacture are gone. If you have a DL-S1 that needs a new stylus/cantilever don't hesitate - give Sound-Smith a call you won't be sorry! He's just added a boron cantilever to the choices which is lower mass than the Ruby and judging from my experience with the Ruby I know the Boron would be an excellent choice as well."

Denon DL-S1 Cartridge Reviews - The Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com www.vinylengine.com

Still curious as to who's your daddy.
Click to expand...
I would not put a Ruby cantilever on S1.
Ruby is much heavier and less stiff than boron, Ruby cantilever is also heavier than aluminium, so not a good cantilever material at all. Ruby became popular when there was a boron shortage and they were looking for an alternative. When boron returned Ruby and Sapphire remained as they are nice to look at but not great really as a good cantilever material as not stiff and way too heavy.
The s1 needs light and stiff. Air coils help it be low moving mass but stylus needs to be light too.
Chris
 
Congrats on the DL-S1. I am curious to see what you think of it. I picked up an NOS and a used matching transformer a few months back. I have not had time to mount it up yet.
 
Bought an LP12 years ago that had a worn out Koetsu Onyx on it. The original "long body " version. A rebuild at that time was over $1500. Guy gave me like half what I paid for the turntable for it.
 
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