Inspired by the folks around Jean Hiraga in France in the 80s I had the idea of making a wood body for the Denon DL 103(R) about 10 years ago. They had found out that the weakest part of the otherwise phenomenal DL 103 was the thin plastic body. So they tried different bodies from cement to lead and everything was better than the stock plastic. Even the naked version without any body was better. However, in my opinion, the key to get improvement is to have more mass and better damping (with wood)! Since the 80s most of the expensive cartridges now have wood bodies, for example Koetsu, v.d.Hul, Clearaudio, Grado. Some use ebony because of the unique resonance reaction of that wood, for example, Benz, Shun Mook, Yamamoto and others. I have a Schroeder tone arm with a wooden armwand which sounds wonderful. That was the reason I chose old ebony wood to start with. But it was a tough
task to nd the good stuff and, of course, I had to buy all the tools. So I was ready to give the wood body a try. It still took me some time to do research, buy all the tools needed, make a prototype, and cut the plastic body off. When I nally listened to the wooden cartridge the rst time I simply was blown away. So good was it. When friends heard it (it outperformed my Benz Ebony) they all wanted one. Everybody who tried it liked it a lot. I now make bodies from various sorts of wood (Ebony, Ironwood, Panzerholz, African Rosewood, Myrtle wood, Moca). They all sound better than the imsy plastic body. Ive been asked many times which wood sounds best. While there might be differences in sound it is hard to verify them in quality. It is very close. In my opinion, the choice of wood has more to do with the additional weight and depends on the tonearm you use.
Wood bodies for Denon DL 103

by Uwe

Here are the specs: Panzerholz = 5 gr., Ironwood = 4.4 gr., Ebony = 4 gr., African Rosewood (Wenge) = ca. 3.3 gr., Moca = ca. 2.8 gr., Myrtle wood = 2.4 gr., plastic = 1.6 gr. The heavier the arm the heavier the body, would be the rule. It took me a long time to nd the best wood and the best shape for the body. My bodies have threaded holes and work without glue so they can be used again. You should use shorter headshell screws than normal (10-14mm would be ne) and you should not overtighten them. I ask 75 EUR + 5 EUR shipping and handling (or $110 + $5 USD) for a wood body. You could pay by Paypal. My e-mail address is my Paypal account. Or you could send the money to my bank account (please ask for details).