Carbon Fibre Cartridge Spacer. Impressive

[Fatcat]

A month ago I spoke to Denon support, asking if they sold spacers specifically for the DL103R. They don’t, but I asked what type of spacer they would recommend.

I was told wood produced a warmer sound, but was advised to buy carbon fibre. “You won’t be disappointed”.

I bought a 2.7mm carbon fibre spacer on ebay from a company in Germany called Stanley engineering. (they call it Racing Carbon) for £24 including postage.

In between the Denon headshell that came with my DP3000NE and a DL103R, the improvement is very impressive. More detail, more clarity, better focus, yet more relaxing.

I’ve since found their website which gives more information about the sonic characteristics of various materials with different cartridges.

The carbon fibre description is very accurate, although if I’d read it before purchase I would have dismissed it as BS.

It appears some plastic bodied cartridges can be improved by a simple spacer or body cover.

My streamer has become redundant for the last couple of weeks, apart from using it to compare against the turntable.

A cocobolo body for my standard DL103 might be worth a punt.

[Winniethefoo]

Interesting. Did you buy it as an actual spacer because it required one for optimal setting or as a ‘vibration absorbing’ device?

[Fatcat]

I didn’t buy it as a spacer. The Denon turntable/arm came with a small plastic spacer, which aligns the cartridge perfectly when the arm height is set as its lowest height.
When I asked the guy at Denon what type of spacer he would recommend to improve SQ, he said different materials would give a different tone, but steered me towards carbon fibre.

Unlike some tweaks where there is positive, but also a negative, this seems to be positive, positive, positive.
I suspect it’s down to reducing resonance in the plastic body.