Uwe Malachite Stone body with the Schick touch…

As I was listening to my Malachite Uwe stone-body with a simple Denon 103, I was just amazed by the shear musicality of this cartridge on my Proac tablettes. I drive them with a Luxman MQ-3600 power amp. It is supposed to be a PP of NEC 8045 valves but as these are  really scarce, it was modified in a PP of 6550.

I like the sound of the General Electric 6550A and this amp deserves them. Hopefully one day I will find  a few matched pair of NEC 8045 and listen to this amp in it’s original valve condition and see how it behaves, but even now, just fitted with GE 6550A tubes it sounds absolutely gorgeous.

But let’s get back to our main topic… Thomas Schick sent me a few pictures of his latest retip achievement on a Denon 103 fitted in a Uwe Malachite stone-body.

As you can see from the photos : the retip was performed with a sapphire cantilever. Even though it is more difficult to see it directly from the photos : it has also a micro-ridge tip…

You might also notice that the cheap (looking) plastic tape that Denon uses to protect the coils and damper from dust has been removed and changed with something else. Thomas uses a Washi paper (à la Lyra) but with a subtle alteration. To maintain air flow : it is covered with spray glue that fixes the fibers of the Washi paper.

How does it sound? Just find out by yourself and I will be happy to provide you with one of these stunning cartridges.