Friday, July 30, 2010

Like a lot of people I'm a big fan of what Denon cartridges do. What they do fullstop. Then when you take price into account they seem to the best value for money around. If you shop wisely. The prices for Denon carts are quite often all over the shop, so here's a rundown of the range of prices I found on the internet in an idle moment.

DL103 UK pounds: 99 to 129; US dollars: 229 to 249
DL103R UK pounds: 212 to 289; US dollars: 369 to 379
DL103SA UK pounds: 382 to 449; US dollars: 399 to 499
DL301 US dollars: 299 to 329 -- no UK prices; this cart seems to be the poor cousin out of the whole range
DL304 UK pounds: 291 to 379!!!; US dollars: Pretty uniform at around 699.
DLS1 Us dollars: 849 to 949

DL110 UK pounds 139 to 149; US dollars 139 to 149!!!
DL160 UK pounds, pretty uniform at 169; US dollars 179.

For an Australian buyer of these carts, there are some really obvious things going on here.

Buy a DL103 from the UK.

Buy a 103R from the UK at the lower end or the US at the lower end.

Buy a DL103SA from the US; the UK prices for this cart are astonomical. It's a limited edition, only 1000 or was that 2000 made:) :) Maybe a joke on the consumer, but still I want one.

Buy a DL304 from the UK. The US prices for this cart are fair. But for some reason this cart is undervalued in the UK. I've got one, it's brilliant. At the low end of the UK price it's a steal with the current Aussie exchange rate. (try Mantra Audio) Also there's an Aussie seller with a great price. More on this later.

DLS1 -- you'd need a bloody good reason for wanting one, but you can save $100 US by shopping around. I still haven't heard of this cart being available in the UK, but there is an Aussie seller who has them. Which I will pick up in the next post.

Both the DL110 and DL160 must be bought from the US. The prices for these carts between the UK and US defy the exchange rates.

Mostly all of the carts I have listed above will be cheaper if you buy overseas at the best price, including shipping, than buying in Australia. Ask the UK guys to give a price excluding VAT if it's not already listed. Mantra Audio does this. It has a great price on the DL 304, but not all its prices are the best.

Not all of these carts are available in Australia, but before you buy check out the price in Australia and tally up the shipping costs. Sometimes you get lucky.