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Tonearm for Decca London cartridges

gerlando

gerlando

Prog Rocker
Dear All,
are unipivots the best tonearms for a Decca London cartridge, or is there any other solution as SME, Rega and derivatives, etc.?

Many thanks.
Mauro
 
Interesting thread, I'm curious to see what recommendations arise. The problem as I see it is the Deccas all have radically different compliance in the vertical and horizontal plane, so basically no arm can ever be 'right'! I've head folk reccommending everything from spindly low-mass Hadcocks through to heavyweight monsters like the Fidelity Research FR64/66. It is interesting to note Decca's own FFSS or Professional arm was a pretty basic medium mass conventional design.
 
Tony L said:
The problem as I see it is the Deccas all have radically different compliance in the vertical and horizontal plane, so basically no arm can ever be 'right'!
Click to expand...
Parallel trackers can, and maybe the Dynavector arms (not sure).

Deccas aren't compliant in any plane, so it's only a question of degree really.

I've used Deccas in SME S2 Imp (with damping), Mission 774, Mayware Formula 4 and a Trans-Fi Terminator and they all work OK. I think you need plenty of mass at the headshell end to keep the nail on the disc and stop the arm from moving too much in response to the modulation.

Suck it and see.
 
Patrick Dixon said:
Deccas aren't compliant in any plane, so it's only a question of degree really.
Click to expand...

I thought they had no compliance in the vertical plane (beyond a one-time working/broken state) and something far more normal in the horizontal.

I keep meaning to get one. I rather fancy one of the later bakelite FFSS types and the adapter for a SME headshell-mount as that's what is on my deck.
 
I use the Decca International unipivot with a Decca London Supergold, but I think the damping is probably the most important aspect.
 
Tony L said:
I thought they had no compliance in the vertical plane (beyond a one-time working/broken state) and something far more normal in the horizontal.
Click to expand...
Yes, although it's at the not very compliant end of 'normal'. There is no cantilever and not much in the way of any suspension.

Tony L said:
I keep meaning to get one. I rather fancy one of the later bakelite FFSS types and the adapter for a SME headshell-mount as that's what is on my deck.
Click to expand...
The head versions series 1-4 are regularly on ebay, but the SME adaptors are scarce and expensive (c£80-100) and there are two versions - 3 and 4 pin. If you get the 4 pin version (which is the more common), you will need to disconnect one of the arm wires since Deccas use a common ground wire and the 'extra' pin is wired to the other side of the lateral coil to give you mono. If you use it with the 4th wire connected to ground it won't work very well.

More info here http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=545.1845
 
Tom Fletcher of NAS was a great fan of Decca cartridges and I believe that his Ace Space and Anna tonearms were designed with them in mind.
I used Graham Phantom with my SC4E's with a little damping.
 
I used mine mainly in an Audiocraft (Ultracraft AC300) with damping, but they also worked well in an Ittok, and in my trusty ARO.
They are very odd, but maybe not as arm-fussy as I was originally told.
 
I heard one sound absolutely magnificent in a SAEC arm with an alumina ceramic headshell.

I can't remember which model, may a 308.
 
I used a Super Gold in the late 80s in a black Ittok on an LP12.
Sounded superb and no issues. Even tracked fine and no doubt helped by the VDH stylus on the (then) SG.

IIRC the vertical compliance is around 4cu (bloody stiff) and the horizontal around 18cu (normal). The very low vertical compliance can cause audible break-up on recordings with hard left/tight panning.

Split compliance can actually help minimise the LF resonance though, so there is a positive. Goldring also did this on the G900 range but at the other extreme, i.e. normal in the vertical plane and absurdly high in the horizontal.
 
I heard the Decca Gold in a Transcriptors Vestigal arm once, on a Lux TT, and thought it worked quite well. I used one for a time on an original AR XA and enjoyed it until the string popped off.
 
I can remember reading that the Decca cartridge had a quoted , very low vertical compliance of 3 CU.. Behind an assumed basis theory by them (reported at the this cartridge's inception) that a stylus when operating in the vertical plane has gravitational forces to control " the hill & dale movements" rising in the grooves - but little or none in the descent plane.
 
i would really like to hear a decca in my well tempered arm - it's a weird new variation on a unipivot i guess
 
Music freak said:
I can remember reading that the Decca cartridge had a quoted , very low vertical compliance of 3 CU.. Behind an assumed basis theory by them (reported at the this cartridge's inception) that a stylus when operating in the vertical plane has gravitational forces to control " the hill & dale movements" rising in the grooves - but little or none in the descent plane.
Click to expand...

It sort of makes sense that it would act like a mono cartridge in the vertical plane, since it's essentially an M-S transducer.
 
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