Tonearm for Decca London cartridges
- Thread starter gerlando
- Start date
I use my Super Gold on a 9.5” Sumiko Premier MMT with heavy headshell and counterweight. It was and quick simple to set up and has never missed a beat, tracks true to the bitter end of even the longest sides. Maybe I got lucky, but I dont see what all the fuss is about regarding arms with a modern Decca.
I listen to a Decca London reference on a regular basis ona Brinkmann balance at a friend's in London. The arm he uses is the FR 66s but you can also use the 64s which is cheaper. He also has many SPUs, koetsu jade with diamond cantilever and urushi. He uses it with Arche headshell. The Decca sounds best when it is nicely singing but is temperamental. I understand linear trackers is a very good option.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
That's interesting, Bonzo. Having a Urushi and vaguely aspiring to a stone bodied K, either there's little in the two models or he wouldn't play the Urushi in favour of the Jade. Is the K hierarchy just cochones ?
topoxforddoc
pfm Member
We found the Jade to be too colored, it makes various records sound the same. If you compare on only one or two records, the Jade sounds better - more oomph, body, and resolution due to the diamond. It is also more fatiguing in his system as it is unbalanced too much body and not linear. The Urushi is much better, but I have heard the Urushi in two other systems before and not liked at all. His Urushi has the expert stylus paratrace. He had an all Allnic system, and his urushi started sounding great after he replaced the Allnic pre with the Soulution pre (sandwiched between Allnic H3000 and Allnic A6000). The urushi now gives great woody tones, concert hall ambience, and decay with resolution due to the Soulution. If you are thinking of Koetsu, you need to have an FR 64s at a minimum. It is pointless to me with SME, Ikeda, Graham Elite, SAEC 506, and Kuzma 4p. There is some positive synergy with Koetsu and the FR.
Jonathan
pfm Member
oh is the decca very low compliance? i know relatively little about them but always been very intrigued
Mike Reed
pfm Member
Yes,, it's simply a matter of mass, but my Vermillion actually sounded pretty good on an SME Five when I had it. It sounded a heck of a lot better on my 12" Ace Anna and 12" PU7 though (11g and around 14g respectively), though change of deck must have had an influence. Aiming to try a more massy arm in the new year.
I had a Decca London 40 or so years ago. Then at least it was a very low compliance design with a spherical stylus, woeful tracking, massive microphony, occasionally thrilling seat-of-the-pants sound, and the ability to recut your records. Nowadays you would call it a destructive read.
I sold Decca's back in the 80's and they are on my list of two carts that sounded dramatically different/better than any MM or MC I have ever heard. Panasonic strain gauge is the second. I bought a Maroon new about 2 years ago and a old rebuilt Gold this year. The Maroon is impressively microphonic - the serviced/rebuilt? Gold much less so. Gold is mounted in a Technics headshell -blue wire is not hooked up and four MM spacer and nylon headshell bolts used to mount cart to headshell. Run into Lounge Audio LCR III. OK - prepare for a shock ( I'll accept disbelief .) Mounted to stock JVC QL-y5F arm on the very same turntable. Not only does this let the Decca's virtues shine - but this arm gets tracking/tracing -just plain stayin in the Grove- way past what I expect from a Decca.
I had in Gold in a Hadcock GH224 back in the day.
The Gold was superb but the arm had clearly been made in someone's shed - awful thing so I changed it for a Syrinx PU2.
That combo sounded really good but I managed to destroy the Gold one night when pis*ed - the PU2 was a highly unstable beast.
I never replaced the Gold because, fabulous as it was, it only sounded good for the first half of any LP side. The second half was a mistracking disaster.
I replaced it with a Goldring IGC920 which was a much calmer ride all round, if rather less dynamic.
The Gold was superb but the arm had clearly been made in someone's shed - awful thing so I changed it for a Syrinx PU2.
That combo sounded really good but I managed to destroy the Gold one night when pis*ed - the PU2 was a highly unstable beast.
I never replaced the Gold because, fabulous as it was, it only sounded good for the first half of any LP side. The second half was a mistracking disaster.
I replaced it with a Goldring IGC920 which was a much calmer ride all round, if rather less dynamic.
topoxforddoc
pfm Member
The Decca has virtually no ground clearance and is effectively cantilever-less. Hence you have to keep your records scrupulously clean. If you wet clean your records and put them in a new sleeve, there will be very little dust and hence no mis-tracking.
I have been using Decca for nearly 40 years and my records are still fine and undamaged.
I have been using Decca for nearly 40 years and my records are still fine and undamaged.
G
Guest432
Guest
Had a Decca Gold in an AO PU9 and that was a surprisingly good combo.
Rockmeister
pfm Member
For years and years, the stock rec. was for Unipivot arms and hadcock's GH228 in particular.
There was some serious engineering science behind the 'why' of this mix apparently, to do with the relationship between a unipivot and the Decca's strange design compliance . And it made the Decca sound ok, which it was quite hard to do IME.
Since then I know that Tom of Nottingham analogue fame said his unipivot arms were designed with a nod towards getting a Decca working right, so maybe there are 2 start points?
There was some serious engineering science behind the 'why' of this mix apparently, to do with the relationship between a unipivot and the Decca's strange design compliance . And it made the Decca sound ok, which it was quite hard to do IME.
Since then I know that Tom of Nottingham analogue fame said his unipivot arms were designed with a nod towards getting a Decca working right, so maybe there are 2 start points?
Big John
pfm Member
If you can find one a Hadcock 242 will work better than anything I have heard with a Decca I had a Syrinx 2 with the optional bearing clamp/brace a good arm that I replaced with a Hadcock 242 silver though with a Cartridgeman Music Maker now used with a CM Music Master & XTC counterweight.