Tonearm suggestions for London decca super gold

[Zeppelin777]

Hello to all! 

 

So I have had a recent break from analogue source playback, in an attempt to add more convenience with digital..  but it has proved to be not so convenient at all! and also simply takes away from the music! Industry included..

anyway I'm back with a vengeance! and have had an enjoyable few weeks getting a analogue source back in my system! The deck I'll be running is a Michell gyroSE currently with a tecnoarm, the cartridge I've acquired is the somewhat controversial London Decca super gold, with the Garrott brothers micro scanner stylus.  What I'm after is some tonearm suggestions for the Decca, orrr will the tecnoarm do the job just right?  Has anyone tried the tecnoarm with a decca cart, an to what results? I'm thinking it could well be a beautiful pairing.. I will update with my own findings once the deck and cart arrives! Rock on

Edited June 28, 2022 by Zeppelin777

[El Tel]

Lovely cart.

 

 

A value proposition to consider without getting in too deep $ wise? It looks like a reasonable match on a superficial glance of the specs versus the Decca weight.

[wartman]

I have the same cartridge on a Linn Akito MK2 tonearm on a Linn Sondek.

Sounds fabulous.

Cheers

Paul

 

[ACHiPo]

Well, I’m in a similar boat, but I don’t yet have my Decca.  I’m going to try it first in a Trans-Fi Terminator arm.  Supposedly a glorious combination and easier to dial in than a unipivot.  Will post my findings.

[Ian McP]

found this on hifiwigwam.com

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• Jul 7, 2016

• #8

I have used Deccas for the last 36 years .. ideally a Mayware formula IV (sounded as good as anything I have ever heard a Decca mounted on) but if like me you also have a wife and son who loves playing vinyl a unipivot is not perhaps a good idea. I guess the Hadcock should work well on that basis but I have not heard the combination so cannot comment.

I have used for many years an Audio Technica AT1100 which provided superb performance but they are delicate pieces of kit if you keep chopping things around like I did and after 35 years mine was not of its best so I bought a Rega RB250 with a techno weight conversion .. was not a good match it performed ok but you were on the edge of the seat with it as you felt it was always gonna start distorting at some point.

So I bought a Mission 774 (remembering that it performed well with Deccas from the old days) .. it is built like a tank and the Decca performs great in it .. (Decca Gold Expert Stylus rebuild with fine line stylus and an old CR4E).

The thing with all of the above that worked well to my ears, was the ability to apply a bit of damping (paddle or bearing with unipivot) and the Decca seems to benefit from this ..

Other arms I have heard the Decca performing ok in are .. Fidelity Research FR64S and the Linn Ittok. I am also informed they work well in Audio Oregami arms and Johny will advise you if you ask him.

It might also be worthwhile contacting London to ask them what arms they think are best to use http://www.london-cartridges.co.uk/ >

 

regards Ian

[TemaadAudio]

You need a heavily damped high mass Uni-pivot, to control the carts output & get it to sound as it can do.

 

Cheers 

[ACHiPo]

I got my Decca Thursday and got it mounted on the Terminator and gave it a listen.  First just using enough counterweight to dial in 1.8g VTF and it was tizzy and bright.  Also skipped.  Added 5g to both ends of the wand.  Better.  I get moments of bliss—definitely hear the magic—but something’s still not right.  Skips have reduced but I still get some nastiness on loud high passages.  Think I need more effective mass and possibly damping, although that’s not so easy on the Terminator.

 

I may try it with a WTT Reference arm.

Edited July 3, 2022 by ACHiPo

[cafe latte]

On 29/06/2022 at 12:23 PM, TemaadAudio said:

You need a heavily damped high mass Uni-pivot, to control the carts output & get it to sound as it can do.

 

Cheers 

No you dont this is one of the big Decca myths. It started with people using Decca that needed a service and the tieback has become slack. This allows the armature to borrom out and the cart literally becomes a tiny speaker. This fault led to this and other Decca myths. Decca or later London will work on ANY arm of the correct effective mass for the compliance. I have used Decca and London of a Technics sl1200mk2 (modded) a Sl1200G, a on an SP10mk2 with an S shaped EPA100, on a 12 inch S shaped Jelco, and on a Eminent Technology air arm, the Decca and London worked perfectly and sounded amazing on all.

Chris

[cafe latte]

2 hours ago, ACHiPo said:

I got my Decca Thursday and got it mounted on the Terminator and gave it a listen.  First just using enough counterweight to dial in 1.8g VTF and it was tizzy and bright.  Also skipped.  Added 5g to both ends of the wand.  Better.  I get moments of bliss—definitely hear the magic—but something’s still not right.  Skips have reduced but I still get some nastiness on loud high passages.  Think I need more effective mass and possibly damping, although that’s not so easy on the Terminator.

 

I may try it with a WTT Reference arm.

Is it a new or used Decca?

Chris

[ACHiPo]

8 hours ago, cafe latte said:

Is it a new or used Decca?

Chris

It is a London Reference demo I bought from Brian at Presence so new-ish.  Why do you ask?

[cafe latte]

22 hours ago, ACHiPo said:

It is a London Reference demo I bought from Brian at Presence so new-ish.  Why do you ask?

Check stylus, wet clean carefully. Decca get dirty quickly dry clean wont do it.

Faulty is nit out of the question with any cart but with Decca a few things need to be checked as it us a rather idd design 

 

 

[TemaadAudio]

Well, I finally found a Decca S/H to try, so it will be interesting to see how it sound on my 12'' - 18 gram Eff Mass arm with silicon oil damping

 

Cheers

Edited July 13, 2022 by TemaadAudio

[Johno]

I have a Decca London Blue with old school conical tip which has a very nasty vertical compliance but works a treat on a Nottingham Analog 12" Anna arm. The old school conical blue tip sounds fabulous on nasty old Tom Jones, Rolling Stones Decca recordings, time period. In the day the late Tom Fletcher from NA use to demo London Decca carts with Notts TT & arms at hi-fi shows.  Decca's work best on HEAVY non-suspended TT's.

 

Cheers Johno 

[SETfan]

I use my Decca Super Gold with Garrott FGS stylus on The Wand unipivot tonearm from NZ. Sounds a very satisfying combo to my ears, and I found the Wand tonearm to be a big step up from a Jelco SA750D previously used.

But certainly give the Technoarm a go first as it may well prove to be a nice match too! 

[cafe latte]

On 03/07/2022 at 11:29 AM, ACHiPo said:

I got my Decca Thursday and got it mounted on the Terminator and gave it a listen.  First just using enough counterweight to dial in 1.8g VTF and it was tizzy and bright.  Also skipped.  Added 5g to both ends of the wand.  Better.  I get moments of bliss—definitely hear the magic—but something’s still not right.  Skips have reduced but I still get some nastiness on loud high passages.  Think I need more effective mass and possibly damping, although that’s not so easy on the Terminator.

 

I may try it with a WTT Reference arm.

It may need a rebuild.

Two things go wrong with these carts and both lead people to think it is a compliance issue or it needing a unipiviot or something. The reality is on almost all older Decca the rubber damping block at the back of the armature will have turned to goopy snot. If you look inside the cart from underneath with magnification almost fir sure you will see a tar mess of decomposed rubber. The armature can't move properly and it results in your issues.

Second problem is normally the tueback goes loose and armature bottoms out causing all sorts of issues.

Chris

[Johno]

"I

44 minutes ago, cafe latte said:

It may need a rebuild.

 

Now that John Wright (London Decca engineer) in the UK has retired this may be a problem as the armature that holds the diamond was unable to be currently manufactured according to John prior to his retirement last month. But there is hope as an existing company in the UK has taken over servicing London Decca cartridges and they are building inventory up to continue manufacture of the existing London Decca range as always time will tell.

 

 

 

[cafe latte]

28 minutes ago, Johno said:

"I

Now that John Wright (London Decca engineer) in the UK has retired this may be a problem as the armature that holds the diamond was unable to be currently manufactured according to John prior to his retirement last month. But there is hope as an existing company in the UK has taken over servicing London Decca cartridges and they are building inventory up to continue manufacture of the existing London Decca range as always time will tell.

 

 

 

There is service still for Decca.