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Decca carts

Has anybody tried one on an Nottingham arm? 

Has anybody ever settled on one long term/used as a daily driver.  


I've long considered taking the plunge. But I've held off as my rig is tuned to a different cart and I haven't wanted to start over. 

I'm also thinking with an ear to the future and possibly moving back to Quicksilver amps, either mid monos or prefersbly the now discontinued Mini Mites as I don't need that much power, if I can find some used, I feel there could be some synergy there in the chain. It sounds like the Decca's are super quick and live sounding and the mid monos I had previously were leaning creamy and that holographic thing going for them and it's had me wondering about the pairing. 


Thank you for any input, experiences. 

128x128fourwnds
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
There are a lot of bad Decca's out there....the good ones are excellent, but shun those bad ones.  Quality control was very poor
noromance's avatar
noromance
1,780 posts
 
Unless you buy a Decca new, you should send it to JW for service and possibly a new stylus. Set up right, they are superb. I'm not sure I agree with your idea to ameliorate the detail and speed of the Decca with the "creamy" Quicksilver.
fourwnds's avatar
fourwnds OP
261 posts
 
I've read about their qc problems and was thinking new or a used one that John had gone through. I do not want to ameliorate the positives of the Decca at all. Creamy may have been to strong an adjective, but I do like a bit of it in my coffee and playback  to richen it up. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 

If by Decca you literally mean a Decca-labeled cartridge, you are taking a huge chance. They haven't been made for years, Decca itself selling the company in 1989 to Decca engineer John Wright. Even when new they were unbelievably variable in quality, some being fine, others complete pieces of junk. I know, I had some. When buying used, you have no idea what you're getting.

If, on the other hand, you actually mean a London cartridge, that's a very different proposition. JW, who builds each and every London, took it upon himself to do it right after buying the rights to it's manufacture, and current London's are magnificent! But be forewarned---they are a very idiosyncratic, demanding pickup. You can't just mount one in any ol' arm, plug the arm's cable into any ol' phono stage, and use it like any other cartridge. They require a certain kind of arm, have to be capacitance and resistive loaded, and used in a certain kind of way. One false move---a record rotated in the opposite direction with the stylus in the groove---and you have just destroyed the cartridge.

There is much more to say about Decca/London's; you should thoroughly research the cartridge before even considering getting one. They can provide the best sound you've ever heard from LP's, but they can also be the worst!  

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