Decca cartridge experiences

I paid attention, and I want to thank you for the benefit of your experience and research. I don't ever expect to be setting up a Decca again, but you never know.

I did see a couple of years back that someone in Europe had NOS Decca International arms for not much money, and it was almost tempting enough to make me order one. Maybe this time I would get the horizontal alignment right ;-)

My God! A response! Thank you! Actually, concerning the Decca International tonearms, I used to live in Europe and tried in all kinds of ways to get one of them. The company which is sitting on them - if they still have them - is Tjoeb Ah! They never answered any of my requests for information. Maybe they still have them. Though the arm is largely plastic, like the cartridge it is quite brilliant: it is a unipivot stabilized by magnets, with a bubble level in the headshell. If you can get one, then let me know.

As to the horizontal leveling question, I have to report a strange thing. Some time ago in my desperation, I acquired a Mayware tonearm to try with my cartridge. My Decca's diamond is actually glued crookedly onto the cantilever, and so does not hang straight down. The Mayware does not have any stabilisers of any sort, the counterweight does not hang below the pivot point, and so it is perfectly centred. Well damn me if the tonearm doesn't actually tilt precisely in response to the diamond's orientation, tilting just so so that the diamond points straight down! And it sounds perfectly centred and so on and stays stable without wobbling, giving the perfect imaging only a Decca can give (mine is a Super Gold with VdH stylus). Here is an unexpected "pro" in response to all the "cons" the Mayware is accused of. Of course, if the Mayware had the outriggers and the low-slung counterweight everyone makes such a fuss over, then my Decca wouldn't work. Hmmm...

Another 'table which works well with the Decca is an early Maplenoll air-bearing 'table with fluid damping trough. The headshell is held with a hex-nut, and so can be tilted to the required degree with the use of a small mirror to observe the diamond. After a helluva lot of wheeling and dealing, I have recently re-acquired this particular Maplenoll, which, by the way, is considered a Class A or B 'table by the incomparable Salvatore, though I have no idea if he is trustworthy (but he seems to be on the ball). The linear-tracking Maplenoll tonearm plus Decca gives the best imaging it is possible to have, with the added bonus of all the usual Decca attributes. But the Decca is noisy and will hum in some circumstances (I am still fiddling with the Maplenoll, and will report on this if there is interest), and so I keep a variety of MMs and MCs and 'tables around, "for I sip analogue rigs like wine," as there is no perfection in this world.

This is very interesting, the talk of Decca pickups. something you don't hear much of on this site. My father used to be into analog years ago and always swore by Decca, London, and if memory serves, Stanton. I was too young to pay much attention and am not sure what specific pickups he used. Then, our house burned to the ground and, along with it, all of my dad's gear which he never replaced (not to mention a jazz LP collection, the extent of which would make you cry). I have seen listings for some of the Deccas in recent years and have wondered about giving one a whirl. Wish I had the dough to personally have a half-dozen or so pickups, arms, and tables in rotation.

Sorry to hear about your father's jazz collection: I'm crying already. The Decca is like whitewater rafting: exhilarating you while at the same time you are asking yourself why the hell you are doing it. Do not try this in your home. They are a bitch, need fluid damping, prefer unipivots (but will work with others if there is fluid damping) can buzz or hum (though I hear the newer ones are better). But its zero-compliance means the most direct, in-yer-face experience there is in vinyl-land, making everything else moot. But I always keep an easier cartridge to live with around, pulling out the Decca when I want to live dangerously, just like sometimes only a whiskey will do, and to hell with beer. Maywares work fine with Deccas, have a bad reputation and so can be had cheap, when you can find'em. There is also the Tjoeb hoard of Decca International tonearms: they were selling them for $25, if I remember. As to my record player collection: I have stripped down my stereo system several times (so I could go travel, drink and sleep in), but never had the heart to sell any of my vinyl spinners, or my vinyl.

I had many Londons early in my audio career. As you say they are a love/hate relationship. I don't really recall what caused me to move away from them, probably MCs, but I do firmly remember that a knife edge bearing tone arm was unusable. I did have a Decca International and actually recall that I got better performance from another arm, the Keith Monks. I would imagine that an air bearing arm would be tight enough and massive enough for the cartridge. I have a Schroeder arm and am thinking of buying a Decca Jubilee. Frank Schroeder told me that he knows of several dedicated Decca lovers using his arm with great success.

In Europe and the UK you will find many Decca users.