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Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

“For those who want the moon but can't afford it or those who can afford it but like to have fun and work with their hands, I'm willing to give out a recipe for a true high-end 'table which is easy to do, and fun to make as sky's the limit on design/creativity! The cost of materials, including 'table, is roughly $200 (depending, more or less), and add to that a Rega tonearm. The results are astonishing. I'll even tell/show you how to make chipboard look like marble and fool and impress all your friends. If there's interest I'll get on with this project, if not, I'll just continue making them in my basement. The next one I make will have a Corian top and have a zebra stripe pattern! Fun! Any takers?”

The Lead in “Da Thread” as posted by Johnnantais - 2-01-04

Let the saga continue. Sail on, oh ships of Lenco!
mario_b
rjdcan
12 posts
 
The Klipsch Heresy is not fully horn loaded because the 12" woofer operates as a direct radiator but the tweeter and midrange use horn loaded compression drivers resulting in a 97db efficiency.
artd
7 posts
 
Hi Jean

Does adding mass to the headshell of the Decca also give an increase in bass and substance?

Paul
johnnantais
621 posts
 
Hi Paul: one of the Decca's great strengths (and there are many) is bass power, which even its opponents concede. If you're not getting that now, then I hope anyway more mass will help. One thing for certain, the extra mass increases focus, SLAM/dynamics and clarity in the bass. In my system, with the slightly bass-light Klipsch Heresy's, I can't currently tell if it has increased reach. Try it, you might like it! One thing I didn't expect from a Decca being mounted on a Giant Direct Coupled Idler, is that now it sounds very much like a Grado (except with extra speed): rich and resonant and smoooottthh and organic. Never heard a Decca sound like THIS before! Very easy to live with. On belt-drives it comes across as more speed and detail-oriented, and in your face. Idlers suit it!

Yep Peter, they are horn-loaded as Rjdcan says, except the woofer: maybe this is the heresy! Apparently, PWK named the Cornwalls for the fact they were to be placed in the corn-er, against the wall :-).
gp49
52 posts
 
With the Decca, adding mass to the headshell seems to be the most effective, in my experience.

I have observed this with the modified Rabco SL-8E on my Garrard 301, and with a homebuilt Well Tempered clone that was on my modified AR belt-drive. On both of them, adding mass to the headshell improved bass definition and extension, and imaging. I am guessing that since the Decca throws a lot of energy back into the arm, added mass would tend to reduce the effect of that energy, otherwise more of it would get various vibration modes going in the arm itself. Just my guess...
artd
7 posts
 
Hi Jean. Thanks for your reply and apologies for it being wasted. After working 12 hours on a screen my eyes were even fuzzier than my brain and I mis-read your post as adding mass to the Decca tone arm instead of the Decca cartridge.

I'd love to have a Decca cartridge but for the forseeable future will have to make do with reading about your, and others, experiences with them.

In the meantime I do have a Decca tone arm and with a bit of application and experimentation can probably answer my own question.

Regards, Paul
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