Decca London Club

[DeccaSG]

Well after being mucho busy for a week or so I've managed to get the MkII mounted onto a Jelco 12". A touch of removable glue and it's a firm fix to the headshell. Some fine tuning to do but I wanted to finally have a listen. Currently tracking at around 2.2g.



All the Decca attributes I crave are there. A bit to early to fully assess and compare to my SuperG but I like it, a lot. What immediately struck me was the bass. It seems to have more weight right off the bat than a tin can London. I imagine the larger body is responsible and the HUGE magnets in there. It sounds quite refined too, considering the basic styli. So far so good and the adapter worked a treat. I'm listening to some vintage Johnny Nash on my G99 and it's rocking the house

[ZZMoko]

That looks great Allan , more bass is always a good thing in my book.

[wesley]

Well after being mucho busy for a week or so I've managed to get the MkII mounted onto a Jelco 12". A touch of removable glue and it's a firm fix to the headshell. Some fine tuning to do but I wanted to finally have a listen. Currently tracking at around 2.2g.



All the Decca attributes I crave are there. A bit to early to fully assess and compare to my SuperG but I like it, a lot. What immediately struck me was the bass. It seems to have more weight right off the bat than a tin can London. I imagine the larger body is responsible and the HUGE magnets in there. It sounds quite refined too, considering the basic styli. So far so good and the adapter worked a treat. I'm listening to some vintage Johnny Nash on my G99 and it's rocking the house

    very nice allan, i told you there was a tip to the iceberg.  why leave it stock, when you can go deeper for the CHOP  .

[DeccaSG]

  very nice allan, i told you there was a tip to the iceberg.  why leave it stock, when you can go deeper for the CHOP  .

Chp, chop young man I hear you say 
I will do one day, promise 

[wesley]

Chp, chop young man I hear you say 
I will do one day, promise 

young man, after the chop, the other tip of the iceberg (a totally new project and perhaps another cart) is to get rid of all the darn plastic 

[decca4]

 What immediately struck me was the bass. It seems to have more weight right off the bat than a tin can London. I imagine the larger body is responsible and the HUGE magnets in there. It sounds quite refined too, considering the basic styli.

Allan congratulations on your innovative mounting.

There can be several reasons that explains your listening impressions but I believe that one of the major reasons for what you here in terms of bass and perhaps firmness is that this cartridge have other coils than those in the light weight Decca/Londons. The coils in this one and all the Decca4s were made by Parmeco and the later ones were made by Decca. My listening impressions are the same as yours and therefore I much prefer the earlier Deccas. They have all the attributes of the modern light weight Decca/Londons but with more vigour, temperament and brute force.

After more listening you may change your signature to Decca II.........?

[DeccaSG]

Allan congratulations on your innovative mounting.

There can be several reasons that explains your listening impressions but I believe that one of the major reasons for what you here in terms of bass and perhaps firmness is that this cartridge have other coils than those in the light weight Decca/Londons. The coils in this one and all the Decca4s were made by Parmeco and the later ones were made by Decca. My listening impressions are the same as yours and therefore I much prefer the earlier Deccas. They have all the attributes of the modern light weight Decca/Londons but with more vigour, temperament and brute force.

After more listening you may change your signature to Decca II.........?

That's a good way of describing it Stefan.....Firmness. It's a fine cartridge. Thanks for the info about the coils.
This quick listening session has whetted my appetite for another early Decca for another arm I'll have soon. I've mentioned this earlier but if I get one in poor condition it will be chopped and put into a custom body, and the fine tuning can begin.
If anyone has such a cart available, or in the futuire please bear me in mind. My Denon 103 got me through a sticky patch earlier this year but sooner or later I'll be back to Decca's only.

And before I forget thanks to ChrisS from whom I got the FFSS, and his help with the connections. No hum whatsoever.

[ChrisS]

Well after being mucho busy for a week or so I've managed to get the MkII mounted onto a Jelco 12". A touch of removable glue and it's a firm fix to the headshell. Some fine tuning to do but I wanted to finally have a listen. Currently tracking at around 2.2g.

I'm glad it's working well, Allan. The original spec is for 3.5 g playing weight - I use mine at 3 g with no problems. Maybe it's worth experimenting above your 2.2 g.

Best wishes,

Chris

[DeccaSG]

I'm glad it's working well, Allan. The original spec is for 3.5 g playing weight - I use mine at 3 g with no problems. Maybe it's worth experimenting above your 2.2 g.

Best wishes,

Chris

Reading the manual for the MkIII from vinylengine it suggests 2g as the VTF. This is a mkII of course so I'll play around until I get the best sound for my ears. Thanks

[decca4]

Can anyone please share their experience of  filling up the empty space inside a Decca London Gold with Bees wax (or maybe silicon nowadays). How does it effect the sound? Is worth doing?

[DeccaSG]

Can anyone please share their experience of  filling up the empty space inside a Decca London Gold with Bees wax (or maybe silicon nowadays). How does it effect the sound? Is worth doing?

My Super Gold mk1 VDH was an empty can when it was new. I sent it to John Wright for a clean up and rebuild and he filled it with wax for me. It was a long time ago but if memory serves the wax helps stiffen the can and eliminate unwanted resonance from the tin body. Overall I'd say it brought more focus and a tighter bass and helped to reduce the sibilance often heard with the VDH tip.
I think it would be a worthwhie mod Stefan.

[decca4]

Overall I'd say it brought more focus and a tighter bass and helped to reduce the sibilance often heard with the VDH tip.
I think it would be a worthwhie mod Stefan.

Thanks Allan. The Gold is now in the safe hands of JW who is putting a new stylus on it and giving it a good overhaul. I understand that he is now using silicon instead of wax inside. Anyway I will give him the go to do this then. I had this cartridge lying around for many years now and a friend of mine wanted to buy it and needed some advice as how to bring it up to date.

BTW I have seen some people brace the top of the cartridge body with some stuff between the body and the terminal block/tone arm shell. Is this a good idea and if so what is one supposed to use? What about the Decca Pod is that something worth wile? As you can see from my questions it is a long time since I experimented with one of those light weight Deccas. Anyone with experience in these matters?

[GP49]

BTW I have seen some people brace the top of the cartridge body with some stuff between the body and the terminal block/tone arm shell. Is this a good idea and if so what is one supposed to use?

I do that with my Decca Londons with a dab of plasticene (modeling clay, in America).  It did not have as great an effect as increasing the mass at the
cartridge end, but made the low end more solid and, it seemed, deeper.  It probably couples the Decca body more effectively to the tonearm and
damps resonance in the tin lid.  The brand I used does soften the paint on the Decca London's lid, so my Gold, rebuilt as a Super Gold, now is a
Super Silver on top. 

Two-tone jewelry is popular, I hear...

What about the Decca Pod is that something worth while?

I haven't tried the Decca Pod, so I have no personal opinion.  But I have heard good things about it. 
Note that one of the British reviewers several years back said there wasn't anything that it did, that
differed from what a blob of plasticene would do.  It DOES look better but makes it hard to change
Deccas.  I still have an Export Grey, and it does sound subtly different from the Super Gold and
Gold, probably due to its stiffer armature.  Its diamond is nearing replacement time, so should I have
it rebuilt with an advanced stylus tip and more compliant armature, or rebuilt in kind as a 3-gram cartridge
with a 0.6 mil spherical?

[decca4]

Thanks for the info Gene. Super Silver sounds interesting. Does it give a silvery top end? 

Plasticine is like model clay but does not shrink I have been told. Is that correct? What is "Blue Tack", is that something similar?

[DeccaSG]

Just to add to Gene's input....
I added the deccapod to my Super after about a year in the mid 1980's. I'd have to disagree with the other British reviewer as I believe it did make a difference. Again it was a long time ago so my memory of the improvement is patchy.

Either way a pod makes sense in my opinion for a number of reasons.
The whole body is strengthened and less prone to flex (if that makes sense)
You will have a much better way to properly secure it to the headshell.
You can dispense with the flimsy plastic bracket. Aside from the ease of changing carts I think it's a real design weakness and compromises the ability of the Londons. Ask yourself why do the Jubilee and Reference not have the bracket ?

Incidently my deccapod is a mk2. It dispenses with the lid from the original body. The bottom section slides into it. I have never had any issues with hum.