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Nice one Jamie, JW is certainly the chap to do the job properly. He replaced some resin substance in my Decca Blue and recalibrated it and it sounds superb except tracking is not perfect. The line contact you have had fitted will track very well indeed and I imagine the level of detail retrieve will be stunning. Need to have the same stylus profile fitted to my Blue so will be keen to read your thoughts!:)
well setting it up properly today seemed very easy,almost too easy,i left the tonearm height where it was and that seems to be right for the retip. tracking force is on 2 grams ,im not getting to anal just yet until ive put some hrs on the tip.
whats it sound like? bloody marvelous,it already showed a clean pair of heels to my 2m black and also a borrowed zyx-r100 with just a elliptical stylus,the extended fine line stylus has done exactly what i hoped for.
that is to bring the treble up in line with the bass and mid range.
this is without doubt the best cartridge i have heard to date,life like sounds,cymbals sound incredibly real,no tizz ,just real metallic sounds. the bass drum sounds like its being stamped on using my trusty copy of 'the wall' album as a reference,the soundstage is big and powerful
acoustic instruments are a joy to listen to,plucked upright bass notes and finger slides are very good,i hate to use the 'in the room' phrase so i wont lol.
i have to keep reminding myself that this is a 50yr old cartridge,how the hell does it sound so good? whats it going to be like when its bedded in? i simply just want to keep playing records,it is making me do it!!
https://s26.postimg.org/tuyevafwp/IMG_1751.jpg
Yup, the FFSS Mk IV is a real gem. It took me 3 years to find mine. I have been a Decca devotee since the late 70s and still have my Garrott Bros Gold. This is what i wrote about the C4E with a JW fine line rebuild in 2011.
https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/38028-decca-c4e/
mate ive read that serveral times,whislt waiting for mine to return,id go along with everything you said :)
im just listening to some piano music now,stunning!
Glad you persevered with the Decca Jamie and have found the magic these cartridges can do. Quite a few folk on here have tried and failed and could not seen what the fuss was but when you have them fettled and set up just right there is nothing like them. As I have a 2M black I can agree with you that they show this cartridge a clean pair of heels and are more dynamic and give a much more vivid account of what's on the record. Vocals, bass and instruments are stunningly resolved.
Now I must get mine retired with the line contact stylus!
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So now you finally get 'the Decca thing' Jamie :). After an unfortunate false start. There is nothing else like them!
Great news Jamie ! :thumbsup: :)
Glad you have at last found the Decca 'magic'.
Been using a Decca on and off for the last forty years. There's something Deccas do that no other cartridge can do. Whilst I use other cartridges, I now always have a Decca (I have five various Decca models) set up on one of my TTs as a 'reference'.
My only advice is to make sure you keep the stylus and your records clean, as there is very little clearance between the underside of the cartridge and the record surface.
Nice one, Jamie. It's always satisfying when a cartridges hits the spot like that, musically, so enjoy :cool:
There are Deccas, and there are DECCAS, though... For me, as Charlie says, the FFSS Mk IV is a bit special, and has an all-round more accomplished level of performance than most others.
Marco.