The Tech' Gallery

[Qwin]

What's your impression of the Super Gold/Deccapod Chris?

[ChrisKemp]

I think it"s the best cartridge I've heard. The sound is very life like with fantastic dynamics. The highs are great and the bass is deep and tight. Rally punchy bass. Especially drums and gitars is very very real. And the voices. All from female voices to male voice like Leonard Cohen is so dynamic and live. It"s really like having a singer in my living room.

The only cartridge I'll upgrade to is a better London Decca And I think it is perfect together with my modified 1210M5G.

[ChrisKemp]

[img]img_2105.jpg[/img]

[ChrisKemp]

[Qwin]

Chris - How are you finding the cartridge combo regarding suface noise and ticks/clicks?

The majority of my collection is pre-used so this is an important element for me.

I found the Goldring 1042 MM for instance to be poor in this regard and seemed to highlight every defect.

A Denon 301 II LOMC is the oposite and seems to ignor all but the worst faults.

I am using a Transfi-Audio "Terminator" linear tracking Arm. Vic the designer uses London Decca. I am also looking at a Croft Pre/phono and Glen Croft is also supposed to be a fan of London Decca. So that combination of Cartridge/Arm/Phono might be something special depending on the cartridges ability to play less than perfect vinyl.

[ChrisKemp]

Hi Ken.

I don´t have that many cartridges to compare the Decca to, but compared to the Ortofon 2M Black it´s about the same. And I didn´t find the 2M Black too bothered by clicks. Compared to the Denon DL-103R, the Denon is better, but also not as extended in the treble as the London and the 2M Black. I have never heard the old Deccas and haven´t really heard alot of cartridges at all. I have only had 7 cartridges in a year. Well, that might be many in one year, but those are the only ones I´ve had

The London Decca Super Gold compared to the 2M Black is very close in sound quality, I think. The 2M Black is a little brighter (not much) and a little more forward. The 2M Black has the singer a little closer to the microphone and the Decca has a deeper soundstage. The Decca is more dynamic and the bass is also a little deeper. The 2M Black´s bass is maybe a little tighter, but I could be mistaking because of the deeper bass from the Super Gold.

[aniki]

My latest SL1210 project:-

[ChrisKemp]

Very very good looking I almost bought the same tonearm. What do you think of it?

[RobbieGong]

My latest SL1210 project:-

Nice Adam, I like the smooth graphite finish - cool. How would you describe the presentation of the Quintet red ?

[aniki]

Very very good looking I almost bought the same tonearm. What do you think of it?

Thanks. I'll let you know what I think of the tonearm next week. I'll also let you know why I am delaying my response. It's all good though ;-)

How would you describe the presentation of the Quintet red ?

Well this was my first Low Output moving coil so I may not be able to being completely objective. I'd used the ortofon MC range in the 90's but for the last few years stuck to moving magnet. I'm a big fan of the AT95E even though it costs about as much as a mars bar!
I'm ultra fussy about maintaining the neutrality of my system and if I ever get a whiff that an upgrade / downgrade is having a tonal effect I'm very careful about keeping it in place and often either revert the change completely or tweak something else to counter!
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I listen to many styles between Miles Davis and Mastodon and for me the quintet nails it. Considering it's relatively low price I am amazed.
It sounded amazing brand new but after about a week it was singing. In terms of IGD it performs about 90% as well as the AT95E but in fairness the Audio Technica is hard to beat in that respect. The quintet is still stellar on 9 out 10 records.
So to summarise - NEUTRAL with more detail retrieval than anything I've used before. Sorry I can't be any more descriptive than that.
I'm curious to see how long it lasts given that I play vinyl daily. If it lasts a year I may step up to the blue or bronze next year!