Decca Super Gold cartridge (advice)

[macvisual]

Hi all, I've recently being doing homework on phono cartridges and the (London) Decca Super Gold (and Gold) cartridge keeps coming up with great reviews etc, I've never heard or experienced any of the Decca carts to be honest. Anyone here use the Super Gold or the Gold versions..? I'd love to hear your personal thoughts - views - knowledge...!! Are they worth it...? My cartridge budget is around £900 ish.

I'm presently running this vinyl set-up and wonder if a Decca SG is the way forward..?; Acoustic Signature Challenger Mk1 TT - SME V tonearm - Len Gregory MM3 moving iron cartridge - Kinshaw Perception 2x box switchable MM/MC phono-stage - Audioplan Kontrast MkII floorstanding speakers which are 88db efficient. Amplifier wise using an elderly A&R Arcam Alpha integrated amplifier which actually sounds excellent to be honest. I've recently bought a Promitheus Audio TVC passive-pre and currently on the (long) search for either solid state or a valve power amp or mono-blocks to match the TVC passive pre-amp and my 88db efficient speakers.

I enjoy/love my vinyl with a wide soundstage and open highs with dynamics and a tad punchy, a big ask I know! I mainly listen to jazz - jazz/funk - simple quiet voice/vocals music. At times I like to play my music loud for a session, not ear splitting levels, but decent levels alright, I love authority with dynamics coming out of my speakers.

I'm wondering if the Decca SG or G cartridges can portray the sound I'm after without smearing and coloration on the music..? Thanks for reading this.

Regards; Peter

[Infinitely Baffled]

I enjoy/love my vinyl with a wide soundstage and open highs with dynamics and a tad punchy, a big ask I know! I mainly listen to jazz - jazz/funk - simple quiet voice/vocals music. At times I like to play my music loud for a session, not ear splitting levels, but decent levels alright, I love authority with dynamics coming out of my speakers.

I'm wondering if the Decca SG or G cartridges can portray the sound I'm after without smearing and coloration on the music..? Thanks for reading this.

Regards; Peter

Absolutely, definitely yes. You must hear either of those Deccas - or any Deccas, really. They are quite remarkable and it is not an exaggeration to say that you will be left with your mouth open the first time you hear one. Whether you like it or not is a different matter - they are Marmite. Some folk just don't get on with them, but for those who like them they are quite unique and wonderful. I'm in that camp - I think they are tremendous. What can you expect to hear? Well, masses of energy and punch, tremendous detail, and all the ambience and spatial clues that you get with detail, startling clarity and a very "present" sound. To my ears they sound like a MC cartridge in terms of energy and detail, but less "airy" than an MC - they are quite "earthy" and solid in their music presentation (but don't mistake "solid" for stodgy - that's not what I mean: "solid" as in "sounds like it is really there").

The only reason I stopped using mine was that I changed turntables, and The Decca was not happy in the new arm. I was very upset about that. They really love unipivot arms, but can be made to work very well in many other types too.

Do try one (I almost envy you the experience of hearing one for the first time!). Even if you decide it's not for you, hearing one is an essential part of any hi-fi enthusiast's education!
IB.

[macvisual]

Thanks Gary for that reply! So fitting the likes of a Decca Super Gold onto a SME V tonearm will be ok...?

Regards;
peter

[topoxforddoc]

Peter,

I know that people have a Decca in a SME 3012. If you trawl through all 194 pages of the Lenco Heaven Decca thread, I suspect that you will find someone using a Decca in a SME V. Having used Deccas for 35 years, I have not found any other cartridge, which matches a Decca for any percussive intrsument e.g. drums, piano etc. It has an immediacy to it, which gets as close to live performance as possible on a TT.

http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=545.0

Charlie

[system7]

I heard the Decca London in the SME 3012 tonearm back in the day, with a Radford STA25 valve amplifier (which actually had a fair few transistors in the preamp stage) into simple wall mounted Goodmans two way speakers. It's fabulously musical and convincing.

A good live performance can sound like it's in the room. We were gobsmacked by "The Strawbs live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall". Honestly.

It is what we call a stiff or low compliance cartridge, so it needs a heavy or long tonearm to get the resonance frequency down. TBH, I think most moving coil cartridges sound good.

[Infinitely Baffled]

Thanks Gary for that reply! So fitting the likes of a Decca Super Gold onto a SME V tonearm will be ok...?

Regards;
peter

That I couldn't tell you, Peter. As it happens, it was a SME arm that my Decca Gold didn't like. But it was a M2 not the SME V, so that doesn't tell us anything. Consistent with what has been said in some of the other posts, I have heard of them being used with success in SME 3009/3012 arms (I have a feeling that Barry of this forum has experience of this), but beyond that, I couldn't say. Good luck!
Gary.

[paulf-2007]

I would definitely demo one on your arm before parting with your money. I borrowed one and tried it on my Stax 12" arm. Playing Roy Orbison it went mental when the snare drum beat repeated. I cured it with some putty between the cart and headshell. It sounded very good but not better than other carts I have and looked crap with putty to make it behave. I cannot say the cart matched my arm perfectly but I got a sense of what it does and it wasn't that good that I wanted to be parted from my money.

[system7]

I had some bad experiences with low compliance Grado cartridges in the lightweight SME 3009II. The cartridge was wobbling about horribly and always trying to jump out of the groove. Only the silicone damping option saved the day. And that wasn't ideal.

AFAIK, the current Decca Super Gold is 10-15 um/mN compliance, which is middling really. The object is to get the whole tonearm/stylus resonance out of the audio band, so 10Hz is considered OK. The Decca unipivot arms were damped anyway.

Cut to the chase, the SME V is 11g moving mass apparently. Looking at Ortofon's graph, the pink line, we actually want about 15g total mass, including the cartridge which is usually a few grams. So yup, it looks OK to me. Especially with a little damping. And a solid isolated plinth for the turntable.

https://www.ortofon.com/support/supp...ance-frequency

Usual disclaimers apply. I can mess up maths as well as the next person.

[2kings]

I have used both the Super Gold and the Gold on the SME3012II and they both sound superb.
Currently have a SC4E on the 3012II/Ortofon RMG309/TD124 and I love this setup.

[Barry]

Views on a Decca 'Gold' (aka. the Mk.VI) used in an SME 3009 arm? This might be of interest: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...gold+cartridge.