My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Nice one Jamie. Would love to be convinced sometime about one of these, hopefully I'll hear a sorted one in the right setup eventually!
he's right you know
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
ive done some alignment work on the decca,those that use one know what a pain they are as you cant see the stylus for off set aligning
armed with various magnifying glasses,jewelers loupe's and plenty of lights i got stuck in again aligning the cartridge body to the cross lines on my protractor,what i though was right turned out to be slightly off,a small twist and a listen brought a smile to my face once more,i was in that 'happy place' again.
i also ordered some silicone fluid to experiment with damping, i bought 20,000 cst and 30,000 cst,the standard fluid in used in the rocks trough is 12,500 cst.
i tried the 20,000 first and it sounded better for it,hard to say how but i noticed more string decal on upright bass notes.
next up was the 30,000 cst, this although not unpleasant seemed to kill the highs a bit,slightly less dynamic than the 20,000,i also had to knock the bias down a notch.
back to the 20,000 confirmed what i thought,so im sticking with this for a while before going back to the 12,500 to confirm its better.
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Interesting results Jamie. I'm surprised you could hear a difference between using a damping fluid having a viscosity of 20,000cS to that of a slightly thicker fluid of 30,000cS, but in your case the damping is applied very close to the cartridge, rather than near the arm pivot point as occurs with most other arms. So I would expect choice of viscosity to have more of an effect, and be more readily noticable.
Agreed setting up a Decca for correct overhange can be tricky, but if the sides of the headshell (or mounting platform) are parallel to one another and if the cartridge is mounted 'square on', then one can use the sides of the headshell to align with the parallel lines on the alignment protractor. As you are finding out, care with the set up of a Decca pays dividends.
Welcome to the world of Decca!
Last edited by Barry; 18-10-2017 at 13:36. Reason: spelling
Barry
cheers barry,i went with looking at the bottom side edges of the cartridge and viewed from above,i was getting some sibilance on end tracks which has now gone, so small steps forward.
i didnt think there'd be much in the fluid too but the 30,000 was noticeably more viscous.
it also passes the 20hz and 18hz vertical resonace tones on the hifi news lp so my paranoia about that having negative effects has gone too! lol
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Really chuffed for you getting good results for all the effort you put in. I hope to hear it sometime, trouble is I'll either never want to listen to my TT again or I'll be off down that road of upgrading again.....I'll take that chance though lol.
Turntable
Toshiba SR-370/Mission 774/Van Damme cable with MS Starline plugs/Ortofon Quintet Black
CD
Cambridge CXC transport/modified Musical Fidelity X-DAC/modified Musical Fidelity X-10 V3 tube buffer
Network Player
Cambridge NP30
Amplifier
Denon HA-500 head amp/Nakamichi CA-5E pre-amp/Chinese passive RVC/Proton AA-1150 DMC power amp
Speakers
Mordaunt Short Signifer on original factory stands
Cables
Mogami with Rean Neutrik plugs/NVA LS5
Headphones
Sennheiser HD600/Sennheiser HD650/Koss Pro4 AA
ha ha yes its a dangerous thing listening to other peoples kit,just think of the nights i returned from your place crying myself to sleep because my speakers sounded crap after listening to your harbeths
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers