Deccapod -a curates's egg

[worrasf]

Received my Decca Blue back from Prescence Audio yesterday having had a Deccapod fitted.
First rate service from Presence with great comms and fast turn around. Deccapod fitting and cartridge recalibration was £179 including return postage.

I must say I like the look of the cartridge with the Deccapod fitted much more than with the old bracket.

I've installed it in my Oyaide HS TF headshell.

It is the best tracking cartridge I have ever owned - tracks all 4 bands of the HfN test disc without a glitch :stalks:

The blue sounds a very different cartridge now. The Deccapod has taken some of the attack and PRaT away and substituted a much more refined presentation which is less fatiguing at high volumes. Tone and pitch sounds spot on although it lacks the very fine detail retrieval of the Dyna 20x2.

It's too early to say whether I like what the "new blue" is doing enough to keep it installed but while I await delivery of my new Zyx R100 I will have a good few weeks to find out.

[walpurgis]

I must say, I always liked the Decca Blue (and my old 4RC), for the sheer speed and tightness. They may be a bit 'wilder' than the more expensive models, but there's always plenty of drama.

I don't know if you've used a ZYX R100 before, but you'll find it has all that same speed and even more detail and depth.

[worrasf]

I've not heard the more expensive Decca carts but Glenn Croft who sold me this one maintains the coils in the blue were superior to the later and more expensive ones. After some more listening this morning I'm liking the Blue/Deccapod more and more - it has tamed a bit of the "wildness" but I thinks it's resulted in a more balanced and natural presentation.
Again I've not heard the Zyx as yet but from the conversations I've had with Paul at Reffc I think I'm going to like it very much

[walpurgis]

Well I'm not sure how it will work out with you Stephen, but after using ZYXs for a while, I sold my Deccas. I got the ZYX R50 Bloom H first, then the R100 H2. I've also got a regular R100, very different to the R100 H2. I like all three. (and my Ortofon MC25FL and a few ADCs).

[YNWaN]

I've got a gold somewhere.

[DSJR]

Dave W (HiFi Dave) told me similar about the alnico magnets in older Decca Londons, but I think that's a blind alley in all honesty.

Steve, the thing about the Deccas when properly working is that they sound a lot more like master recordings than almost any other - bear in mind that many vinyl cuts will have an upturned U response, limited deep bass (difficult to track), mono'd remaining bass (universal for cutting/playback reasons) and a seemingly boosted upper mid. If the cut is too much like this, any Decca will faithfully reproduce this as cut. The other thing about bog-standard Deccas is the 'nasal-twang' noise when locating a groove. Better examples tend to minimise this hugely, but more basic models still have the 18kHz peaky resonance which some phono stages don't like.

PLEASE take huge care of your Decca, as reliability still ain't good. They'll fail for no apparent reason, but while it's working, an R100 or Rega Apheta are two candidates for closeness, as well as the Dynavector 17D series, which Max Townshend used in the Rock II when he had Decca troubles.

[walpurgis]

PLEASE take huge care of your Decca, as reliability still ain't good. They'll fail for no apparent reason.

I've heard that often, but despite having owned more Deccas than I can actually recall, I've never had a reliability problem. I did have to send one off for a new stylus tie cord, but that was down to my hamfisted handling.

[topoxforddoc]

I've had not troubles with my Deccas, having used them a lot over the last 35 years. Standard Maroon & Gold, Garrott-ed Gold and a FFSS MkIV C4E. All have worked faultlessly. You have to keep your vinyl meticulously clean (with a wet RCM) and match them carefully with the tonearm.

[walpurgis]

Stephen, when you get your R100, I'd love to read your opinion of it.

[worrasf]

Stephen, when you get your R100, I'd love to read your opinion of it.

Hi Geoff - will certainly post my thoughts - I expect I will be waiting a few more weeks yet for it to arrive.
I must say the more I listen to it the more I am liking what the Deccapod has done to the Blue.

[Oldpinkman]

Stephen, when you get your R100, I'd love to read your opinion of it.

+1 with knobs on. I loved Arthurs Decca London gold, but I just have too many warped records - particularly a recording of Sherezade by the Suisse Romande Orchestra I am really fond of. Mind - I'm pretty chuffed with the U205 with its "SAS" stylus. But very interested in the Zyx

[DSJR]

I've heard that often, but despite having owned more Deccas than I can actually recall, I've never had a reliability problem. I did have to send one off for a new stylus tie cord, but that was down to my hamfisted handling.

Glad you've been ok, but mine failed (bits coming unstuck inside) and it was this plus financial inability in the mid 90's that made me sell the Mentor (nothing I had or could afford sounded as good in it as the Decca :() and hifi dave had his demo Gold, plus a Jubilee, fail under warranty a year or two back. To be utterly fair, Presence Audio sorted both his and mine (in 2007) out very quickly and my repair had negligible cost.

Still love 'em to bits, but please be careful with them :)

The R100 does sound really good I remember and has the same kind of inner-clarity-without-artificial-'depth' that good Decca's exhibit. So many other cartridges can add a sort of 'halo' around the reproduction, which isn't there in the master and definitely not in any CD made from them! Just saying like.

[worrasf]

Just wanted to update this thread now I have had the benefit of listening to the Blue/Pod for a week or so. My earlier reservations are gone and I am finding I am liking what it does more and more. Flat response, tonally neutral "nothing added or taken away" and a very natural non-fatiguing presentation. Tracking is extraordinarily good. My initial comments about a perceived lack of pace and timing have not been borne out by extended listening and I am coming to the opinion that perhaps my previous cartridge was a little guilty of tonal/frequency inaccuracy which nonetheless I had found appealing if not strictly faithful to the original. I am in no doubt that the improvement over the "stock" Blue bought about by the Deccapod is enormous. Previously I was using it with standard carrier in a Sumiko headshell with additional 5g Decca weight. The benefit of the Deccapod can not be overstated IMHO.

Steve

[Smegger68]

Glad to read this. I have just sent my Super Gold off to Divine for a good poddin' and am quite keen to hear the results :)