Decca thread for Jimbo - question about stylus profile

[topoxforddoc]

James,

I tried to reply to your query about Decca Blue mistracking. Your inbox is full. So here's my reply, as others may find it useful. You wanted to know if Deccas with conical tips can mistrack and whether better stylus profiles can help.

REPLY

I've had a fair number of Deccas over the years with spherical, elliptical and FL styli. The spherical tip will mistrack occasionally on highly modulated passages. The elliptical and FL tips do track better.

Also you need to keep your records really clean (wet clean them). Otherwise the cartridge will mistrack and you'll get fluff and crap build up. The ground clearance on a Decca is virtually zero. If you're not careful, you can get fluff migrating up into the generator assembly, which can stiffen things up more, which can also cause mistracking.

Hope that helps

Charlie

[walpurgis]

VTA and tracking downforce are always worth experimenting with. Deccas are pretty fussy about both.

[Jimbo]

James,

I tried to reply to your query about Decca Blue mistracking. Your inbox is full. So here's my reply, as others may find it useful. You wanted to know if Deccas with conical tips can mistrack and whether better stylus profiles can help.

REPLY

I've had a fair number of Deccas over the years with spherical, elliptical and FL styli. The spherical tip will mistrack occasionally on highly modulated passages. The elliptical and FL tips do track better.

Also you need to keep your records really clean (wet clean them). Otherwise the cartridge will mistrack and you'll get fluff and crap build up. The ground clearance on a Decca is virtually zero. If you're not careful, you can get fluff migrating up into the generator assembly, which can stiffen things up more, which can also cause mistracking.

Hope that helps

Charlie

Thanks for the info Charlie. I do keep my records very clean as I have a VPI wet cleaner and I try and keep the fluff off the. Stylus however I think my issue maybe the occasional highly modulated track. Hopefully the FL tip will do a better job?

[Jimbo]

VTA and tracking downforce are always worth experimenting with. Deccas are pretty fussy about both.

With regards to VTA Geoff what works best, does the Decca like to be absolutely level to the record or at a slight angle?

[walpurgis]

With regards to VTA Geoff what works best, does the Decca like to be absolutely level to the record or at a slight angle?

Unfortunately James, with Deccas being hand made, no two are really identical, so it's a matter of experimentation. I recall my several Blues being much fussier all round than the last two which were an Export Grey and Maroon.

[DSJR]

As a breed, Decca seem to work opposite to other cartridges and so you may find *reducing* the tracking force might clean up mistracking - possibly...

The conical tip Blues were supposed to be 3g trackers I seem to remember, yet the one I had and should never have passed on to a pal who kept it a fortnight and sold it, tracked at under 2g perfectly from memory. The Microscanner here was set up specifically for 1.5g by one of the Garrott Brothers, so maybe I'm spoiled with this one - my Gawd it sounds good, even in an R200 tonearm and it NEVER mistracks at all on some torture LP's which defeat other cartridges....

[Barry]

Decca cartridges can be much better trackers than most people might give them credit for. I've had a Decca (Gold) succesfully track the cannon 'crack' on the infamous Telark '1812'. If you look at the groove pattern, there is a virtual right angle in the groove at that point; it's notorious for causing many a cartridge to mistrack.

[Jimbo]

Decca cartridges can be much better trackers than most people might give them credit for. I've had a Decca (Gold) succesfully track the cannon 'crack' on the infamous Telark '1812'. If you look at the groove pattern, there is a virtual right angle in the groove at that point; it's notorious for causing many a cartridge to mistrack.

Just been trying a different VTA and it is bang on at the moment!

[walpurgis]

Apart from the tracking benefits. If you get the Decca's VTA set where the cartridge is happy, you will find the record surface noise reduces too.

[Jimbo]

Apart from the tracking benefits. If you get the Decca's VTA set where the cartridge is happy, you will find the record surface noise reduces too.

Your absolutely right Geoff. Just played Private Investigations (Dire Straits) which is an inner groove track and it handled the massive dynamic swings without a hitch. :)