wanted hadcock or mayware tonearm.

[karma67]

id like to try my decca with a unipivot so with that in mind what have you got?:eyebrows:

[walpurgis]

Make sure it can balance out the Decca. It's heavy.

[karma67]

good point,you can probably tell im having a made moment,im sure the alphason is fine for the decca,perhaps trying thicker damping fluid in the trough would be a more sensible approach?

[walpurgis]

Is it sounding good? If so, you shouldn't need heavier damping.

[karma67]

Is it sounding good? If so, you shouldn't need heavier damping.

yes,very good,ive just got that hifi news test lp mistracking playing on my mind.

[walpurgis]

yes,very good,ive just got that hifi news test lp mistracking playing on my mind.

I don't recall any cartridge I've had passing all the tracking tests on the HFS69 test album I have. Ignore it Jamie.

[Barry]

The only tracking test you need to worry about is the tracking of the cannon 'crack' on the Telarc's "Tchaikovsky 1812". If one looks at the record groove it undergoes a near right angle kink at that point. :eek: My Decca tracks it though.

[hifi_dave]

I wouldn't swop an Alphason for a Hadcock or Mayware.

[walpurgis]

Having given it a bit of thought, I can't think of any unipivot arm I'd want.

Apart from maybe the original Decca International, with the metal headshell and long pillar with opposing magnets in. I had one many years ago (when they were still being made) and liked it. I didn't think much of the later ones without the magnetic levitation and the nasty 'Connoisseur' plastic headshell with the spirit level in it.

[tapid]

Decca themselves recommend a unipivot arm. I ve been incredibly pleased with my mayware tonearm over the last 6 months
of ownership in partnership with the decca gold, clarity is superb and very moosical as well !. In fact one chappie on this forum a few years back
said in 35 years of listening with various arms on his decca he favoured the mayware above everything else, magical he called it.
I had a technoarm before and never could get it sounding like the mayware.

[karma67]

I wouldn't swop an Alphason for a Hadcock or Mayware.

neither would i dave

[karma67]

Having given it a bit of thought, I can't think of any unipivot arm I'd want.

Apart from maybe the original Decca International, with the metal headshell and long pillar with opposing magnets in. I had one many years ago (when they were still being made) and liked it. I didn't think much of the later ones without the magnetic levitation and the nasty 'Connoisseur' plastic headshell with the spirit level in it.
yes i know the model,ive been having a play with the tracking weight today briefly, ive gone from the recomended 1.8 to 1.9 and it sounds better to my ears,will have more time after work tomorrow for more listening tests. :thumbsup:

[Barry]

Having given it a bit of thought, I can't think of any unipivot arm I'd want.

Apart from maybe the original Decca International, with the metal headshell and long pillar with opposing magnets in. I had one many years ago (when they were still being made) and liked it. I didn't think much of the later ones without the magnetic levitation and the nasty 'Connoisseur' plastic headshell with the spirit level in it.

The Decca (London) International, with the spirit level headshell, used opposing magnets but was as you say a poor little thing: badly made and somewhat clunky. The only Decca arms worth considering are IMO the original 'Professional' and the later 'ffss' (upgraded to Super level and fitted with bias compensation), neither of which are unipivot designs.

One left-field consideration might be the Audio & Design (later known as the Keith Monks) M9BA unipivot design. However it uses four small arcuate mercury pools as part of the signal connection, so is somewhat suspect when it comes to health and safety. It was available with an extra heavy counterweight for use with the Decca Mk. IV.

When Jimmy Hughes reviewed the Mk. IV in Hi-Fi Answers, he used it in a Linn Ittok arm on a Linn Sondeck. A strange combination IMO, and he had problems with hum; no doubt caused by the three-wire connection used by Decca.

The Decca/Hadcock was almost de rigeur in the late '80s, but that was using the Mk. V and later versions which are lighter than the Mk. IV.

If you are getting good results using the Decca in the Alphason arm, then I see no reason why you should look elesewhere.

[kambo_z]

I have Decca London international tonearm and i really like it. The base is very good.