Marco's latest vintage marvel....

[DSJR]

The H had a red coloured stylus and supposedly tracked half a gramme or so higher. The nearest I have to this is the replacement? G820 "DJ" which tracks at around 3g (mistracks at anything less than this), also has a red stylus assembly and has a pungent bass and no treble whatsoever and far less than the G800 on a bad day

I've still yet to obtain the G800E's promised me but I still think a good "E" may just be the best of them all, although reports at the time indicate the diamond quality was variable, in which case a Jico may be the best option.

[AlasdairB]

Sorry to come to this thread a little late.
A while back, with help from my old friend Ivor Abelson, I played around with quite a few odd old cartridges mounted in a modern Rega RB250 tonearm. The Shure M3D was quite a surprise - a rich, stable, musical sound that I could happily have lived with indefinitely but Ivor wanted it back. The Rega RB100 (ancestor of current Regas) was also very impressive in many ways but hampered by dull tonal balance. I tried a Sonotone 9TAHC too - no prizes for refinement but a surprisingly good listen. If you want to experiment with ceramics, the one to try is the BSR SC12M - a more modern design that sounds better than the Sonotone and is still reasonably easy to find. This fades away a bit at the top but apart from this sounded pretty good and stayed in front line service for a few months before I went back to more modern (and respectable) devices. I also have a Goldring CS91E ceramic but haven't managed to get it working properly. The Connoisseur SCU1 may also be worth a listen if you can find one.
I hope this is helpful.

[DSJR]

Don't forget the 1M load that ceramics need as a minimum. Loads of info on the 9TA-HC as to load and response changes - the current copies are horrid if mine has anything to do with it.. I agree about the pleasant surprise that's the SC12M though

[shane]

Does anyone have any experience of the Decca Deram? I seem to remember it being thought of as the ultimate ceramic type.

[Rare Bird]

Always wanted one & the '300' speakers

[hifi_dave]

I enjoyed it back in the 1960's. It's major selling point was the low tip mass (0.6) and relatively low tracking weights. Like most Decca products, it was way ahead of the crowd.

I've got a couple stashed away somewhere but haven't tried one for donkey's.

[Beobloke]

Does anyone have any experience of the Decca Deram? I seem to remember it being thought of as the ultimate ceramic type.

Damn, I was hoping no-one would mention this, as the white bodied Deram is my absolute favourite ceramic and I was hoping to keep it under the radar!

It sounds great and its construction means that it behaves differently depending on what load it sees, so it can be plugged directly into an MM input, although it can be quite microphonic like this and for best results needs a proper ceramic input.

[Rare Bird]

Damn, I was hoping no-one would mention this, as the white bodied Deram is my absolute favourite ceramic and I was hoping to keep it under the radar!

It sounds great and its construction means that it behaves differently depending on what load it sees, so it can be plugged directly into an MM input, although it can be quite microphonic like this and for best results needs a proper ceramic input.

Your Ferrograph 'F307' has the perfect Ceramic input

Isnt it just a pig when secrets get out. Luckily i have a few thats not come up yet

[hifi_dave]

Here's one I dug out earlier.

[spendorman]

Here's one I dug out earlier.

I don't remember those bright colours around the stylus. Thought that the original cantilever was light blue, but I could be wrong. I have a Deram in the loft somewhere.