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Decca London Gold cartridge nightmare

Having read so much about the Decca London Gold cartridge, I decided to try one. Time passed and I finally found one on ebay that was within my budget. Cartridge was guaranteed to work with good results by a seller with very good feedback. Physically the cart looked neat, and everything, except for the mounting screws, was intact.

I had intended to install the cartridge in a new Kuzma Stogi S arm on a LP12 turntable but since the arm is scheduled to arrive end Oct 2008, I decided to try the Decca on my Lenco L75, with the original Lenco arm. At least to make sure all connections were OK, if not for any other reason.

What happened afterwards was pure nightmare. The results were horrendous, to say the least!

Tell me where I went wrong.

I tried tracking between 1.5 to 3gm but the sound ranged from tinny to severe breaking up. Even more startling, the groove vibrations picked up by the stylus was transmitted to the entire headshell, so you could actually hear the sound of the grooves generated acoustically by the vibration, kind of like a diaphragm or a gramophone horn. Lightly placing my finger on the headshell while a record played confirmed this. The headshell was quaking! With the preamp gain down to zero, you could hear the headshell vibration from a distance of a foot and a half, maybe even further, I kid you not.

The cartridge that I am presently using on my Lenco is a low output Audio Technica MC, the AT-OC3. No problems there. Tracks pretty well too, but not great, considering the Lenco arm was not made for MC carts. But the results were definitely more sane than the Decca!!

What's happening? Help!

Thanks for any advice, suggestions, feedback.

beck
tubemoose
tbg
5,263 posts
 
It is fascinating that this old cartridge still stokes such interest. It was over thirty years ago that I tried out three Decca Londons in the back room of what I think was called Stereophile on Chicago's near Northside. One sounded much better.

No one mentions the Decca Reference cartridge. Is it still made?
topoxforddoc's avatar
topoxforddoc
353 posts
 
All the Decca cartridges are now still made under the London brand by John Wright in Bridgnorth, UK. The Reference is still made and they have now introduced a Professional cartridge for DJs with a spherical tip and front/back ties for the cantilever.
sqlsavior
46 posts
 
I bought a new London Decca Super Gold, with the DeccaPod mounting block installed, for Christmas in 2016. I've had no problems using either a Marantz TT-15 (Clearaudio) tonearm, or a Jelco SA-750L 12" tonearm. It hummed with a Teac TN-400 Magnefloat, and with a Denon DP1200 but does not with Technics SP25. No tracking problems whatsoever, and it's the most revealing and the most natural-sounding cartridge I've owned, with an openness and separation that is unlike anything else in my experience. That experience includes, fwiw: Fidelity Research FR1MK3F, G.A.S. Sleeping Beauty, Stanton 881S, Denon DL-103 and DL-160, Benz Micro Wood SM, and Ortofon Synergy SPU.
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yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 
I bought a London Maroon wired for mono as I had a spare deck. Mounted in a Naim Aro, effective mass 11g it worked very well with original mono records but on anything cut on a stereo lathe it tended to exit the groove in no uncertain manner. Now the spare deck was a Townshend Rock mk2 so I had another option. Adding the outrigger and trough of silicone has tamed it for just about any record I’ve tried it on.
London recommend an arm of 18 to 25g effective mass, adding the outrigger raised the Aro’s mass to around 16g and the damping took care of the rest. 
I also have a n Artemis SA-1 with a Schröder Reference which, with the brass cartridge mounting plate can achieve an effective mass of 18g, enough to run an SPU Royal N on it, I’ve yet to try the London on this as I’m enjoying the SPU so much. The SPU runs into a Naim superline powered by a supercap power supply, the London into a stageline powered from the pre amp. The comparison between the two is interesting, using just mono records, some give better results on the SPU and some on the London and the latter are so good that I’m considering ordering a stereo version of the super gold or even the Reference, a decision that itself is proving difficult.

I think I remember Art Dudley mentioning in his column that he enjoyed a Maroon in a Rega 301 so the audiomods may be an option, possible with a bit of extra mass if it misbehaves
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