Decca London Super Gold Compatibility Question

There are several tonearms that work well with the London Decca series cartridges, the Fidelity Research FR-64 and FR-66 being the most notable (and among the most expensive).  I have used Ortofon, Jelco and the Thomas Schick tonearms with good but not great results.  I found that the Pear Audio Cornet 2 tonearm unipivot works very well with the Decca Gold.  This is an updated version of the Nottingham tonearm designs, so you might start there.

Some have reported that the Dynavector DV-507 works well but I have not tried this combination myself.  A friend of mine runs his Decca cartridge on a Pete Riggle Woody tonearm and claims that it's the best pairing for the Decca series.  I'm skeptical but I have not yet had a chance to hear it so I'll pass it along as an unendorsed recommendation.

Unipivots are not right for the Decca. Lots of resonance reflects back into the arm....you need solid bearings.

Sorry stringreen, I gotta disagree with you on this one.  Not all unipivots work well with the Decca cartridges but those that do work better than gimbaled or tonearms w/ captured bearings - IMO.

dhcod, I haven't tried a Moerch tonearm with the Decca (never even occured to me to try it) but having owned a DP-6 in the past I would guess that this is not a good match.  YMMV

The horizontal and vertical compliance differences presented by the London Decca cartridges necessitate the use of a "stiff" tonearm.  Adding weight to the headshell and increasing the counterbalance weight of a tonearm will not compensate for a resonance compliance mismatch and, in fact, can make it worse.  Not all stiff tonearms are heavy and not all heavy tonearms are stiff (although most are).

Think of it this way: a PVC pipe is lighter and "less stiff" than an aluminum pipe of equal size, and an aluminum pipe is less stiff than a steel pipe of equal size.  A carbon fibre pipe of equal size would likely to be stiffer and lighter than the PVC pipe; especially if the carbon fibres were aligned down the length of the pipe and not wrapped circumferentially.

Adding weight to each end of the PVC pipe won't make it  any more stiff.  But the added weight, outboard of the fulcrum (pivot point) will almost always increase the resonance amplitude as they swing around the axis.

noromance1, my example was only... an example.