Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners



Where are you? What mods have you done ?

I have been using these ET2's for over 9 years now.
I am still figuring them out and learning from them. They can be modified in so many ways. Bruce Thigpen laid down the GENIUS behind this tonearm over 20 years ago. Some of you have owned them for over 20 years !

Tell us your secrets.

New owners – what questions do you have ?

We may even be able to coax Bruce to post here. :^)

There are so many modifications that can be done.

Dressing of the wire with this arm is critical to get optimum sonics along with proper counterweight setup.

Let me start it off.

Please tell us what you have found to be the best wire for the ET-2 tonearm ? One that is pliable/doesn’t crink or curl. Whats the best way of dressing it so it doesn’t impact the arm. Through the spindle - Over the manifold - Below manifold ? What have you come up with ?
128x128ct0517
@frogman  Interesting question once again.  Before acquiring my Garrard I had read several posts in blogs/forums wherein people talked about the "Garrard Sound" and how some tweaks and upgrades were not good because they resulted in a loss of the "Garrard Sound."  They described the "Garrard Sound" as a heightened sense of rhythm or pace.  Until acquiring my Garrard I had a hard time imagining what they were describing and assumed it was psycho acoustic.  I.e., I just paid a lot of money for this rig so it has to sound better.

Now that I own one I think I understand.  First, and foremost, the sound is bolder.  Lower registers and lower midrange seem fuller giving a better sense of space and a better foundation from which the music emerges.  For example, cymbals, bells, snare drums now emerge from a blacker background.  For me this makes the music more "alive."  More to your point, there does seem to be more toe tapping going on.  There is a heightened sense of rhythm.  This rhythm component is, of course, more noticeable on rock/pop and jazz than on classical.  I'm not talking about speed or quickness (which I assumed would be more related to the cartridge than the table or arm).  However, despite the fact I believe the Delos to be far "quicker" than my VDH cartridge I think the VPI/ET/VDH combo is quicker than the Garrard/Ortofon/Delos. 
 
Sorry to be so long winded but your question and what I think I am hearing are quite subjective. Not subtle but subjective.  I've only listened for two days but a lot of hours in those two days and the Garrard rig makes me want to tap my toe more than the VPI.  I was more inclined to attribute this to the heavily damped Ortofon arm but as you make me stop and think about the subject, it may well be attributable to the Garrard 301. There are certainly other Garrard owners who think so.   
My interest in a comparison of the two tables was specifically about any possible differences in the way that the two keep rhythm (PRAT) and general sense of aliveness; something that would be audible regardless (mostly) of arm and cartridge. Of course, along with improved speed stability come things like improved image stability and less grain, but still.... Please share any impressions, Garrard 😉.  Congrats again. Finally (bad audiophile!) got around to trying the (OEM) long I-beams. Will report back with impressions soon.
Post removed 
@ct0517 
I don't envy you your "spring".  Albeit is snowing here in North Carolina as I type this.  You may be right regarding the ET on the Garrard.  I cannot, however, see myself drilling new holes in this beautiful plinth.  At the risk of being excommunicated from this site I must repeat, the Lyra Delos loves this Ortofon TA-110 arm.  It is a heavily damped arm with some kind of space age rubber in the arm tube.  I guess it just matches with the low compliance of the Delos.  Thinking of changing my ID to Garrard instead of VPI.
vpi - Chris who I assume is still snowed in.

Not funny Harry. this is a Spring unlike any I can ever remember.
"Snowed in" is not an accurate phrase.

What was falling was granular, like sand. Picture the desert, then imagine trying to shovel white sand. Then it decides to rain, Temp hits 0 celsius 32 F and a crust forms on the snow, so thick you can walk on it without going through. Try shoveling that. The only ones more confused than me seem to be the dark Robins standing on it looking for nesting material. Cruel. Todays temps of 8 degrees C 46 F will create a big mess.

Congratulations on your new setup Harry. Enjoy. Glad it arrived safely by slow boat. Boy, what I would give for some boating weather right about now.

Now, I don’t want to be the one to tell you this, but you do realize don’t you, that one day, that "Come to Jesus" moment will arrive. Oh yeah, it will come be assured, as long as you remain in Audiophile mode. It will taunt you, till you can no longer resist. You will succumb to it, we all do, and you will be forced to mount your ET2 on the new table; to find out the real truth.

You will be startled at how much the table brings to .......the table .... heh heh

An Apples to Apples comparison with the VPI, for Mr. VPI .... 8^0 .

Happy :Listening

@frogman  Interesting.   My Lyra Delos sounds significantly better in almost every patamater on the Garrard/Ortofon than it did on the VPI/ET II.  On the Garrard the Delos is much richer and the high end is much tamer without being at all rolled off.  I've owned two Lyras, the Delos and a Clavis.  I've never heard a Lyra sound as good.

That said, I don't think it is an improvement over my VDH Black Beauty on the VPI/ET.   Different, which one would expect with different tables, arms and cartridges, but I'd be hard pressed to say one was "better" than the other.  Then I suppose that alone is a compliment to the Garrard/Ortofon/Delos rig since the VDH costs more than twice the Delos.  I've ordered a second headshell for the Ortofon to see how the VDH sounds on the new rig.
Congrats!  It looks fantastic.  I look forward to your impressions of its sonics compared to the VPI/ET2 setup.
Hello all.  Long quiet spell.  We must all be busy with spring.  Except, of course, Chris who I assume is still snowed in.   I picked up my refurbished Garrard 301 yesterday and set it up with the Lyra Delos.  You can see before and after pictures on my virtual system. Not only is the 301 a work of art, I've never heard a Lyra sound this smooth.  Gone is the brightness for which many have criticized Lyras.  Nice smooth presentation with gobs of liquidity.  
I must give a shout out to Greg Metz at STS Turntables.  He did an amazing job with the refurb on this table. 
 
^^^^^^^
Brad,
in hindsight and fwiw. Consider this.

My first ET2 years ago was a stock one. Over time, once I had it working well, I finally opened up the "Book Of Bruce" ...BOB ....and read it through... instead of giving it a cursory look over in sections, the first few times. I then refined my setup again.

That stock ET2 outperformed..... Trumped .......
Dynavector, FR64s, VPI 12 and Micro Seiki tonearms that I had.
That’s in stock mode.

So my advice based on my experiences, is to have patience with what you have and build experience with it. Now definitely get a couple Long I Beams from Bruce (Single and Double Springs). The Long I Beam is inexpensive in terms of cost, but huge in terms of performance; and is how it was meant to be, if not for business constraints .... those dreaded dustcovers.

Then .....if one is still in Audiophile mode after this, consider the options which include.

Direct Shot wiring - very easy setup on an ET2. Just bypass existing wiring.

The Aluminum mounting base

Aluminum Gooseneck (Joint).

Carbon Fiber Armtube. works with MM and MC carts.

Magnesium (Mag) armtube. Lower compliance MC carts.

High Pressure Manifold.

Conversion to 2.5 (if Bruce still does this - not sure)
You didn’t say if yours was a 2.0 or 2.5. If you use mostly MC carts, the 2.5 is preferred, larger spindle is lower in resonance to deal better with MC carts as discussed here. If you use MM carts I would stick with the 2.0.

My 2 cents

***********************

So when is Spring coming guys ? I heard the Yankees and Mets baseball games were snowed out this week ?
Hi Brad - you need to be very careful working with and around the machined plug on a stock ET2 tonearm. 

You would be like we are fond of saying here....... "Poking at the Sleeping Bear" 
Thanks for that information.
This arm is pretty new to me and in stock form far superior to anything that I've owned before. I'm trying to decide if or what I might to do to improve it's performance. 
I did email Bruce about converting it to a high pressure manifold, that might be a possibility. Cost is a concern, so is not having a table for an extend time.
-Brad  
Hi Brad - you need to be very careful working with and around the machined plug on a stock ET2 tonearm.

You would be like we are fond of saying here....... "Poking at the Sleeping Bear"

I provide this info from Bruce.... also for anyone that has any ideas of removing and -reinstalling the machined plug

**********

If someone removes the 5 pin plug and runs wire straight through the spindle the air bearing will usually work fine. We made a special tool to remove the plugs, you might get lucky with a long screwdriver and you might bend pins on the opposite side of the plug in the attempt.

We do not sanction field removal and re-installation of the 5 pin plug. The spindle is an aluminum tube with very flexible walls, keep in mind that the spindle needs to remain concentric to work as an air bearing. Adhesives typically expand slightly while curing, if the plug is not machined concentric to the spindle during the cure, the air bearing will not perform well where it is needed most (at that end of travel) and a bad air bearing reflects poorly on us.

I hope this helps - brucet


************

fwiw

When I had Bruce build my 19 PSI, 2.5 I specified no machined plug as I had my own one shot wiring. As you know, the first upgrade many people do with their ET2 is wire one shot - from the armtube direct into the phono stage direct, bypassing the air bearing spindle, and the extra connections. Even Bruce runs this way into - what was an SP11mkII the last time I conversed with him on it. Running through the spindle was, I assume, a business decision, based on the turntables that were been equipped with an ET2 at the time it came out.... in the Early Years. Same year the perfect sound (CD) was introduced 8^0

I was wondering how a rewire through the spindle is accomplished with the connecting plug machined into the spindle, How does one access the pins inside the spindle?
-Brad 
OK, a little off topic but I must give a shout out to the U.S. Van den Hul rep.  Disclaimer first.  I have no affiliation with A.J. Van den Hul or his U.S. rep., Finest Fidelity. 

 As those of you who follow my ramblings know, a while back I purchased a VDH Black Beauty special X.  Well, in one of my OC tweaking moods I over torqued the bolts holding the cartridge to my ET arm wand and cracked the upper plate on the cartridge.  I contacted Randy at Finest Fidelity who is the rather new U.S. VDH distributor. 

This is a cartridge I purchased "as new" on U.S. Audio Mart from a gentleman in Washington who, for reasons I won't bore you with, I trusted implicitly.  Randy could have said, sorry, I can't help because you bought it second hand and not from a VDH dealer.  He didn't. Instead, he immediately (same day) contacted A.J. and said, yes it could be repaired; send it on to him.  

Well, to make a short story long, a month later my Black Beauty was returned to me, I set it up and the right channel had a terrible hum. I again contacted Randy who said send it back.  I did so and it made another round trip to the Netherlands (this time free of charge) and , today,  I received it back.  It is just as glorious as it was the first time around.  

Incredible customer service like this is hard to find from a dealer, much less a distributor.

If you need help with your VDH product, I highly recommend Finest Fidelity.

P.S. This cartridge just loves the ET with original aluminum arm wand.
I guess they can't find a plane coming this way.

Show them the money Harry....and a plane will appear out of thin air.

IMO - In our Audio Hobby - the rich one $$$ wise, can never find Audio Nirvana, due to being a "frequent flyer" with gear....just too much choice and temptation on a revolving door......but he does get his gear sent to him in the quickest time. 8^0

The shipping on the Aridyne 2000 due to its weight had to go LTL, and cost 2 times more than what I paid for it, using the cheapest method..... the slow boat as they say - and this for ground shipping.

Chris,
Glad to hear we don't have a northern wall.  Don't forget you are exempt from the steel & aluminum tariff.

Could be worse, my new Garrard 301 plinth has been "preparing for shipping" from Austria for 5 days.  I guess they can't find a plane coming this way.

"Stuck at the Border" - The True Meaning.

I recently learned, that the border "line" in shipping, is a lot like the "line" used to set up an ET2...

You see.....either "line" (the border-line, or ET2 set up-line) can be moved and put anywhere as long as certain conditions are met.

The above border - line, is defined and possible because of the magic of the "Bonded" carrier.

*******************

My case in point. (just sharing )

The border "line" turned out to be, not the physical US/Canada border itself or even near it; but a warehouse less than one hour from my house, and more than a couple hours away from the physical border.
The Freight Company electronic shipment status proved frustrating as the Item in Question - My T-A-2000, is shown as being in this town warehouse, close to me, with a status of "Available for Delivery".

The frustration mounts as the days go by and no change in status. Meanwhile inquiries with the Logistics Company people are fruitless, as when they say "stuck at the border", they smartly keep this border-line information to themselves ....until you dig further.
Due for delivery later today.

Harry et al (excl. Slaw) lol

my T- A - 2000 was due for delivery today .......is stuck at the border.
The people I am paying real money to..... to walk it across "the line" are not sure what is going on. They say they need to get back me.
Seems a good example to me....of excellence in action.  
How does this country survive ?
I don't have eyes on the border. Did he (you know who I mean) put up any walls recently ?

I gave you my opinion on my experiences with the Timeter Aridyne 3000, which I had acquired used. I had a virtual system even then, and you could see the model.

I don't work for Timeter, am not familiar, still to today, with all the products they make, and frankly don't need to know. I provide opinions on gear I actually own, or have owned.

I would assume anyone buying anything, that is another model, yet alone a different line of product from a company, is doing the research themselves on the unit, before acquiring it.


@ct0517 ,

If this makes you uncomfortable, the actual truth,,,,,,,,,I'm sorry.


@ct0517 ,

IMO, Going further, you/one should differentiate these important differences before a recommendation?  Right?
You are most likely correct. This was the direction you pointed me to initially years ago.
Let’s be clear here. i am referencing Timeter ARIDYNE compressors only. No other line.

Did you not own a PCS 414 or something along that level ?  Correct me if I am wrong as I am going by memory. 

That line is used for dispensing medical product.  

Its an Apples and Oranges comparison.

Allied Health Care which makes Timeter, manufacturers many compressors for various needs.

*******************

Also we are not discussing buying these Aridynes from Allied Health Care or one of their dealers. They are being purchased from surplus dealers, resellers for 5-10% of what they cost new. Its plug and play, no water to collect in a bottle for humid areas, and highly mobile.

@vpi,

Don’t know what the decible rating is for the Timeter is, you both are talking about...?

My Jun_Air is around 45dbs.

Pretty damn quiet. Built like a TANK. Find a used one. The are a life-time type of product, for sure!


@vpi,

I have my Jun-Air in my bedroom. Of coarse I’m divorced.

As I imagine Jeff Foxworthy might say..."if you’re a real audiophile.. you’ll find a way to....."

I live close enough to Elkin I could drive there, pick it up and feel good at the moment. My concern is, my history with Timeter. Well, my history with their distributors which, on my experience is who one has to deal with. I purchased one of their units...years ago. If I hadn’t paid with my credit card, given the resources the card provided me for recourse, I’d be out my initial product price and no further way to proceed. After around one year of (wrangling), I was sent a repair kit and was made good for any outlay I had incurred. It was a time consuming process and an unnecessary process for any customer with whom, a professional relationship  was expected!!!!!!!!!!

Years ago, I had to file a claim through my Visa card. With Timeter’s practices, that do not favor the customer. (I’ll pass). Love my Jun-Air and my Motorguard filter system. Stay away from Timeter!

Your self-described laziness, well,, just doesn’t seem a good fit.
Harry - I understand. Something to consider if one has limited space, one floor. These units are highly mobile - like a serving cart as they are on wheels. One fellow I know keeps it covered with a vase/flower on top out of the way. When he uses it he rolls it to a corner room. He has the air tube line attached close to the wall board like the cable TV company line going to this room so his wife does not get upset. Hooks up the air line and plugs it into the AC. Then when done rolls it back out of the way and covers it up again.  
Chris,
Thanks for all the info.  I'm afraid it would be too noisy for my setup.  All my equipment is in a closet at the front of my room but I'd still be only about 15 to 18 ft away.  I don't have the luxury of a basement to isolate the noise.
Harry

Harry - my timeter 3000 resides in the bowels of our basement in a corner. A lonely place. Every fall when listening season starts, I make my way down there. You know, I can swear I thought I saw a troll down there one year?  So I have removed some of the insulation out of mine years ago. It is louder than normal, but this is not a problem due to the distance. If I hold the SPL meter 1 foot away from the box it says 68-70 db.   

• 10 dB: Normal breathing
• 20 dB: Whispering from five feet away
• 30 dB: Whispering nearby
• 40 dB: Quiet library sounds
• 50 dB: Refrigerator
• 60 dB: Electric toothbrush
• 70 dB: Washing machine
• 80 dB: Alarm clock
• 90 dB: Subway train
• 100 dB: Factory machinery
• 110 dB: Car horn
• 120 dB: Ambulance siren

*********************

Now

@banquo363 

posted db level using his 2000 Model Timeter 

It hasn't been bastardized like mine.  

from that link

1. in the same room, from 6ft away: 64dB
2. from the other side of the wall, with door closed: 52dB.
3. from my seat ~40ft away, I can't hear it at all.

Harry 
give me your distance from it, and I will measure with my spl meter and post the number in an hour.
@ct0517 
Elkin, NC is only about 4 hours from me.  I know you have discussed this before but I'm too lazy to look for the post.  How quiet/noisy is this pump?

I'm still amazed at how such small increments on the I Beam make such a significant difference.
Harry

Came into my inbox this morn.

$65.00 only 534 hours.

If someone is interested just verify with seller that the Timeter compressor runs in the green. The picture of the performance gauge shows red. It was probably just turned on.
Pickup from a North Carolina location.

I thought your post was funny. fwiw I have a very dry sense of humor.
What I don't get is how I can run for X kilometers every day, steady heart rate and go for a long time, up inclines and down... ..but if I run up the stairs one time, in the middle of the day, I am going to need that ventilator in the video.......no joke.


@ct0517 ,

For the life of me...(did I just write "life"?) I still don't understand why people can't quite get the meaning of my posts?

It was meant to be funny!
Steve - these Timeters are available online anywhere from $150 - 300 US dollars. And in the USA so you will not be paying the crazy shipping cost, dollar exchange that I paid. They are serious hospital grade 24/7 units that are run to XXXXX hours then I believe just replaced with new units, as their lease, rental comes due. Hence their availability for purchase online from re-sellers, surplus dealers, etc... Ask about the hours if not listed in the ad, but for our hobby use, even 6-8 hours per day - it (high hours) is not of concern. they are $3500 US new.

I did not mean to conjure up thoughts of the "end" in my previous post. I was thinking more along the lines of being "winded". LOL
I am not ready to go yet. But I know it’s not up to me.

Harry - I am using one small weight/no bolt and am at the very end also on the main rig. This is the way it was meant to be. Also to give you an idea how light the 420str cart is - take the small weight Bruce sent you and cut it in half one more time. That is what is needed.  

Long I-Beam Lovers
I mentioned a while back I had inquired of Bruce about a lighter base weight.  He replied he might make some if there was enough demand.  Well, today a cut down base weight arrived from Bruce.  Without the bolt it gets me to the extreme end of the long I-Beam.  I was already about 1/2 inch from the end.  That extra half inch has again improved the bass response and midrange richness.  I don't think better customer service exists in the industry.
Harry

@ct0517 ,

This reminds me that I need to make a change to aticle two/section 38 of my current (DNR) Do Not Resusitate document in the event of my demise.

Thanks a lot!

Really...how are any of us suppose to compete with that?
Guys.
I managed to snag a Timeter Aridyne 2000 for $200 and only 290 hours on it. Here is a video (not mine) of a 2000 model managing two ventilators.....LOL .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-XrKsjUN_g

I can kind of imagine myself (some days) on the end of one of those ...
there is two ventilators there...does anyone else need some air ?  
  
My Timeter 3000 as those who have been on this thread over the years know, has had what I will call "surgeries" performed on parts of the piping to keep it going. The task of getting through my collection had me a little worried on its long term health. It was an old used pump system when I acquired it many years ago, but it still trumped Jun Air and others I looked at with its engineering and Coalescing filtration system

My thanks to  @banquo363   for finding this one for me. 

******
I showed the video to my wife and told her a similar unit should be arriving Monday. She gave me the "I think you have lost your mind look", until I told her it's for the tonearm downstairs.
then she just left the room.....................works for me.

@bdp24 this feels like an opened well or a stream of audio experience opened!
Some of the landmarks I know too: My first acquisition (for my fathers audio system ;-) was a Decca International arm for a Decca, mounted on a TD 124. The self-made arm board was a bit flimsy, and there was always an amount of structure bourne vibration coupled into the cartridge. My Decca arm had a too heavy counterweight, go figure. So this was ca. the scond audio item getting modified...Then the Mayware Fomula IV as its replacement, which ended with a Grado Signature and an "encasing" in BluTak, which was amazing with my hotrodded ARC SP3A. Alternatively I had a quite good Lustre GST1 on a TD 126 (a very low noise, but very boring sounding turntable compared to a Rega 2 or my favoured Walker CJ 55).On the Walker the Formula IV was swapped finally with a Eminent Technology One, ca. 1985 (?), which i replaced with an ET 2 when it came out. The tt was swapped for ca. 4 years for a Merrill Heirloom - my first "last turntable", a very good turntable, though not optimal for the ET2.After that the second "last turntable" was a Well Tempered Signature.Which I re-replaced with an upgrade to the ET 2.5, placed on a considerably modded Technics SL1210. This is my third "last turntable", since ca. 5 years...

OMG @pegasus, the Infinity 1001! That was my first pair of what I guess would be considered high end speakers. It’s price in 1971 was $139/ea, at that time about as much as I had the money for. It’s big brother, the 2000A (which contained the then-best tweeter in the world, the RTR Electrostatic, also used by Infinity in their Servo-Static I) was $299/ea, out of my reach.

The first Decca cartridge I heard was that of ARC’s Bill Johnson. Bill had flown out to Livermore, California (in his own plane---he was a pilot) to deliver a complete ARC system to his new dealer, Walter Davies. Walter is now known as the developer and owner of the Last Record Care products line, but in the Spring of 1972 had just opened a Hi-Fi shop, Audio Arts. Bill brought an SP-3 pre-amp, D-51 and D-75 power amps, a PC-1 passive x/o, and a pair of Magneplanar Tympani-I loudspeakers, of which ARC was the distributor. Bill also brought his own Thorens TD-125 Mk.2 turntable, a prototype ARC tonearm (which never went into production. It looked similar to the Grado arm of the 50’s/60’s---the arm "tube" a flat piece of what appeared to be walnut), onto which was mounted a Decca Blue.

I was a budding audiophile, having just discovered J. Gordon Holt and Stereophile. I listened as Bill and Walter discussed all things hi-fi, and got myself an invaluable education. The sound of that system was to me a revelation! The equipment available to hear in my area (San Jose and neighboring towns) was McIntosh, Dynaco (solid state), and SAE electronics, and Acoustic Research, Rectilinear, and JBL loudspeakers. And of course Bose 901’s. The common cartridges at the time were the Shure V15 and M91e, Stanton 681ee, and various Pickerings, ADC’s etc.

I dove into the deep end, getting my own ARC/Maggie/Decca system. I bought myself a Decca Blue, and mounted in on a Decca International arm and Thorens TD-125 Mk.2 table. The DI was at the time considered THE arm for Deccas, but with it learned that I didn’t care for unipivots. So I replaced it with an SME 3009 Series 2 Improved, and though the arm is a beautiful piece of engineering, it proved to be not a particularly good partner for the Decca. Perhaps because of the SME’s knife-edge bearing design?

Fast forward many years, after having long ago gotten out of hi-fi. I was now an older, wiser audiophile, and ready to jump back in. I bought myself a Decca Super Gold, and mounted it on a Mayware Formula 4. Yeah, it was a unipivot, but I wanted an arm with silicon damping for the Decca. The cartridge was too much for the Mayware, so I got myself the new Well tempered, and put them on a VPI HW-19. That was more like it!

I could have lived that way for years, but then learned of the Townshend Audio Rock Mk.2 Elite, a table particularly well suited for Deccas/Londons (in fact, Max Townshend used the Decca cartridge in his research and development of the Rock). The Well Tempered arm, on the other hand, was not (if you know about the Rock, with it’s trough of damping silicon, you understand why). Off it went, and in went a Rega RB300 with Cardas internal wire. I pretty good setup, but I knew I could do better.

Some further research informed me of the Zeta arm, long considered to be one of the couple of best partners for Deccas. And that it is! Nice stiff arm tube, excellent bearings, and a little on the higher end of medium mass arms. The Rock/Zeta/Decca is a real classic, like a Quad 57/25 watt tube or Class A amp combination. It’s getting buried with me!

There is a newish arm gaining a reputation amongst Decca/London aficionados, the Trans-Fi Terminator. The arm is a unique, passive air-bearing, linear-tracking design, made in the UK. T-F owner/designer Victor Patacchiola until very recently used the London Reference in his research and development of the arm, just as had Max Townshend with the Rock table. Some Decca/London owners are still using the Eminent Technology air-bearing, linear-tracking arm, too.

Robert Levi of Positive Feedback, Decca/London lover and Reference owner, recommends the outstanding Helius Omega arm. The current SME arms have their Decca/London proponents, as well. The common wisdom use to be that the cartridge was best served by a damped unipivot arm, but Grahams do not appear to be popular with Decca/London owners.

Here are two Decca/London related facts:

1- The Zesto Andros 1.2 Phono Stage has a mm cartridge impedance switch that includes a position of 15K Ohms, and provides 200pf of capacitance. Both of those figures are recommended by London for their cartridges. At the 2015 HiFi Show in Anaheim I asked Zesto designer/company President George Counnas if, as I suspected, those provisions were specifically for Londons, and he replied yes.

2- The Schitt Mani Phono Preamp offers four levels of gain, 30dB specifically for Deccas/Londons.


@bdp24, the first "HighEnd" (of the 70’s) I heard was my oldest brothers Garrard Zero tt with a Decca London (Grey?) with a top Pioneer integrated amp feeding a pair of recently refurbished Infinity 1001A. I made many cassette tapes from this setup and from my brothers LP collection with music from Portugal and it’s recently "lost" colonies.
All these kept a cracking, mesmerising immediacy over all these dozends of years, besides sometimes a certain upper range "chatter".
The dynamics of the Decca London is what is always written about. But what kind of surprised me, when I reinstalled one, (refurbished by Reto Andreoli of Blue Electric) whas that this quality was even more one of microdynamics, a kind of grainless agility - besides the impact.
Superb dynamics can often be coupled to a certain relentless quality, something that goes at the expense of a heart-touching quality. Not in the case of the Decca London.In which tonearm do or did you listen to a Decca London?

@pegasus, the Decca/London's are also incredibly dynamic. Think The Who with Keith Moon live! I liken the D/L sound in comparison to others as like the difference between a direct-to-disk LP and one pressed from a tape recording. They have that head-spinning SNAP!, that percussive attack, and a live music immediacy, that I have heard from no other cartridge..

For anyone considering a new London, get it with the optional Decapod, which replaces the standard, flimsy, plastic mount. Well worth the extra money.

Regarding Decca - indeed something special.The energy it puts into an arm through kind of a flimsy structure is challenging. This is predominantly in the vertical axis, which is much stiffer. The recommandation is probably "heavy arm" but maybe in this case mating is easier with more conventional arms. Kind of "low noise" bearing, like WTT or Schröder, or some of the better unipivots. I think the Hadcock worked well (with a bit added mass).With the ET 2, the long beam is probably quite optimal, but the horizontal resonance goes way loooww. And I had strange audible effects from that, kind of "drop outs" in the signal when the horizontal lf resonance was excited. Never saw this with MC cartridges.The fundamental quality is one of extreme agility and superb natural midrange timbre.
Harry 
I used it on a TD125 
A bit hard to setup but.. when there, well then something special

yes Slaw since the moment of the needle is direct there is a lot of forces that have to be damped. need high mass tonearm. 

Styrk  
@shfinne 
I'll have to look into that London Decca.  What table do you have it on?
Harry

Chris,
No cats, no kids, just one medium mongrel and my wife.  Wish we were closer too, but I try to be an honest kind of guy and I'm not sure I would trust myself to give it back to you.  If closer, I'd be content to just hear it in your room.  I'd bring the wine and whiskey.
Cheers,
Harry

Harry - I don’t get envious, as far as I know, but I do wish my knees were in better shape. If you were closer I would let you borrow it over the summer when I am floating on the water. As long as your space is Kitty Proof. Cats like string.
From what I understand, the meshing of a London Decca to any tonearm is to be carefully thought through.
Harry, 

I have a London Decca Gold, love that sound. If it's good "old" sound well that can be a way to go ;))))))

Styrk