Grade Master3 cartridge--Moving Iron Design

The drawing of the Decca/London pickup design on the new London site looks very similar to the drawing of the moving iron design in the Gramophone article. It’s the one in the upper right hand corner of fig. 2. The inclusion by the article’s author of the Decca in the variable reluctance category does not align with the description and drawing (bottom right corner) of a vr pickup in the article.

I forgot to mention that the output voltage of Londons and Deccas is a very high 5mV! Schitt includes a 33dB gain setting specifically for Londons/Deccas on their Mani phono stage, 40dB on the Skoll and Stjama.

Some London/Decca enthusiasts like to run their pickups into a lower than standard 47k Ohm impedance. George Counnas of Zesto Audio told me he put a switchable setting of 15k Ohm in his Andros II phono stage at the behest of his industry friends who use Londons/Deccas in their personal systems.

@dogberry:

I believe the new owners of the London (Decca) brand will put a line contact stylus on the Maroon model (which comes with a spherical/conical) for an additional $268. I say that because I sent them my Model 4RC to be rebuilt, and they offered me that option.

While Grado and other moving iron designs share the moving iron element with Londons and Deccas, they sound nothing like the latter. J. Gordon Holt characterized the lack of a cantilever in the Deccas as resulting in a lack of "cantilever haze." If you've heard a direct-to-disk LP you have an idea of the startling immediacy and dynamic characteristics of the Decca/London design.