Thanks for all the great responses. In the meantime, I have done some more background work based on your responses. I use Graham Phantom Elite and SME V and SME V-12 arms, and both have advocates for use with the Decca/London cartridges. The Decca/London manufacturer leans toward (but doesn’t necessarily recommend) the Graham, apparently because it is a damped unipivot, and Ken Kessler likes the SME, which can be damped at the choice of the user. The good news for me, dampened by Warren Gregoire’s assessment below, is that I don’t have to buy an arm in order to try the cartridge, unless you Decca/London users believe these arms would compromise the sound. Secondly, I found that my phono preamp can accommodate the loading and capacitance that halcro recommended. That’s a relief!
Thirdly, I spoke to Warren Gregoire, who didn’t like any of my turntables (Basis Debut and Technics SP 10 MK3, the Technics with Bill Thalmann overhaul, Krebs modifications, and Porter plinth) and none of my arms and especially disdained my turntable stands (Symposium Isis), because they are spring loaded to overcome acoustic feedback and footfall problems in my second floor stereo room. Just to be clear, he didn’t like my equipment for use with the Decca London cartridges rather than making any universal judgments. So that conversation left me wondering about any prospect for success with these cartridges and my equipment.
But, if I do take the plunge, which should I try? The London Reference? The London Decca Jubilee? The Super Gold, Gold or Maroon? After all of his reservations, Warren Gregoire suggested I try the Jubilee and then quickly explained his return policy in some degree of detail. He felt my equipment probably wasn’t good enough to realize the benefits of the London Reference. Your thoughts about the differences among these cartridges?
