Progress at londondecca.com

Sending cartridges to the UK for service is a Royal pain. 

Not so in my experience with Expert Stylus Repair. As I mentioned elsewhere it was 3 weeks round trip for a new stylus only on my Koetsu, and the results sound superb. SoundSmith is only ~150 miles from me, and they’ve never been as rapid, with due respect.

I have to send others to the USA, so it makes no difference to me. As to why repairs are in the UK, either it is because the majority of Decca owners are there, or maybe Neil could have been trained by John Wright, and could easily take over his equipment, whereas an American tech might not be able to do either so easily.

It will be curious to see what they are to cost now, and whether there will be an "improved" version as suggested when londondecca.com first came online.

@lewm Every time I've sent Decca to JW, the package was delayed by customs and VAT applied + £13 fee. 

Dunno what's up.  No VAT involved (perhaps because the Koetsu is not made in the UK in the first place, whereas the Decca is made in UK), and if UK or US customs examined the package, I don't know about it, and there was obviously no hold up associated with customs, because ESR informed me when the cartridge was on the way back (probably via DHL, but I don't remember), and sure enough it arrived 2-3 days later.

Customs can, technically, charge tax and the value of the repair/service conducted abroad. I once sent a pair of Olympus OM-2n cameras to the best tech there is in the USA (John Hermanson), and got charged on their return, not for the value of the cameras, but their increased value by virtue of the CLA they had undergone.

But, @noromance , there can be no reason to charge VAT on entry to the country, and I assume that's what you mean since it is in sterling.

@dogberry The UK charges VAT on goods into the country. Otherwise, it’s contaband. In my case, they didn’t care that the cartridge was to be in the country temporarily for repair. Same thing happened when I sent a 401 to AudioGrail, the SOBs charged me over £200. The point being, repairs into the UK can be delayed and further costs added.

They should only do that if the imported goods are to stay in the country. I may have been lucky, but I always write in my customs declaration "For repair and return to Canada" and instruct the repairer to write "Returning to Canada after repair." I learned to do that after the debacle with the OM-2n cameras.

Maybe Stuart will one day team up with a stateside repair man, like Steve Leung.

Things are happening over at londondecca.com - https://www.londondecca.com/ld-shop/cartridges

Not yet functional, but the Maroon, Maroon Mono, Super Gold, Jubilee and Reference are to be sold there. And prices haven’t jumped as much as I feared, the Reference, for example, is $6,895.

And there is a new tonearm: https://www.londondecca.com/ld-shop/p/londondeccatonearm

Interesting that they are bringing back the AlNiCo magnets.

@noromance: Was that magnet used in the Decca Mk.IV? I'm on the hunt for a MK. IV.

Any thoughts on the new Deccas and compatibility with the standard 1200G tonearm? I'm assuming a love match but would appreciate feedback from others. Thanks in advance.

The effective mass is said to be 12g, so it should be OK from that point of view. You might ask in the long Decca thread at Lenco Heaven whether anyone has used them together.

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=545.0

Back in the 80’s and 90’s a popular arm for use with Decca’s was the Zeta (a British medium/high mass arm), especially in the UK. It was known for it’s stiff, large diameter arm tube and excellent bearings. They show up used once in a while. I have my London Super Gold (with Decapod) mounted on one, on a Townshend Audio Rock Elite table. A Decca/London mounted on a Zeta mounted on a Rock: can't get more British than that! 

@dogberry Thank you for the response...but a 300+ page thread sounds more like Lenco Hell, no? Lol...will definitely check it out. 

@bdp24 Funny you say that because 'Brit synergy,' in a way, is what encouraged my interest/the question. According to Art Dudley, Rega's RB300, a medium mass arm similar to the one on the 1200G, was a great mate for the Decca Maroon...https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-156

I started with a Decca Jubilee on an RB300 - they went fine together.

@bdp24 How about a Decca on an SME arm/table, amplified by Musical Fidelity and Quad, feeding Quad ESLs?

@oceanandmountains: In the early-90’s I had my Decca (not London) Super Gold mounted on a Rega 300 (first on an AR ES-1 table, then a VPI HW-19), a pretty good pairing. The Zeta is better.

@dogberry: You got me beat! I have the London/Zeta/Rock feeding a Herron Audio VTPH-1mm phono stage (U.S.A.) into an EAR-Yoshino 868L line stage (UK), into a Music Reference RM-10 MK.2 power amp (U.S.A.) powering Quad ESL’s. By the way, the RM-10 is a great amp for the Quads. 35w/ch, very stable into a reactive load with a wildly-varying impedance curve (the Quads).

The londondecca.com shop is now functional and open for purchases.

@dogberry Any news on servicing and stylus replacement costs? I reached out directly but got no reply.

When londondecca.com was first up, they had prices listed, but that page has disappeared. The most recent info I have is that enquirers are told there is a $150 diagnostic fee, and then they will tell you what the rest of the bill will be. John Wright charged me $1300 for a full Reference rebuild, and I think the page mentioned above showed an increase to $1889.

@dogberry I suspect the pricing will be a far cry from the £350 JW charged for a Paratrace on my SuperGold etc. Are the repairs being done in the US, and by whom? Maybe it's just a slow start and poor website design but I’m not really impressed by the whole thing to be honest.

Repairs are being handled in the UK, by a tech called Neil Marshall. He is based in Sowton, on the outskirts of Exeter, in Devon. I understand that when you send him a cartridge it is to be sent to his (?)brother at a garage as they are open every day to receive packages. This may have changed since, and likely will if this becomes a full-time job. He wrote a PM to me saying:

I am 'the guy' in Devon who has been tasked with such projects, but this is the first I am hearing of your mission, having just read through some of the posts on here.
I am just starting up with the Decca's, have been building eye wateringly expensive moving coils for many years, so am getting my head round its MANY quirks and foibles....ooooh, so many!  That said, you won't find anyone more dedicated to the cause of building/rebuilding the best and most consistent Deccas , now my life's mission!!!
This isn't going to happen overnight.....my goal is to be able to work with owners on an individual basis, to be able to give each and every person exactly what they require,  but being as each and every cartridge is, to be polite, 'individual'  I am going to have my hands full to fine tune every nuance to provide everyone with exactly the sound they like best.

I'm at the sharp end, as in looking down the wrong end of a telescope with a pair of very pointy tweezers,  but there are other people doing the business side, which really isn't me, in fact, I hope I don't get into trouble for sending this message.
Getting the whole thing set up is proving an absolute nightmare, and extremely time consuming.
 From my perspective,  I am holding down a full time job, but hopefully this could lead to full time just doing the cartridges, both new and rebuilds.  Once everything is completely sorted,  rebuilds will be turned around very quickly.
I'll come clean with the management that I have contacted you as I feel it's only fair that ALL enquiries should be addressed.  
You are correct, things are slow at the moment, but I'm very passionate about cartridge building/repair and as soon as I have all the parts delivered it will be full steam ahead.

When I replied I heard back from the owner, Stewart Suda (he is the owner of Rogers Music Systems, which is the agent for Rogers speakers in the USA, based in Green Bay, WI.), and I had the impression he was not pleased that Neil had contacted me. However, I have had friendly e-mails from him since. It must be a bit of a nightmare to get all the manufacturing going again, which I assume is still to be done in the UK. You might know that John ran out of armatures and failed to acquire the dies for making them. Three people tried to help (two cartridge techs known on the forums as needlestein and cafe latte respectively, and also Peter Ledermann). An additional complication is that the steel they are made from is a non-standard thickness, and sheet stock has to be re-rolled to get it to the right size. This is expensive with a minimum order quoted to John of $50k. But by that time John's wife had retired and he just wanted out. Stewart writes:

I was introduced to Decca in 1972 and have had many over the years. When I had heard the company was going to close It took about three days of conversation with John and I bought the company. While it hasn’t been without trails it has been worth every minute. The biggest issue is the lead time to have the parts built. Every part is custom made and I refuse to cut corners. After all this brand is more than one of the finest cartridges ever made its a passion for all of us.

He has also indicated a new version of the Reference is in the works.

I'm just VERY glad I got my London's when I did. I fear the new ones are going to be far more expensive.

@dogberry Thanks for sharing. I gotta say this confirms my initial gut reaction about the reboot. Not confidence inspiring, somewhat disappointing, but probably understandable given the niche nature of the product. I believe the owner needs to be more transparent with this small but dedicated consumer base, especially if cartridge servicing is outside the US.

@bdp24  They are!

I fear the new ones are going to be far more expensive.