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What tonearm will better mine?

I have been running a 12" Jelco SA750L with an upgraded Decca Super Gold on a Garrard 401 for a few years. I'm happy with the sound and happy with my pre, power and speakers. (Croft 25R, EICO HF35s, -good tubes, Quad 57).
I keep hearing that my tonearm is a weak link even though it sounds pretty awesome to me. What would it take to replace the Jelco and make a significant improvement? What should I expect to hear better? Would I have to drill the massive plinth? Thanks.
128x128noromance

Showing 7 responses by bdp24

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bdp24
9,510 posts
 

Harold, KLE makes it kind of confusing, with their name designation. The RCA jack line ascends in this order: Classic Harmony, Copper Harmony, Silver Harmony, Pure Harmony, and at the top Absolute Harmony, which is what I sent Vic. PM me for more details---Eric.

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
Yup Harold, the Terminator is a fascinating arm. I have one on order, should be ready maybe later this month. Mine is being made with an uninterrupted run of silver wire from cartridge tags to RCA plugs, a pair of KLE Absolute Silver I just shipped to Vic. Pics on the TransFi site show a London Reference mounted on the arm, which is what I will be using on mine.
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bdp24
9,510 posts
 

If you feel like going hard-core Decca/London, the two arms known as great matches with the cartridge is the Fidelity Research 66 and the Zeta. There are not a lot of them around for sale, so you'll need to be patient.

One new arm popular with the cartridge is the Helius Omega. Kind of expensive at around $3200 for the Standard (copper wire, tungsten bearings) and $5200 for the Silver Ruby (silver wire, ruby bearings). A very sophisticated arm designed and made in England by a genuine rocket scientist!

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bdp24
9,510 posts
 
Meaning no disrespect, and acknowledging that other posters may in all likelihood have more experience with various arms than do I, may I humbly suggest that the extreme nature of the Decca/London cartridges is what needs to be taken into consideration when looking at arms for use with them. They put out a massive amount of physical energy, revealing any resonances in the arm's tube and rattles in it's bearings. The freedom from rattling bearings is one reason unipivots have traditionally been recommended for them, the other being that unipivots often feature damping, which the cartridge can use. The cartridge has vertical and horizontal compliances differing from one another, making getting the resonant frequency in the optimum 10Hz range in both planes more difficult than do "normal" cartridges. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
Yes, the Super Gold needs to be loaded at around 22k ohms resistance with 220pF capacitance, which creates the optimal electronically damped circuit with the cartridge. Another arm worth looking into is the Well Tempered. And if your Super Gold doesn't have the Decapod installed on it noromance, it may be the best thing you can do for it. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

The old Decca's were extremely variable, each one needing to be loaded to match it's particular performance. The current London's are much more consistent, and can be loaded according to builder John Wright's recommendations.

Noromance, the Decapod (why it is spelled with only one c I don't know) offers a couple of improvements. The "Pod" makes the cartridge less microphonic, being a thick slab of aluminum that replaces the much less non-resonant thin piece of tin that is the stock top plate of the cartridge. The Pod makes unnecessary the stock cheesy red plastic mounting bracket, a major source of weakness in the mating of arm and cartridge. The Pod is threaded, allowing for a tight direct fitting to the arm's headshell. The discarded plastic mount also contains the cartridge's output pins, which connect to thin strips of brass or copper (like the blades on the battery connections inside a flashlight) on the back of the cartridge body, necessitating an extra break and connection in the signal path. With the substitution of the Decapod for the stock mount, the output pins are on the cartridge itself, a huge improvement with a signal as low in voltage as that of a cartridge's, even the Decca's 5mV!

I believe the Decapod is available as a DIY part, or you may return the cartridge to have it installed by John. He will at the same time adjust and test the cartridge, returning it with a performance test report if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't have a Decca without the Decapod!

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

The red plastic mount wasn’t designed for damping, but merely for mounting the cartridge, and perhaps for easy switching between models---elliptical, spherical, the version for 78’s. The cartridge originated in the 1950’s, long before people were as concerned with damping resonances as are we now. That mounting design exhibits a fair amount of flex, allowing relative motion between cartridge and headshell, obviously not a good thing. People have tried all sorts of DIY remedies, the most common being Plasticene, Mortite, Blutack, modeling clay, and other putty-like materials wedged into the space between the top of the cartridge and the bottom of the mount, to prevent that motion. The Decapod is a far better solution, making the cartridge as tightly secured to a headshell as any "normal" one. I ordered my London Super Gold Mk.VII with the Decapod already installed, but my earlier Decca SG originally had the stock mount. I sent it back to John for him to install. Yes, definitely worth the money!

The Paratracer tip is universally lauded by Decca/London owners, and when I need a retip I’m definitely going to have John install it on my London.

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