| DECCA London Gold Phono Cartridge In Original Box. Excellent Looks And Sound.
End: 23.12. 2024 01:05:32 on Monday
- Condition: Used
- Price: 479.88 EUR
- Status: unsold
- Item number: 276783100706
- Bids: 0
- Seller: hififorfood (3450|99.8%)
- Seller information: Commercial (with base shop)
- Item location: New York, New York
- Ships to: Worldwide
- Shipping: 20,0 EUR
- on EBAY
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Description
DECCA London Gold Phono Cartridge In Original Box. Excellent Looks And Sound.
After a few decades of listening to high-end Moving Coil cartridges, the sound of the London Decca is a revelation. A different sound presentation. No need for A/B comparisons, the London Decca delivers exhilarating energy and power. It sounds more like ‘live’ music to me.For some time now, I have been questioning the design (and high cost) of MC cartridges./[Quote from hifi chap online whom in 2018 moved on to Decca London cart] A CROWN JEWEL IN MY PHONO CARTRIDGE COLLECTION The stereo cartridge for sale is a Decca London Gold, modified by A.J. van den Hul. The modification means that the original elliptical stylus was replaced with van den Huls own super stylus profile. Whether van den Huls work on the cartridge also included other improvements, I do not know. Nor do I know which mk version (mark I-VII) this cartridge was in the basic edition. The original packaging box mentions several improvements, so it is clearly a later version. The van den Hul modification / rebuild means that the cartridge is equivalent to a Decca London Super Gold. Professor A.J. van den Hul has signed his work with the cartridge through engraving on the stylus side of the cartridge housing, see pictures. Apparently, the stylish professor used small capitals. The cartridge comes complete with original case, Decca London jewel box, printed manual, original stylus guard and back-piece with standard screw mount for tonearm assembly. Serial number is E-10.173. This is the top model in a small collection of Decca cartridges I bought decades ago. Over the years I have played the simpler Decca London models from time to time but mostly let this van den Hul rest. Even the simpler versions sound great and van den Hul is more demanding to adjust perfectly. I clearly remember that the seller of the collection emphasized that the van den Hul cartridge is very little played. The number of playing hours today I cannot possibly estimate but I assure you the van den Hul stylus is top fresh: not like new but in fine condition. Well used Decca Londons can look quite rough cosmetically. THE CONDITION The gold painting lacks some flakes of paint, the paint easily comes off around edges and so on Decca Londons. The paintwork is otherwise fine. Decca Londons do not have a Japanese-like finish. You can spot right away that it is a very nice copy. The bottom side is delicate on these, the sample has corrosion-free pole pieces, the printed decal looks superbly fresh, only a single dot mark in the paintwork. The red plastics is completely fresh around the entire cartridge including the stylus guard. Obviously a little played copy. Here you can see how other specimens may look:https://www.ebay.com/itm/196275087053https://www.ebay.com/itm/335141973485https://www.ebay.de/itm/125935089216 There are no visible mechanical or electrical faults or weaknesses. The all-important white thread that holds the needle armature in place looks perfectly fine. The back-piece has a tight fit against the cartridge body, which provides the best electrical connection. The connector pins sit firmly and have the angle they are given from factory. Threads for the tonearm screws are tight and healthy. My inspection of the cartridge was made under a 5.5x Pentax photo lupe. However, no stylus microscope is available so I cannot evaluate the wear of the stylus tip optically. But both the lupe and photos show that the profile is special, extremely sharp and a bit angular; i.e. clearly a van den Hul. The cartridge plays great so the stylus should be healthy. The blue jewel box, original to the cartridge, is in perfect condition with no damage or fading. Clearly immaculate. Then I except that the factory gluing of the white interior shines through in spots. The outer packaging, the cardboard box, has some surface wear and fading (see pictures) but absolutely no splits or crushed corners. The lower edge of the lid (new magnetic circuit, supercooled armature) has a slight discolouration on the lower right edge – the white inner box has on the outside more distinct grease stains (two edges and one side of the bottom) after, I gather, some contact with watchmakers oil on the turntable shelf, see picture. Also, white inner box has a superficially soiled outer bottom plus a minor note in one corner. The folded instruction print is in new, unused condition. TEST PLAYING I recently fitted the cartridge rudimentary (sic!) to my Thorens TD 124 with Ortofon RMG 309. Played a couple of hours, varied material. No hum at all! Instantly silent, in fact without working at all with the grounding. When the cartridge was 5 mm from the platter, a faint humming sound came that was not heard during playback, probably caused by the cast iron sub-platter of the TD 124. Tried stylus pressure 1.5 g and 1.85 g. Tracked well at 1.5, great at 1.85. Not sounding perfect but insanely fine considering a vdH stylus on a cartridge that definitely could not have accidentally ended up mounted correctly. The channel balance sounds normal, mono is a rock solid image in the middle. All frequency bands sound good. Actually, its hard to describe this Decca London in neutral terms. It sounds great, the music plays absolutely fantastic. Take whatever nerdy terms you like – this one plays in the top league. May I mention just one aspect. Brings out DIFFERENCES between recordings like no other. Yet so relaxed and thoroughly musical. TERMS A vintage cartridge cannot be guaranteed. My promise is, however, that the cartridge is in a very nice and playable condition, that no kind of restoration is required before it can be put into use. If the buyer shows that there still is something clearly wrong, I will let the purchase go back. A kind of warranty, but I alone will be the judge. Under no circumstances may the purchase be a way to try out a Decca London for your pleasure under a right to return. SHIPPING Shipping is by Registered Mail to all locations. Including insurance, EUR 900. ************************** The Decca London is one of the most classic cartridges ever made. In this edition, a legend. There is a lot of information about Decca cartridges online, so if you have general or technical questions, I encourage you to search for the answers you need. Everything positive is true, everything negative is a lie and bad-mouthing. ;-) What I can say is the following. Conventional cartridges with a stylus arm (cantilever) suspended in a damping rubber material at the coil end degenerate over time so that they are eventually unplayable. An old Ortofon SPU, for example, usually needs an expensive restoration, stylus exchange is not enough. A nice detail about Decca cartridges is that they dont age that way: no such suspension, the stylus comes straight down from above directly through the coil, held in place by the twisted thread seen in the pictures. Herein lies the explanation for the often shocking sense of presence and realism with Decca cartridges: no wobbly jelly mounted cantilever that kills transients and micro-detail (cantilever haze). The music and the musicians are chiseled out with a power and presence that makes you ... listen. Every time Ive played on Decca for a while, I think: MY GOD, why use something else. A price to pay for the exceptional sound is that the discs must not be dusty. The distance between the tip of the stylus and the cartridge body is short. May also be a problem with warped discs. A technical detail is that Deccas have three connector pins. The return (minus) is common to both channels. You can somehow rather easily connect the two minus leads from the tonearm (blue and green). There are also new back-pieces with 4 pins to buy. With Deccas, it is also important that the turntable and tonearm have well-functioning grounding / contact with the RIAA or preamp. Decca cartridges have a very high output level. Can be connected directly to MM input.
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