Well, up here the SME V has sailed away, and it has taken the Kundalini Effect along with it, and left me destitute and desperate. So I searched for a combo which could fill the new Void in my audio life, as the simply re-wired Rega RB-300 wasn't doing it (and I haven't the various upgrading kits here to apply to try to squeeze it out), and though I could have squeezed more magic out the Lenco/Rega/Denon by switching out the Pierre Amp/ESS and switching in the Sony 3130F/AR2ax combo, I didn't want to give up the amazing Pierre Amp and its trick of sounding like a 100-watt SET, but with bass reach and high frequency extension. So I looked to the fabulously musical Grado as my saviour.
Now the Grado's high frequencies - and the Pierre Amp/ESS combo demands perfect high frequencies, at the very least not grainy - on the Rega RB-300 are quite good, but it loses some of that drive, and rhythm, not to mention not tracking as well as with lower-mass tonearms. The MAS/Grado combo shows some grain in the new set-up (ARC SP-8, etc.) which wasn't audible before, and also didn't match the SME/Denon combo for the Kundalini Effect. Now I remembered that the Grado sang such sweet music on the Decca International, and I remembered I had won a Heavy Metal Decca International (I'll post photos at some point) in an auction here on Audiogon a while back, an all-metal more modern-looking version of the cheapie plastic Decca we all know and love. I didn't even know this version existed until Pierre pulled it out one day when I was visiting, himself unaware of the cheap plastic version!! LUST (Pierre wouldn't part with it)!!!! So when I saw it pop up unused here on Audiogon I kept my lip zippered and crossed my fingers that no one was aware of these two versions. Anyway, desperate and destitute and down-trodden and in despair, I pulled it out and decided to give it a go. The bearing pillar is much larger, longer, and made of heavy polished metal with a beautiful black/hematite finish. The mounting arrangement is much heavier too, being a threaded bolt of sorts with no set-screws, more hematite. The tonearm proper is all metal with no plastic except the insert for the cool-looking streamlined headshell. The tonearm cable is removable, with a very serious screw-on connector, but otherwise the same old crappy wire. The counterweight is different as well, also looking cooler than the original. But other than all that, it is the same as the plastic version with magnetic repulsion for a cushion, the same unipivot bearing, and the same anti-skate arrangement.
Having nothing but hopes, I lowered the stylus into the groove and my jaw hit the floor. Easily the most detailed and delicate and imaging sound I have ever gotten out of my Grado. I said many times that the Grados being "undetailed" was balderdash due to people being used to, and attracted to, overemphasized high frequencies, and that Grados retrieved more midrange information, more resonances, and better imaging than any high-end MC, and it's now proven true in spades. I mean, the way the Grado clearly retrieves the tiniest details from the mix, with itsy-bitsy little percussion waaaaayyyyyy in the back of the soundstage, and yet STILL surrounded by air and echo (and I mean each individual sound, way way way back of the soundstage in the mix), is incredible. In addition to all of that, the high frequencies now perhaps match those of the Shibui/Fabled Shibata (through horse-trading I have acquired a Shibui Denon, mounted in a machined aluminum body, with a boron cantilever and Shibata stylus, stunningly beautiful high frequencies), being truly sparkly and delicate and filigree, with amazing deftness and extension, but with speed and SLAM. Never heard my Grado do THAT before. And the dynamics/explosiveness are totally out of this world (Grados always did have a slamming sound)!!
Now recently I've heard a Giant Direct Coupled Lenco produce some absolutely amazing sound from a Dynavector 17D MKIII mounted to the parallel-tracking MG-1 air-bearing tonearm, in a very high-end system, comprising Aesthetix phono stage and preamp, Bryston 7BSST monoblocks and Harbeth Monitor 40s. Of course, the imaging was superb. I would say that the imaging I am hearing from the humble Decca/Grado combo is superior, thanks in part as well to Pierre’s amazing amp. But funny how we ping-pong back and forth blowing each other away up here with our various Lenco set-ups ;-)! First, this Lenco-er heard the SME V combo and was blown away. When he got here, he had been planning to sell a Koetsu Rosewood he owned. After hearing mounted on the SME V he was overwhelmed and decided not to sell the Koetsu, and has now sworn he will own a SME V. On my part, when he demonstrated his Lenco/MG-1/Dyna 17D MKIII combo to me (a truly stellar combo), I left swearing I would own an MG-1 (good thing it's cheaper too ;-)) and a Dyna 17D MKIII. Tonight he's coming over, as I told him, to hear what a Grado can REALLY do!! In fact, now that the Grado Promise is realized, I am wondering: where do I go from here? God I love the Grados. Perhaps, finally, a higher Grado. There are other unipivots as well which I'll be playing with (and the Grados very evidently - like the Deccas which it resembles in many particulars - loves unipivots).
Now this Decca tonearm isn't modded and still has the original wiring. Is it really that much better than the plastic Decca, or is it because of the much larger plinth it is mounted to, the Direct Coupling, and the Glass Mod (all new since I last heard the Decca/Grado combo)? I don't know. But I have never heard a Grado produce such delicate and ultra-extended high frequencies before! Be fun if others who have Giant Direct Coupled Lencos could try their plastic Decca Internationals with Grado Woodies, if they have any hankerin' to, and report back.
Anyway, I have many new toys to play with in the next while I'll report on, including and in addition to the Shibui, an RS Labs RS-A1 tonearm (which has unfortunately just gone up in price). Also begun building a Giant Plinth for my Garrard 301 grease-bearing, which I'll be testing out with a Dynavector tonearm (on loan), Audio Gods willing. Regardless of all this, I am now, with the discovery of the Decca/Grado combo, a Happy Camper again. Now these metal Deccas don’t show up too often on eBay, but don’t dismiss Decca tonearm sales without first checking out the photos!! Have fun all!!
