Decca London Super Gold Compatibility Question

Unipivots are not right for the Decca. Lots of resonance reflects back into the arm....you need solid bearings.

Sorry stringreen, I gotta disagree with you on this one.  Not all unipivots work well with the Decca cartridges but those that do work better than gimbaled or tonearms w/ captured bearings - IMO.

dhcod, I haven't tried a Moerch tonearm with the Decca (never even occured to me to try it) but having owned a DP-6 in the past I would guess that this is not a good match.  YMMV

Classic match for the Decca was something like Hadcock 228 unipivot. I've used Decca since 1978 on a Hadcock with silicone damping - Maroo, Garrott Brothers Gold and a John Wright rebuilt C4E.

It should work pretty well with that arm. Try the SME headshell. Maybe add a little mass.

Thanks bpoletti. I did this and the Decca came alive! Quite a bit of surface noise but wow. So immediate sounding!

Now trying to deal with a little thin sounding bass. Setup is definitely finicky.

You need a higher mass arm. Deccas can sound bass shy in a low mass arm. Try adding more weight to the headshell - I use brass bolts- and add more weight to the counterweight. Surface noise comes with the territory. 

I added 4.4 grams using an SME headshell weight and that was the difference maker. That and finally getting the VTA correct! The surface noise is really interesting because it's almost like there's a threshold that if it hits, there's noise. Otherwise it's quiet. I don't seem to have many records with just a little noise with this cartridge.