LONDON Decca, Tzar DST and similar cartridges

@noromance  Thanks! I have to learn properly how to set VTA by ear.  It's a pain in my EMT setup but looks like I cannot avoid it. Is LDR very sensitive here? BTW confirmed with Brian that cart top should be parallel not the arm.

My vinyls ale cleaned with both ultrasonic and suction plus I brush before dropping the needle, but it still catches longish thin dust "hairs". Good to know Mr Muscle (aka Magic eraser) can be used with LDR, thanks! Was asking Brian but he mentioned only soft brush. Do you know if ultrasonic cleaners like AT637 can also be used?

PS Just got OK from John to use ultrasonic stylus cleaners. Very good!

Yeah, the low ride can pick up fluff but I find that the stylus picks up a lot less than cantilever-based cartridges.
Agreed on the soft brush -you don’t want to damage the tieback cord or worse. No idea about the AT637 but can't imagine there'd be an issue. I sent a well-used 6 year old SG to JW for work and he told me the stylus was not worn. This is a testament to the Magic Eraser and clean records.

I find the loading setting to sound best for my Deccas at 47k.* Lower values, while recommended, took some life away. It could be argued that I am not damping a resonance in the presence region but...
*I experimented and found that using 51k Vishay Z-foil resistors brings greater clarity, air, blackness and enhanced the color of vocals and instruments. You might also try 100k and 1Meg as I have heard it sounds good there too.

@noromance Re R load, in my usual procedure, I first experiment with Dale RN60 and when I find the correct value I replace with a Z-foil (or actually Charctroft). Before placing I burn the resitors with a modulated pink noise for 3 days. Great resistors!

ATM, I do not miss clarity but a bit of the body but I’ll wait until the cart burns in before any load changes (I’ll only change now the input RCA’s to WBT silver ones plus silver wiring from them to the input cart selector of my phono; this way will have a fully silver path from cart to the input tube grid).