LONDON Decca, Tzar DST and similar cartridges


I have always been curious about these phono cartridges and the Stereophile review of the Tzar DST has heightened my interest. When I read about the peculiarities of these cartridges, I am put off from trying them. Can anyone offer persuasive reasons to try them and also provide real practical advice on how to make them work reliably?  Tonearm suggestions? Phono preamp suggestions? Damping recommendations? How badly do they grind out record grooves?  Any other words of advice? Thanks. 
128x128kmccarty
Went through another fine tuning session with my DLR. Unfortunately at the moment my system is not where I live so I have access to it only every 2-3 weeks :( I keep beeing amazed by the cart.

VTA - used a VTA block to check the cart top was parallel and gave it a tiny bit of a negative angle (tail down). Gave more body and volume to the sound, v nice!

Changed the London supplied steel screws to Transcendent Frequencies titanium ones, the same length as London’s. The VTF decreased quite a lot by some 0.7g. After compensating and checking the alignment with a copy of the Dennesen protractor (Nerve Audio) did not detect any difference. Might...MIGHT be the sound went a tiny bit more direct but that could be my fantasy.

Hum - f...k it, didn’t bother to ground the EMT930 to see if it disappear. Doesn’t bother me once the music start playing.

Anti skate - tried all the range from 0.5g to 2.5g on two test records (HiFi News and Clearaudio). No...NO..change in tracking ability of any sort. Nothing, nada. It misstracked exactly the same way and in the same places both on 0.5g, 2,5g and in between. DLR is not a torture track champ but who cares? Multiple atempts to visually examine if the diamond leans to the center or to the outside when lowered gave nothing either - it stays straight. Set AS to minimal on my FR64s.

To do: 1) Change the RCA sockets and the input MM wiring on my DIY EAR834 phono to WBT silver and solid core Ag wire. All bought, have to burn it in first before soldering in.
2) After some 20h more (30h total) will start playing with the load (now 47,5k) but honestly don’t feel any need now. Will try to measure the capacitance input tube to cart pins and perhaps add a silver mica cap to bring up to the London recommended.

Great journey!






@bydlo re the Ti screws being lighter, the small sound difference could be caused by moving the counterweight closer to the pillar.
@noromance Indeed to keep the static to dynamic balance ratio the same, I've moved the counterweight a bit closer to the pillar. In any case, if there was a sound difference, it was v tiny.
A question to LDR users: When lowering and rising the cart, it makes a short pronounced "nasal squeal". Do you also experience it? If so is it normal or is it suboptimal setup as some suggest?

Thanks