Well Peter said I'm crazy. Also a few things about Deccas in general "that I wouldn't say out loud in public." He's not a fan.
All I can do at this point is to hope that londondecca.com eventually get back to me.
Mono Cartridge Question
You chaps have watched me struggle with the issue of my London Decca Reference being irreplaceable, and then joyfully learning that John Wright has a successor after all. You have seen me buy and test three other MI designs (Nagaoka MP-500, Grado Statement3, Soundsmith Sussurro MkII) along with my older MC cartridges (Ortofon Kontrapunkt C and Benz Micro Ruby 3). Since those struggles have led me to owning two SME turntables and four tonearms, I am now torturing myself with the question of whether one of those four should be home to a dedicated mono cartridge. Remember, I only have one ear and cannot hear stereo at the best of times. A mono cartridge for my few dozen mono recordings would be a matter of reduced surface noise and possibly some improvement in dynamics.
I can get hold of an Ortofon Cadenza Mono (two voice coils so not true mono) for about 1600CDN, and a Miyajima Zero for 3450CDN. So the question is this: am I mad to even think about it? Money is not what it once was before I retired. There is no opportunity to go and hear these before purchase, without spending much more than purchase price on travel.
Shall I "make do" with my rather good stereo carts for my mono LPs or is there something better waiting for me when I get out those Parlophone Beatles LPs?
Hmm. There must be life at londondecca,com. The 'Service' button now opens a web message form rather than an e-mail link to service@londondecca.com. So I filled it in. Also asked the old UK distributor at Presence Audio if he knows what's going on. |
I have a London Decca Maroon which I ordered from John Wright as a mono cartridge and on most mono discs it beats my stereo cartridge and mono switch despite the latter’s Replicant 100 stylus and much more sophisticated phono stage, however, I have a few mono records where it doesn’t, I think those are the older wide groove LPs and the Replicant is just a better fit in the groove. It’s reputed to be a simple matter to convert a Decca to mono but I don’t know the details. Beware a true mono cartridge on a stereo LP, you want some vertical compliance. |