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In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Buying a last cartridge.
Post Subject: Decca london cartridgePosted by drdna on: 9/6/2008
Romy, I think you are asking if I have the Edgar subwoofers also.  Yes, I do, like giant woodgrain refrigerator in the living room.  So I do get some bass response.

The Decca cartridges sound different from every other cartridge I have heard. Before this, I had crafted my stereo around trying to get closer to the sounds right and occasionally there would be a moment on a particular record where I would hear the Sound.  This record would become a reference for me and meanwhile I focused on getting the balance of emotional liquidity with my Koetsu or my 2A3's and the technical accuracy with my gold and silver wiring mixtures.

However, when I heard the Decca Jubilee, I heard the Sound.  And it was just there very plainly.  In the same way when you go and listen to a concert, you are not adjusting your seat or your ears -- because the music is just there, likewise I kind of stopped worrying about the stereo with the Decca.  In many ways, the Decca may be seen as deficient: it is not tonally perfect, it is not a super great tracker, etc.  But, for whatever reason, the Sound is there, and the minor technical deficiencies do not matter.

Yet, I think the Decca Reference will best suit you.  (Tell Warren I sent you and he will give you a good deal.)  The Reference is a different cartridge.  I listened to this in my system for a few weeks but I ultimately did not keep it.  If I won the lottery I would have both the Jubilee and the Reference however. The Reference loses a small bit of the Sound, which I was unwilling to accept.  The trade off is that it then gives you perfect tracking, inner detail, accuracy, emotion, and everything else that the typical audiophile characteristics will describe as glorious.  It is clearly more the engineer than the artist.  But among engineer type cartridges, I will make this analogy.  If van den Hul or Clearaudio are like reading very complex elegant engineering explanations of suspension bridge structure, then the Decca Reference is like walking on the Golden Gate Bridge on a warm Spring day.

Regards,
Adrian

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