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best phono stage to mate with a London Decca Super Gold cart?

Greetings All!

I'm looking for recommendations for a phono stage to match with my Decca Super Gold cart.

I'm currently using the phono stage on my Doge 8 preamp which is OK, but not stellar. Table is a Roksan Xerxes with an upgraded RB300 arm (Incognito wiring and Audio Origami external cable).

I'm open to either S/S or tube.

Budget up to $1,500.

cheers,
Norm


nordicnorm
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,444 posts
 

What the Decca/London's need is not much gain (40dB is plenty) and lots of headroom. Their 5mV output is way too hot for lots of phono stages.

For solid state, the Liberty B2B-1 has both, John Atkinson finding it's overload margin about as high as he has ever measured. It retails for $1800 I believe.

For tube, the discontinued Herron VTPH-1mm is a great choice, providing 42-44dB gain (depending on tubes used) and pretty good headroom. Give Keith a call, as he sometimes has trade-ins available. You should be able to get one for $1500. The improved VTPH-2 will cost you more.

For the best performance from the Super Gold, you want to load the cartridge at 15k to 22k resistance, and 220pF of capacitance. The RB300 works pretty well with the cartridge, although an arm with a little higher mass and damping is preferable. 

nordicnorm OP
313 posts
 
Thanks for the replies! This is very good information. I am looking at Croft. Their RIAA Phono sells for $1200 here in Canada, so looks promising.

I take your point with respect to the RB300 arm. I do plan on upgrading it in the future.

cheers,
Norm
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,444 posts
 
UK reviewer Ken Kessler of Hi-Fi News is a longtime Decca devotee, and has praised Glenn Croft many times, including his phono designs for use with Deccas/Londons. And Croft, being intimately familiar with the cartridges, may have his own preferences for loading them with resistance and capacitance.
arj
68 posts
 
Hi  bdp24 , i was curious regarding the below in your post
For the best performance from the Super Gold, you want to load the cartridge at 15k to 22k resistance, and 220pF of capacitance.
How can this be done for MM Phonos which i believe are internally loaded at 47K. does this involve some bit of DIY ?

I have a much older decca hence the interest !
topoxforddoc's avatar
topoxforddoc
353 posts
 
I run a Decca FFSS MkIV C4E (rebuilt by John Wright) and Garrott Brothers Gold (retipped by JW). I have been using Deccas since the late 70s. I now use a TRON Seven Reference phono stage, which was built specially for my Decca. Of course, this is way out of your budget. However, I have also tried the budget TRON Convergence tube phono stage (GBP900 = USD1300) with my Deccas. It gets maybe 90% of the SQ of my Seven Reference for a mere fraction of the cost. Graham Tricker builds his units to order, and so you can specify cartridge loading etc at the time of order.
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