To be clear, lest my comment be interpreted as arrogant: It is quite a feat for a cartridge, any cartridge, to make a Decca sound slow.
I installed a new Nagaoka MP-700
I installed a new Nagaoka MP-700 cartridge on my tricked-out AudioGrail Garrard 401 turntable with Jelco TK850L tonearm.
I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with London Decca to replace the stylus on my Decca Super Gold (Paratrace Decapod) as it involved sending it to the UK, so I thought I’d give this new top of the line Nagaoka MP (moving permalloy) a shot. I bought the model complete with the headshell.
It’s heavy and pushed the Jelco to its near end limits getting the arm balanced. Tracking is 1.4g. Setup was a doddle.
Initial impressions are very good. Black backgrounds, low noise floor, powerful and well-delineated bass. Fine detail and sharp leading edges. Sweet midband. Nice separation of instruments with good tonal color. Imaging is very good. Not as wide or deep as the Decca, however. I’ll see how it is after 50 hours. First few sides, it was a little shouty but seems to have settled down. Male vocals have a lovely wooden tone. It’s definitely tight like a well-rehearsed band, almost making the Decca sound slow. Low levels of surface noise.
Thomas Dolby, Crocked Still, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Leonard Cohen, The The, Doc Evans, Eagles, Pat Kirby
It may be the best cartridge I've had in by system.
More anon.
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Are you open to additional Agoner orders? Just kidding. I want a DS Audio W3 cart+energizer, but cannot afford. Been also looking for used items also. Waiting for wife to retire within 3 months, then we plan to travel the world including Japan where I also may buy cartridges. Hope the energizer will be available in NAmerican voltage. |
@oceanandmountains Jim Campbell in PA. Slate. Thanks for the info. @tomic601 Greetings, Jim! Hope all is good. By some accounts, the 700 blows away the 500. Yes, the Quad 57s hang on the end of 28 tubes...from start to finish! |
- 28 posts total