Decca Super Gold Infinity RS1-B Nottingham Space 294

Click pics to enlarge. Top, Decca Super Gold. Note the unused blue wire (-ve) as the Decca only has three pins (common ground).

NY Diary (19-8) Days of Wine and Roses
Decca Super Gold Cartridge
Infinity RS-1B

The gang was rolling yesterday! It's been a while since we were invited to R's for lunch and we were eager.

Women's Soccer I was picked up just before 11 am, which unfortunately made me miss most of the first half of the USA vs Netherlands Women's World Cup Final. Compared to, say, 10 to 20 years ago, the overall standard and environment of women's soccer have improved significantly and this series has been a huge crowd pleaser. In my opinion, many teams (not just the USA) play with passion, hunger for success and grace, which are frequently missing in bigger-money men's soccer. Salut!

It was only during intermission that I rejoined the gang in audio listening. I watched a bit of the second-half, up to the controversial penalty kick before adjourning for lunch. I forgot to take a good pic of the seafood stew, only what's left! For dessert we brought a pecan pie and Chinese Egg custard tarts, enjoyed with aged pu-er tea and, later, coffee.

The new Turntable, Nottingham Space 294 Turntable with Ace-Space 294 Tonearm. Below, R's dynamite wine cellar.

Decca London Super Gold Cartridge
R's living room system has not changed much (see here, for pics too), but the recent addition proves to be a game-changer!

At first Stan Getz (Verve) was playing. I am not a great fan of Getz but it sounded pretty good, better than last time. Then R played a thrice familiar LP, Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain, and, even though it is a mono copy, I was floored. Although Miles' tone in my opinion was a little on the white side, the castanets just jumped out at me; more notably, the brass chorales were uncommonly lucid, as I have never heard before. The way you can separate every player but still hear them harmonize perfectly was just mesmerizing. It left me dizzied and surely I gained new respect for Gil Evans' arrangements.

No need to hear more, as I have long been a Decca/London fan ever since my experience with the ffss MkIII (here). So I attributed most of the sonic characters to the venerable Decca/London Super Gold cartridge, still in current production (see review here), though the one we heard is an old one Andy sold to R. This is a moving-iron cartridge with a healthy 5 mV output, so only an MM phonostage is needed. Of course, the Nottingham Space 294 Turntable/Ace-Space 294 arm (TAS review) surely has contributed a stable platform for the Decca/London to shine. Although in HK I had heard many Spacedeck's some years ago, I'll admit I am not a fan of Nottingham (don't like their looks), but Andy, who knows everything about Decca/London cartridges, had always been on the search for the perfect turntable/arm for his many Decca cartridges. Some time ago he found out that the late Tom Fletcher was a Decca/London fan, and reasoned that his designs must be friendly to the cartridge. Based upon his reasoning, he urged it upon Mark, who bought a 294 and sold his Spacedeck to Andy. Judging from this outing, it is an excellent match indeed, and R has already stopped listening to his Rockport Sirius/Jan Allaerts (we didn't find it special either; this cartridge did not sound anything special on at least 3 turntables).

We left a little early to avoid the heavy traffic returning to the city at the end of the July 4th weekend. When we left, Miki, R's wife, gave several of us some flowers from their magnificent garden. We then went to Kevin's place.

Look carefully and you shall see the top of the bass columns behind the Altec A7.

Infinity RS-1B
Wow, this man is gun-ho! Not long after Kevin got the B&W 801 (here) he heard Mark's IRS Beta (here). After the sudden recent demise of Andy's friend Mr Ma, several of the gang went to sort out things for his son, and Kevin bought his Altec 604G, which came with this pair of Infinity RS-1B stored in the garage. It was in challenged cosmetic condition but Kevin just restored it beautifully.

The RS-1B is a lot smaller than the IRS Beta and much more suitable for most people (read this 1985 Stereophile Review).

Driven by the Conrad Johnson Premier 8 borrowed from R, the sound was promising though the you-can-touch soundstage of Mark's IRS Beta was missing in this smaller room. But you shall be hearing more about this I am sure.