Nottingham Analogue Hyperspace


Hello Guys,

I'm interested to buy one of the Hyperspace 9" space arm or the 294 12" space arm
Unfortunately I don't have any N.A.S dealer here so never listened one and never seen in real too.
Anyone here knows both? Could you tell me which is better?
Thanks in advance for opinions and suggestions
128x128curio
I do not know both but I have owned the 12". IMHO, Nottingham are not famous for their tonearms, which are nowhere near as good as their amazing turntables.
The signature of the Nott 12" is rather warm and slightly soft. Always musical but won't let you hear everything your turntable has to offer. If you like your tracking weight to be exactly the same at the beginning and end of the record, forget about this arm. If you just want a tonearm that you can get for a good price, will be 12" long and won't come in the way of the music, that might be your ticket.
If you want to use it on a Nott table, then I would try another brand budget permitting. You haven't heard how far a NA turntable can go until you've:
1) Used a better support underneath than the one supplied
2) Used it with another tonarm!
I believe NA's turntable are one of the best, if not the best, value in the high-end world today. Not so with their arms.
Thanks JBCortes! .. Very interesting point of view and experience
Always thought the N.A arms were as good as TT
They're unfortunately not but making arms is actually quite a different art than making turntables. So no surprise here. Tonearms requires a totally different kind of equipment. And making a good one is like watchmaking, it gets really expensive. That is not NA's primary business. Tom's genius is all in his turntable. They are more thoroughly engineered than one might think at first glance and most of all, tuned by a true music lover.
Now the Space Arm, despite all my problems with it, is not a bad point to start in that Tom Fletcher managed to make it musical. At least it doesn't sound sterile or bad. It's just too soft, fussy, and amateurish in build. But quite graceful-looking, actually!
I use the 294 which I love, so you can't go wrong with a 294 + Space Arm. Bear in mind you'll be limited to 12-inchers if/when you want to upgrade.
Hope that helped. You're going to be a very happy camper with one of these Notts.
JB
Here's another idea for you. I used a Morch DP-6 with my Hyperspace. I believed it to be more dynamic than the Space arm with the added bonus of being able to choose between a 9" or 12".

Tom
I'll second what Motnic said. I've had a Nottingham Space Deck with Space Arm and currently own a Space 294. I ran a dual arm setup on the Space Deck using a Micro Seiki MA505 MKIII, and the MA505 was a more dynamic arm. I replaced the Ace Space 294 with a Moerch DP6 keeping the same cartridge (a Karat 17D3). It was a significant upgrade to my ears. Better bass, dynamics, etc.

I will say the Ace Space arms do sound better than the Space arms.