Nottingham. Full deep involving sound, on a warmer side of neutral, quiet and dynamic.
Set up once, check every year and change Nottingham kinetic oil every 12-18 months. That’s all, almost zero maintenance. Replace the stock mat, that’s no good. Motor is very reliable. |
Nottingham is in business, as far as I know. Yes, wires are very delicate, you got to have precise hands or find someone to install the cartridge.
Ralph only knows direct drive. Dynamics is not a problem with Nottingham at all if the wall current is okay. Technics is DJ not audiophile turntable, there is a difference.
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Also may depend on what cartridge you are going to use. Nottingham arm with low compliance heavy cartridge would not be a good idea.
At least no-one recommends Rega, makes no sense to pay big money for it. |
I use Goldring 1042 MM as well. Nagaoka MP500 is fine. It took me an hour or so to find the overall best anti-skate position but that was fun. VTA - arm in parallel, in my case, easy.
Nottinghams keep working for decades, maybe you'll have to replace motor once, maybe.
Pear Audio is definitely worth considering. |
I would consider three MM cartridges - Goldring 1042, Nagaola MP-500 and Audio Note IQ3. Cost - about $500 - $1100.
You also need speed and 'bite' and explosive dynamics for real flamenco, not new age kind of flamenco. Nagaoka and Audio Note might be somewhat more sophisticated and polite.
Perhaps Roxan MMs would be fine as well.
Yeah, Nottingham motor controller wouldn't hurt, especially if the wall current is not good. Also Walker motor controller, maybe even better, about $1600 for either, I guess. I decided not to get it for now, but I have PS Audio conditioner/regenerator to use for the entire system. No, not a full substitute for motor controller but works well. |
I listen to some of the fastest and articulate performers one can think of - John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia. I also heard Paco de Lucia live. Nottingham is good enough in this respect, again the current should be good but that's with any turntable. Rega is not high end.
Putting different arm on Nottingham will throw the whole thing off the balance if the match is not right, it is a complicated endeavor to try a few other arms. I feel no need and have no wish to do it but I might upgrade to top Nottingham arm in the future. I heard people got excellent results with Origin Live better arms but cannot personally verify. |
Some use copper mats with their turntables, not Nottinghams. Ralph, you should not pretend to be undisputed expert, some of what you say in incorrect or debatable.
And I will not argue with those who don't understand the concept of table/arm match and besides that are obviously asking for particular kind of attention. |
That’s right, those I mentioned used copper mat with top level Technics MK III in systems that exceed just about anything.
Mat doesn’t have to be the same hardness as vinyl. |
Many Nottingham Spacedeck owners use Boston Audio Mat -1 graphite record mat. Including me. The company is out of business, I think, but you might be able to find it here or on usaudiomart or ebay, I saw it once. |
Jeff, the amount of static I get varies, mostly with weather - more in winter when the air is dry, but it is never much. I am not sure whether it is mat or inner record sleeve or me handling records that contributes most. But one thing is certain - it is not at all a problem in my system with rare exceptions.
I also got Boston Audio big graphite tune blocks under 3" maple platform the table sits on. And the platform is on the floor near left speaker. |
I didn't tape it, it just sits there without the hole touching the spindle. |
Yeah, Larry only likes low output MCs, at least he says so. In any case, if you put $3000 cartridge you better have $5000 -$6000 phono stage. He is nice to talk to otherwise. |
People understand. Record mat is also a tuning mat, which means that there is no one universal solution for any set-up and preference. As for the physics of platter/mat/record/cartridge interaction, it is so complex that even highly qualified mechanical engineers might struggle. And then there are ears and brains that are the most qualified of all. |
