Looking for thoughts from Nottingham Analog table owners

Before buying NAS, I had bought a Lynn Basic, because I thought the LP12 was not sufficiently better than the Basic to justify the price. Then I heard a NA Hyperspace, and was sold.

So I talked with Tom Fletcher (owner) at NA, and I ended up buying one of the last Mentor turntables (Dais bearing), with Mentor arm and Tracer 4 cartridge. Wow!!! Dead quiet, elegant, neutral sound. Wow.

The Tracer 4 was not misnamed - it's never mistracked anything. But that Mentor arm - solid but not in any sense adjustable. I moved to a Trans-Fi air bearing tonearm, sold straight from the factory for $1000. Now THAT's adjustable! Wow!!!

Replaced the plinth with an aluminum/plywood/aluminum sandwich. Wow!!!

Now I use my higher end Koetsu all the time, because that's what it takes to bring out the best of a really high end cartridge.

My modified Mentor was the best sounding TT I had ever heard, until I finished my DIY air bearing unit. So I really think highly of that brand. The Dais bearing is something else. I don't think you can go wrong at any price point, although I would try for a Dais if I were you. 

I should add, the Linn Basic was a big improvement on my previous Rega. So the NAS Mentor was >> Rega.

Not hard to set up. Just make sure that you set up on a dead, non-resonant shelf, like Baltic Birch plywood, or better, panzerholst. And I would avoid the NAS arm unless they've improved adjustability a whole lot. But with the Trans-Fi air bearing arm at $1000, punching at 5x it's weight, why use anything else?

Consider the Trans-Fi turntable while you're at it.

bcowen- I am familiar with Pear Audio. I believe the Palmers also implement some of Mr. Fletchers designs in their tables. He must have been doing something right (-:  I do like the look of the Palmer and AW in particular. I think AW also does a bamboo plinth along with their Baltic Birch Ply. I wold say Pear seems to be getting the most exposure at this point, even more than Nottingham. Analogue Works is a relatively new company though.

*Disclaimer: I am a dealer for Pear Audio Analogue products.

The Pear Audio Blue Kid Thomas, Kid Punch and Kid Howard are the ONLY turntables that were actually designed by the late, great Tom Fletcher, other then the older Nottingham Audio models.

With all due respect to bcowan, the Pear Audio turntables and tonearms are quite different in construction, fit and finish than the old Nottingham products.  I have owned a few Nottingham models in the past and I will say that the Pear Audio turntables surpass the Notts in virtually every way.  For example, while the Pear Audio Cornet 2 tonearm resembles the old Space/Anna tonearms, it is quite improved in construction and sound.

I have taken Palmers in trade for Pear Audio models and I again must say that there is simply no comparison.  Palmer copied some of Tom Fletcher's ideas but ruined the benefits by uselessly elevating the platter and tonearm (remember kids, low center of gravity is your friend) and sitting the motor unit inside the plinth with minimal damping.  The first time I demo'd a Kid Thomas for a customer in his home, side by side with his Palmer, his wife (upstairs) yelled down to ask what he did to improve the sound.  It was THAT noticeable.