Nottingham and Teres comparison

My recommendations would be that IF you decide to go with a Teres TT, then get one of the models with the wood base. I feel that is one of the most important aspects in improving the sound of this brand of TT, over the acrylic base 100 series. All the Teres models are good, but there is quite a large improvement in the wood base models, and I recommend starting there, and staying away from the acrylic base models, unless there is an extreme budget crunch, and you should even then plan to upgrade to the wood base ASAP.

4yanx, that was a very enlightening report of the comparisons of those tables you mentioned. I'm glad to hear of reports like this, because there is still not enough info going around about how the Teres fares against the other better quality tables out there. Thanks for reporting that.

Also, bearing in mind that the Nottingham tables are well known for providing excellent performance at the price, I feel that both they and the Teres have shown that they are in the "giant killer" category. I'd say as the Teres retails for about $1k less than the Hyperspace, it is still tops on my "high value" list. But you have to look at that Spacedeck at retail $1700 as a great deal too.

I just shows that excellent analog performance does not have to cost "an arm and a leg".

4yanx, how did you like that Illustrious tonearm and the 901 cartridge?

Twl, one word. Fabulous. I may upgrade to this config eventually before a table upgrade (Spacedeck/Spacearm/Shelter 501). I am not fully convinced that the extra bucks for the 901, as opposed to the 501, is justified in all cases, however. While the 901 was outstanding there is a certain richness to the 501 that is hard to put into words. If you are into solo stringed instruments or piano and/or small ensemble-type groups of any kind, the 501 might be all you'll ever need. I am half tempted to buy another in the event they ever go out of production! :-)

As aside, I did a comparison of the 501 to SEVERAL other cartridges (most costing MUCH more) at the same shop mentioned above before opting for the 501 for my table.

OK, I knew I couldn't make a post with just one word! HA!

4yanx, that's a great shop that will enable a customer to compare several cart's before buying. When I was shopping around DC, I couldn't even find a shop that could solo audition just one of the cart's I had in mind - and most couldn't audition any at all. I had to wind up buying my Glider M2 by telephone based solely on the advice of a few distant dealers. I'm not hoping for any better should I ever decide the bite the bullet about upgrading my current TT. Thanks for sharing the results of your comparitive listening sessions.

4yanks, does this dealer live in California? I can't see any east coast hawkish dealers doing that comparisson if their lives depended on it!! I am dying to hear the TERES against my custom made maple base TT.(see: "VPI redesigning experiment") on the Analog site.
By the way, a local record shop has a notingham TT with a wooden platter, I have never heard that before, does anybody know about that and it's resulting sound?