Looking for thoughts from Nottingham Analog table owners

*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.

fjn04,

In the example described above, the demo was in the customer's home.  LFD phono stage, LFD integrated amp, Harbeth speakers (don't remember which model).

In my room I demo Pear Audio Blue turntables with a variety of components: Pear Audio tube phono stages, preamps and tube amps, Larsen speakers, GamuT amps and speakers, and EARO active horn speakers.