Who's hip to the Nottingham line of Turntables???

Personally, I think the Nottingham Spacedeck/Spacearm outdoes any of the other tables you mention, especially the Clearaudio Champion. The "hideous" paint job to which your refer is actually a laminate, not "panit". Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like mine - but, granted, it ain't "woodsy". I auditioned all you mention plus a SOTA which was a bit out of my budget. IMHO, the Basis beats the Rega hands down, given each has the same arm, the Champion sounds way yonder too "mushy" for my taste. My Spacedeck/Space Arm/Dynavector set up IS honest and WILL show up weaknesses elsewhere in your system, if any.

For the price, and all else considered, I think you'd be happy with the Spacedeck (I'm sure others will have differing opinions) - maybe with some racing stripes or a flame design! :-)

I owned/loved my Space Combo until divorce forced sale(one of many pieces). I truly miss it. It's the only table I've heard so far that plays on the "emotional level". Wasn't anything I could throw at it that wouldn't pull me off the couch boogie-ing! It's like a Harley to me - once you had the best, _ _ _ k the rest!

Hip? The 'gon is more meat and potatos.

The the asl web-pictures make the TTs colors brighter than they are in real life. I'm not a big fan of the aesthetics either, but the effect is a bit more subtle than the pics make you believe.

Why are you not considering VPI?

I am sure this will meet with some disagreement, but while I do respect the virtues of the VPI tables, IMHO, you have to move up to the TNT line to outdo the Nottingham Space or Hyper tables. That, of course, puts you well above the price range mentioned in the original post.

I had a VPI and a SOTA before I got the Notts Spacedeck/spacearm combo. Whilest the VPI was better than the SOTA to my ears in playing tunes the Spacedeck is more faithful still. It just has an undefinable hold on the music in a way that makes all tables even remotely close in price pale by comparison. I did have a chance to listen to a REGA 25 for a few weeks and found it to be cut from the same cloth though not quite as organic sounding. the rega pays dividens when set on a good isolation platform or wall shelf. Both have excellent speed stability.
Cheers,
JC

I recently replaced a Rega Planar 25 (with the RB600 arm) with the Space Deck/Space Arm combo. I moved the Benz Micro Glider LO from the Rega to the Nottingham. I am absolutely amazed at the difference in the sound...and I was prepared not to be. The bass is definitely tighter and deeper, while the midrange is clearer. I believe that the difference is due primarily to the arm and the availability of VTA adjustment on the Space Arm. The manual spin-up is a bit of a pain, and it's possible to accidently jump the belt from the 33 to the 45 RPM pulley if you don't get your finger out of the way during spinup. Other than that, I am a very happy camper with the NAS system.

Wnovinger - For the life of me I cannot figure out HOW you get your finger in the way in order to make the belt hop to the 45 groove. All it takes to get the Spacedeck platter going on my setup is a firm two inch push with my thumb across the thick rubber ring around the platter. Unless you have two pickup arms and your motor unit is in the front of your table, you shouldn't be even CLOSE to having this problem.

I agree, though, the 'Nots are great.

This is one turntable defies the law of more expensive is better and megabuck is the best. This is the best table with value of money among the stable of tts produced by Nottingham (sorry! the manufacturer may not want us to find out the fact). I believe it has the right design; bearing bushing and the spindle is so well machined and fitted with the right combination of platter's weight,so smooth and never stop turning by itself once it is set to rotate by a small external force. Plus the rest of the designing factors.... it is so musical. So much right and better than many others much more expensive turntable.