Nottingham Analogue optimisation…

[MUTTY1]

I’ve had a Spacedeck for 27 years now. I’ve no desire to change but wondered if there are well-established modifications I’ve missed. Currently it sits on a thick glass platter supported by three spikes which themselves are seated in a one and a half inch wooden shelf. The whole show is positively fixed on three sides to block work so should be pretty dead acoustically.
Sadly I missed the early Townsend Isolation support for sale on here earlier today. I also still use the original mat; a foam thing that is pretty irritating if a record has any static.
Tried and tested please, no-one dislikes throwing money at someone else’s fantasies than yours truly

 

[Darren L]

Tom Fletcher, the designer and engineer of the NA turntables decided to supply his turntables complete with a plinth to stop people placing them directly on glass shelves.

I'd recommend the 'heavy kit' which is the sintered Graphite 'mat' (about 20-25mm thick) along with a further damping ring, the necessary centre piece for the Spindle and a spacer to lift the armboard to the same height.

 

[Tony L]

Tom Fletcher hated glass and spikes with a passion saying he far preferred a nice solid wooden table. The more time passes the more convinced he is right. The other thing is to build the Spacedeck as he intended, i.e. concentrate on bolt tightness as it is critical. “Tight enough to stop it falling apart, but no more” was the quote I took away and was a game-changer for me. It works. Things just sound far more natural are real if components are not allowed to ring/behave like a drum or whatever. Think of it as a broken bell. It has become a key part of my setup thinking now. He was a fascinating bloke, sadly missed.

 

[Mike Reed]

Currently it sits on a thick glass platter supported by three spikes which themselves are seated in a one and a half inch wooden shelf. The whole show is positively fixed on three sides to block work so should be pretty dead acoustically.

Not sure about this, Mutty. Does the deck rest on a wooden or a glass shelf with its spikes? I cannot imagine spikes on glass and am not a fan of glass shelves for decks anyway. The thought of fixing spikes under my Dais, which would tempt impossibility, sends shivers down my spine.

I cannot comment of upgrades, but the suggestions above are proven by all accounts. Penny and Adam at N.A. are very helpful and accommodating too.

 

[madscientist]

I had a Spacedeck for many years and found that upgrading to the heavy kit and using the granite platter without the foam mat gave me the best sound. Also i found adding a wave mechanic PSU made a significant difference to the overall stability of sound. I believe Tom Fletcher was an advocate of placing the TT on something solid including the kitchen table! For may part i found placing the TT on the provided plinth on a solid wooden platform has given me the best results. I now own a Hyperspace with wave mechanic with 12" Ace Anna arm on the same platforms, to my ears a significant upgrade to my Spacedeck and a keeper (I think i have said that before!). Hope this helps?

 

[lazyscott1]

I would go heavy kit first, i had a wave mechanic which i then sold on my way to upgrading to a hyperspace. I can’t say that i missed it whilst still using the ace space.
Agree with the solid wooden platform, but i’ve also used slate to good effect. If i remember correctly, the very first space decks came with a stone plinth.

 

[Darren L]

I would go heavy kit first, i had a wave mechanic which i then sold on my way to upgrading to a hyperspace. I can’t say that i missed it whilst still using the ace space.
Agree with the solid wooden platform, but i’ve also used slate to good effect. If i remember correctly, the very first space decks came with a stone plinth.

+1 re the Wave Mechanic, the first space decks had a 'marblised' finish on the plinth.

 

[lazyscott1]

Yes, my first space deck had the marble finish. However, i do recall meeting a lady who had one of the first space decks and she told me that it had a stone plinth.

 

[GT]

Tom Fletcher hated glass and spikes with a passion saying he far preferred a nice solid wooden table. The more time passes the more convinced he is right. The other thing is to build the Spacedeck as he intended, i.e. concentrate on bolt tightness as it is critical. “Tight enough to stop it falling apart, but no more” was the quote I took away and was a game-changer for me. It works. Things just sound far more natural are real if components are not allowed to ring/behave like a drum or whatever. Think of it as a broken bell. It has become a key part of my setup thinking now. He was a fascinating bloke, sadly missed.

Correct. Tom hated glass, spikes and pointed cones etc. However, the thing to appreciate was that Tom only listened to Classical, Folk and New Orleans jazz. He never listened to rock or pop and his turntables were tuned for the music he liked. This is just something to bear in mind...

 

[GT]

Yes, my first space deck had the marble finish. However, i do recall meeting a lady who had one of the first space decks and she told me that it had a stone plinth.

The original Spacedecks did have a stone plinth. I seem to recall it was Derbyshire stone. Later ones (after 1990) had MDF plinths that were painted in a marble type finish. They looked nice but they weren't as good as the stone plinths.

 

[sonddek]

Has anybody tried putting a semi-inflated inner tube under a Nottingham deck? I find it works well under several decks, so maybe worth a try.

I won't mention trying a novel tonearm. Whoops.

 

[Tony L]

He never listened to rock or pop and his turntables were tuned for the music he liked. This is just something to bear in mind...

I’m increasingly of the opinion that if you get jazz and classical genuinely good then the rest just falls into place. Jazz especially as the rhythmic complexity and dynamic range is in a whole different ballpark to rock or pop, as obviously is some classical. Revisiting some of my ‘80s full-tilt rock stuff (Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth etc) has them sounding far better than I remember on the classic flat-earth rig I ran at the time.

 

[GT]

I’m increasingly of the opinion that if you get jazz and classical genuinely good then the rest just falls into place. Jazz especially as the rhythmic complexity and dynamic range is in a whole different ballpark to rock or pop, as obviously is some classical. Revisiting some of my ‘80s full-tilt rock stuff (Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth etc) has them sounding far better than I remember on the classic flat-earth rig I ran at the time.

If you had the full NA setup with Tom's MM cartridge it could sound amazing on acoustic music, but on modern music it could sound pretty dire. Changing the cartridge to a good MC improved things a lot. In fact it is probably all you would need to do. I'm not sure anyone uses Tom's MM cartridges anymore as they also had a somewhat limited life span and Tom has been gone 12 years this October...

I was going through some of my old photos the other day and came across my original NA Analog...

 

[Tony L]

I never had Tom’s cart. I was still using MCs at that point, first the little DL-110, then an AT33 PTG.

This was my last belt drive deck before going full circle back to idler drive where I started! I liked the Spacedeck.

 

[Darren L]

Correct. Tom hated glass, spikes and pointed cones etc. However, the thing to appreciate was that Tom only listened to Classical, Folk and New Orleans jazz. He never listened to rock or pop and his turntables were tuned for the music he liked. This is just something to bear in mind...

Sorry GT I don't buy into this idea that certain equipment only works well with certain types of music, if that's the case the equipment is obviously flawed, I don't think Tom did either, when I met him at the Hammersmith hifi show in 2001 we had a long chat and then spotting the bag full of Lps I'd just bought from Diverse Vinyl he asked if I'd like play something, we started with Springsteen's 'Ghost of Tom Joad' after listening to one side Tom himself then picked Nirvana's ' In Utero' , exclaiming 'let's have some punk!' he seemed to quiet enjoy it, he then put on an LP of some New Orleans jazz, I gather from what he said that he actually was involved in some way with the musicians who played on it, the brass sounded excellent, nearly like it was in the room. He was definitely one of the most interesting and intelligent turntable designers I've met and very welcoming and friendly.

 

[Tony L]

I remember getting him to play an LSG 12” (German techno) at one of the London shows.

It emptied the room, which was great as I got to have a good chat with him.

 

[Snufkin]

If you had the full NA setup with Tom's MM cartridge it could sound amazing on acoustic music, but on modern music it could sound pretty dire. Changing the cartridge to a good MC improved things a lot. In fact it is probably all you would need to do. I'm not sure anyone uses Tom's MM cartridges anymore as they also had a somewhat limited life span and Tom has been gone 12 years this October...

I was going through some of my old photos the other day and came across my original NA Analog...

Is the main body of the turntable an aluminium casting?

 

[hifi_dave]

Remove the foam mat and adjust the arm height to suit. It will sound a lot livelier and is the way it is meant to be used, the foam only used for bright systems.

 

[GT]

Is the main body of the turntable an aluminium casting?

The first 5 or 6 Analogs Tom made had the "log" made out of solid aluminium, mine included. Then Tom discovered pitch pine which he liked the sound of, so the Analogs thereafter were made from that material with lots of sections of pitch pine being glued together to make up the log. These were then machined down to size in a lathe.

 

[GT]

Sorry GT I don't buy into this idea that certain equipment only works well with certain types of music, if that's the case the equipment is obviously flawed, I don't think Tom did either, when I met him at the Hammersmith hifi show in 2001 we had a long chat and then spotting the bag full of Lps I'd just bought from Diverse Vinyl he asked if I'd like play something, we started with Springsteen's 'Ghost of Tom Joad' after listening to one side Tom himself then picked Nirvana's ' In Utero' , exclaiming 'let's have some punk!' he seemed to quiet enjoy it, he then put on an LP of some New Orleans jazz, I gather from what he said that he actually was involved in some way with the musicians who played on it, the brass sounded excellent, nearly like it was in the room. He was definitely one of the most interesting and intelligent turntable designers I've met and very welcoming and friendly.

It is extremely easy to change the sound of a turntable just by changing the materials used. I believe my comment was mainly pointed at the MM cartridges that Tom used at the time. They could sound good on some music but not on others. I know why, as I did some research on this cartridge. Most dealers preferred using a good MC cartridge on their NA turntables. I am sure hifi_dave would confirm this. As I said in my earlier post, a good MC cartridge fitted to any of Tom's turntables gave good results on all types of music played.