Nottingham Analogue Interspace Turntable & Arm - Review & blog

[jandl100]

Picked this up in a swap deal for a DAC a few days ago.

Here it is in its 'natural' colouring, dark & handsome ...




With a flash you can see it better, but the blue marble effect gets accentuated. It's not really that bling.




Here's a close up of the tonearm.



My previous tt (a Denon DP-62L direct drive) had stylus pressure calibration on the counterweight, the NA doesn't and Jerry doesn't have a stylus gauge balance. Doh!!

A frantic posting on a forum and a very kind gent is sending me his Shure balance to borrow. It arrives the following day, and the fun can begin ....

Initial setup - the very first thing I did was put 3 RDC1 cones underneath with blu-tac - this worked superbly with the Denon tt. Mounted my Denon DL-301 low output MC cartridge - damn, the cart is too light,it won't balance! A small black metal washer and some blu-tac on the headshell does the trick.. Then placed it on top of the TT-Tower and plugged it into the mains and my WhestTWO phono stage.

First listen - The motor is not powerful enough to spin up the platter on NA tts, you have to give it a shove to get it going. Weird, but it seems to work. Music comes out. Always a good sign. Sounds nice. Jerry tidies up a bit (only a bit) & scuttles off to get an apple to munch on.

Second listen - Hmmmm. Actually the sound is kinda flat and boring, with reduced scale and dynamics, and a noticeable lack of 'musical flow'. Oops. Not good.

Tweak time!! - What to do? re-checked the setup and geometries and stuff. All OK.
Hmmm, maybe it's just a naff tt and my old Denon is rather a good one? That doesn't sit well with NA's excellent reputation, though. Must be my setup.

Maybe the RDC1 cones aren't a good idea with this tt? Damn right - whisked them away and stood the NA directly on its hard rubber feet, and a major improvement in musical flow and enjoyment. Actually fairly interesting to listen to now. But only fairly. Not up to the sq of my old Denon yet, let alone an upgrade.

Perhaps more of the same? .... found some tatty old sorbothane pads and acrylic footer things and placed these under the tt, whilst ensuring it stays level. Oh wow, yeah. We're getting there. Really quite listenable now. Probably on an overall par with my Denon. But it should really be doing better than that. A quick flit onto eBay and some proper, large hemispherical sorbothane footers should be winging there way to me next week.

The sound quality is certainly good enough now for some nice listening sessions until then, but I feel there is a lot more to get out of this tt yet.

The saga will continue ....

__

Any suggestions for getting the best out of Nottingham Analogue TTs?

[DSJR]

I never heard the Interspace, but the arm looks a bit like the Mentor I once owned.

The motor is deliberately weak in the same vein as the Linn Lingo, just giving enough torque to keep the flywheel platter spinning. The heavier NAS decks don't give a toss what they're put on either, but as the Interspace isn't as heavy and has a solid plinth it may be different in this respect.

Is the platter made of the same material as the plinth? Also, it may be worth seeing if a Spacedeck platter (with heavy kit?) can be fitted as an upgrade..

Certainly a Spacedeck has music and rhythm aplenty and I doubt the Interspace is lacking here.

Couple of suggestions. Try not using a mat. The Spacemat is all very well, but some prefer not to use it. Also, do you really need a clamp?

[stonetostone]

I have got the same arm but mine is on a space deck looking at the last picture something looks a bit out, the balance weight is up against the arm pillar,I have looked
at your cartridge weight and it is 6.0 gramms without the washer on top,mine is a shure m95ed,with a ej2 stylus weight is 6.3 and my balance weight is not where yours is.
Did you balance the arm before setting the tracking weight?
steve

[DSJR]

I wasn't going to mention that, as counterweights may vary, but mine wasn't as close to the pivot either..

I have two stylus balances, a Michel precision balance and the little Ortofon plastic one, which is also accurate but has a tiny scale.. The Shure I also have isn't as good but is well thought of though.

[jandl100]

Did you balance the arm before setting the tracking weight?
steve

Yes, of course I did. Do you think I am a complete numpty?

But I'll re-check just to make sure!

[stonetostone]

Hi jerry,
If thats the case I would be inclined to add another two washers,one each side of the balance weight with a bit of blu tack.By the way my balance weight is the same colour as the arm.
I have been thinking about it i bit more,i would take the washer off the headshell and put two washers each side of the balance weight to move it back a little bit then you will be able to use the sliding weight to set the tracking.

[jandl100]

Ah.

From your post, s2s, I deduce that I don't think I have correctly understood how the tracking weight is set with this arm.
I have just been using the main counterweight, sliding it forward from the balanced position.

Please explain!

EDIT: Perhaps I have sussed it myself. Balance the arm with the entire counterweight assembly, then adjust the tracking weight by sliding the inner brass part of the c/w forward? That seems to work and leaves a cm or so clearance from the pivot assembly.

[jandl100]

I have been thinking about it i bit more,i would take the washer off the headshell and put two washers each side of the balance weight to move it back a little bit then you will be able to use the sliding weight to set the tracking.

Re-reading this, I am completely confused. (Or else it's just too early in the morning!).

The problem, as it seems to me, is that I don't have enough mass at the headshell end to balance the counterweight. So adding more mass to the counterweight will make the problem even worse. No?

[DSJR]

HiFi Dave's away on leave right now, but he's the one to ask on here as he knows these decks forwards, backwards and sideways for at least two decades....

If you have the correct downforce and the counterweight is close up to the pillar, then so much the better. Tom may have made special counterweights though, for different cartridges.

Keep persevering, there's a great deck in there, waiting to be unleashed, but don't expect the slickness of a Japanese direct drive.......

[jandl100]

Yup, I'll certainly stick with it ... although I'll not be selling my Denon DD quite yet, just in case!

... also, I've just succumbed to the lure of an Ortofon cartridge on eBay, so it'll be interesting to see how the NA kit gets along with that.