Hello from Simon in Nottingham

[Simon_Nottingham]

Good evening folks, hope you're all well.

Good to be here, looking forward to lots of good advice.

My current system is:

Nottingham Analogue Space Deck with Ace Space arm and a bog-standard AT cartridge.

Linn Intek integrated amplifier.

JPW AP2 speakers on Huygens stands.

I also have a B&O Beogram CD-X CD player that needs attention and a Carver CM-1090 amp connected to some Canon S-50 (mushroom) speakers in another room that I play my iPhone through!

As for music... I like The Flaming Lips and Radiohead. Battles and Sleaford Mods - Eels & Luke Haines and Public Service Broadcasting and British Sea Power... the last few albums I have bought are The FLK's Mummers, Beirut's No, No, No and Fat White Family's Songs For Our Mothers.

I'd like some advice on a new cartridge - a £100 - £200 upgrade for the time being and I'd also love to get some Quad amplification in the mix - I've always loved their stuff! I also think that the Space Deck Heavy Kit is on its way :)

Regards

simon

[struth]

Welcome to AoS Simon/ .. Nottingham decks are very good, so I understand your desire to upgrade the cart. There was a Nagaoka in classifieds for sale that may do you, if its still there.

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Simon,

Some nice gear you have there, and an interesting in music; only some of which I have heard of! :)

Can't really help you with the cartridge (I'm sure others will be along to help you there, or just ask in Analogue Art), but regarding a Quad amp I would have thought the 606, 909, or maybe the 520 would be worth investigating.

Enjoy the Forum

Regards
Barry

[trio leo]

Hello Simon,
Welcome to the AoS from me, our vinyl spinner group gets bigger every week, nice system you have there, I'm sure you will find lots of interesting things on this friendly forum.

Enjoy your music :)

cheers Al

[walpurgis]

Hello Simon. Welcome to AOS.

That's an interesting selection of equipment you have there.

Yes. A better cartridge won't hurt. An economical option that sounds pretty decent might be the Denon DL-110 high output MC. It works straight into an MM phono input and will meet your budget.

A bit of Quad amplification can sound very nice.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[Simon_Nottingham]

Hi all.

Thanks for the welcome.

The Nottingham Analogue deck really is a star. I bought it direct from Tom Fletcher back around 1990 and I'm glad to say that the company is carrying on with his ethos after his death. There really isn't much I'd consider swapping it for.

I've been considering an Ortofon 2M Blue or Red (probably the blue) or Denon DL-103, but happy to consider others...

s

[DSJR]

Hi and welcome..

Those who know me will understand that I sometimes adopt a hectoring tone without meaning to. For this now, I apologise, but PLEASE, put your £200 into a proper amplifier. Your ears will thank you for it I promise you after the Intek - I say no more! If you have an AT95e, don't worry, a K9 was only one of these bodies with a better diamond fitted (one of the US stylus suppliers markets a 95HE stylus which works well by all accounts).

[Simon_Nottingham]

Mate, no worries, always happy to hear an opinion - so what would your recommend as a £200 amp - with a phono stage? I used to have a Linn Axis with a K18 cart - so I know what the AT95 is - I know it's pretty good!

[struth]

Mate, no worries, always happy to hear an opinion - so what would your recommend as a £200 amp - with a phono stage? I used to have a Linn Axis with a K18 cart - so I know what the AT95 is - I know it's pretty good!

Ive got an at95 but now fitted with a shibata stylus. its not a cheap u[pgrade and may now be unable to get but it really does sing.. Ive heard the HE as well and its an improvement on the original, which is decent starter , but can be improved on.

[walpurgis]

I think everybody here knows my recommendation for a decent second hand amp under £200. The Denon PMA-350SE. Find one with the optional phono stage included, it's good. Prices are up to £100.

[Simon_Nottingham]

Mine is an AT 110 by the way. Was something of a stop gap after I was forced to sell my Decca London Gold.

[DSJR]

£200 will buy you some good vintage amps of almost infinite scope. If you ever see a Nakamichi Amplifier 2 (or bigger Amplifier 1), I don't think you'd be at all disappointed ;) Disliked in many quarters, a late UK made Audiolab 8000A (black case) used with carefully matched cables, will also see off an Intek easily (I've done it and stand by my views here). Other Jap amps from the 90's can also do a great job, but there are some real horrors out there which sap all the music out of the signal fed through them. We liked the loose Denon PMA 450 and I don't think the better Yamaha integrateds were bad either

You know, I haven't tried one, but there's currently a Denon integrated at £200 or so that matches the rather good 520? CD player. Don't worry about price, if it's anything like as good as a PMA350Se was, you could have some fun for relative peanuts.

[southall-1998]

Welcome to AOS, Simon.

Nice system you've got there.

I still hope that someday, I'll aim to hear a pair of those odd looking canon speakers. A few times I've been tempted to buy the smaller S-35's.

S.

[DSJR]

The 110E was always better than the stock 95e - going from the 91/Rega Carbon to the 95e and then the 110e opens out the sound from mid bass to lower mids, the upper limit going up in frequency if you see what I mean as you go up the range. The 120E II is a sort of replacement for yours and the 120E proper excellent for low mass arms but not massy ones. The 440MLa is fine if you can fine tune arm height to tweak the treble. Some here have 'discovered' the old ShureM55e. I assure you the 110E is better - I've compared them both! ;)

The 2M Blue has a bit of a reputation for being very fussy and not all that musically enjoyable (I like the Bronze a lot however). I still think an amp will improve the sound rather more.

[Simon_Nottingham]

£200 will buy you some good vintage amps of almost infinite scope. If you ever see a Nakamichi Amplifier 2 (or bigger Amplifier 1), I don't think you'd be at all disappointed ;) Disliked in many quarters, a late UK made Audiolab 8000A (black case) used with carefully matched cables, will also see off an Intek easily (I've done it and stand by my views here). Other Jap amps from the 90's can also do a great job, but there are some real horrors out there which sap all the music out of the signal fed through them. We liked the loose Denon PMA 450 and I don't think the better Yamaha integrateds were bad either

You know, I haven't tried one, but there's currently a Denon integrated at £200 or so that matches the rather good 520? CD player. Don't worry about price, if it's anything like as good as a PMA350Se was, you could have some fun for relative peanuts.

Thanks. That's interesting. When I was into this game back in about 1990 there was a Pioneer amp that came out without tone controls (the A400 I think) that got rave reviews. I had a Mission Cyrus One at the time.

When I bought my speakers (JPW AP2), the guy I bought hem from used an A400 with an Audio Note valve amp as his demo kit.

[DSJR]

The A400 sounded awful with price-matched gear and only showed its true worth either as a power amp, or with top flight sources. The Cyrus 1 was a bit weedy and gutless (still is) and we had to sell them because our boss got a free skiing holiday every year from them if he sold enough :( These skiing trips are stuff of legend I remember.

[walpurgis]

The Pioneer A400 was a bit of a benchmark product at its price, as was the NAD 3020a, but the Denon PMA-350SE will run circles around them. No, it's not the best amp in the world, but you'd need to spend £500 or more to buy a new amp to better it.

Yes. I'm biased. I've had three of these alongside my rather more expensive gear and the Denon always puts on a damn good show! (I may even get another :))

[Simon_Nottingham]

Welcome to AOS, Simon.
I still hope that someday, I'll aim to hear a pair of those odd looking canon speakers. A few times I've been tempted to buy the smaller S-35's.


They're really very good. Plus they look very funky!

[Simon_Nottingham]

The A400 sounded awful with price-matched gear and only showed its true worth either as a power amp, or with top flight sources. The Cyrus 1 was a bit weedy and gutless (still is) and we had to sell them because our boss got a free skiing holiday every year from them if he sold enough :( These skiing trips are stuff of legend I remember.

Actually now you've said that, I think the demo used the A400 as a power amp with an Audio Innovations L2 pre.

I never really got on with the Cyrus One (mk 2) to be honest. It was OK with my Mission 770's, but struggled with the JPW AP2s that I still have (and really like), swapped it for a Musical Fidelity B1 (I think).

[walpurgis]

Yeah. Tried a couple of the earlier Cyrus amps. Found them reasonably informative, but somehow two dimensional and lacking body.

[The Black Adder]

Welcome to AOS, Simon.. :) Enjoy :)