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Tom Fletcher of Nottingham Analogue Studios has likened most
modern audio products to a brass violin. “Pretty to
look at, but not something you’d want to try to play
music on! We won’t make a brass violin, no matter how
many we could sell.” In this simple phrase so much of
the Nottingham philosophy of music and design is made clear.
First and foremost Nottingham never forgets that what we are
after is the music. If there is no music, there is no purpose.
If there is no purpose, we’ll make something else. Music
gives us our purpose. Everything from the size and shape of
the parts to the materials they are made from is purely subservient
to the music.
Even the finish that is put on the various parts is carefully
considered with respect to the effect it would have on the
music. If making something shinier results in poorer sound,
Nottingham will use a different finish. Every last detail,
down to the type of rubber used in the feet on the plinths,
has been tested for resonance characteristics and is then
listened to by trained ears. Nothing is left to whim. The
key, Tom says, “Is the magnificent marriage of materials.”
Each material on its own may be common and unremarkable but
the way they perform together to maintain the proper phase
of energy throughout the system is where the magic takes place.
No frequency is overly diminished or amplified. No frequency
is overly damped or allowed to sustain. Every bit of energy
is carefully managed across the spectrum whether from the
motor itself or as generated through the tonearm by the stylus
as it is driven by the grooves on the record.
From the ultra low torque motor (“You want just enough
energy to keep the platter spinning, any motor with enough
power to start a heavy platter has too much to properly play
records.”) to the mechanically damped unipivot tonearms,
these ultra simple looking turntables have 30 years of experience
and loads of engineering skill cleverly concealed within them.
Like a figure skater they make years of effort seem effortless.
Give one a spin today.
Hangszedö
Tracer 50 000
Hangkarok
Interspace 180 000
Space 250 000
Anna 10" vagy 12" 720 000
A tervezö Tom Flatcher beszél elveiröl :
We are continually striving for better materials for damping
and rigidity. All our arms employ a unipivot design. Unipiviot
arms are usually manufactured with silicone damping or stabilizers
by means of weight as compensation for the stability and damping.
This method is forever trying to settle down whilst you are
playing a record. To set these arms up is quite difficult.
Nottingham Analog arms are different in the way they achieve
stability. We have the single point with the tons per square
inch pressure but close to the centre as possible we have
two stabilizing bars that keep these arms from rocking on
its azimuth, also it generates a damping moment which does
not require stabilizers or silicone fluid.
Our Interspace arm with centre distance of 22mm, is an arm
that has a lot of features of the more expensive ones and
performs very well on our Horizon turntables.
The Ace-Space arm, like all our arms, has a carbon fibre tube
that consists of fibre orientation along the tube and not
around like a bandage. This gives better resonance control
and rigidity where we most need it. From now on the arm will
have a VTA adjustment, unlike the Interspace arm.
All our arms sound the same - ‘a family of sound’
- we think they have to, if they didn’t some would be
right and some would be wrong. Whether you buy an Interspace
arm or Ace-Space arm the differences will be very subtle but
very worthwhile having. We can listen to an Interspace arm
for hours otherwise we would not attempt to put it on the
market.
Happy listening
Lemezjátszók
Horizon In these two turntables, the Horizon
and Horizon SE, Nottingham Analogue has brought the basic
principles that are common throughout the line, to a new level
of affordablility.
Kifutó széria, amig a készlet tart
Horizon 190 000 (kar nélkül)
Horizon SE 220 000 (kar nélkül)
Hi-Fi Choice
From the May 2004 issue:
...it delivers a highly engaging and remarkably assured sound
for the price. It does more than most to encourage you to
put on your favourite LPs, sit back and bask in the luxurious
sound of vinyl. And that, in our book, is what living is all
about.
Stereophile
Shortly after its introduction, the Horizon was reviewed by
Michael Fremer (Mr. Analog) in the February 2003 issue of
Stereophile. It was up against five other tables from SOTA,
Rega, and Pro-Ject. His conclusion?
"The Horizon delivered 'touch' and 'feel' that the others,
as good as they were, only hinted at... Where most of the
tables produced a slightly glazed sound compared to far more
expensive models, the Horizon mimicked the sound of multi-thousand-dollar
rigs..."
The Absolute Sound
"Analog Source of the Year":
If pure performance were the only criterion for picking Product
of the Year, our nod would have gone to something like the
Tri-Planar VII arm, SME’s Model 20, or the VPI TNT-HRX
turntable all of which received Golden Ear Awards last issue.
Instead, we’re naming Nottingham’s Horizon as
TAS Analog Source Product of the Year.
There are things that other tables in this price range (or
twice that) do well, but most aren’t as self-assured
as the Nottingham. It shares many of the attributes of its
big brother (reviewed in Issue 138), but does so with a lighter
view of the world. The bottom line is this: Immediately, and
over the long haul, the Horizon doesn’t draw attention
to itself. It does draw you into the music by revealing the
flow, texture, and harmonic nuances of musical lines, and
does well with respect to capturing the intent of the performer.
And that, at $1000 says a lot. (Reviewed by Stephan Harrell
in Issue 144)
Interspace
Interspace 240 000
Interspace SE 270 000 Csak külön rendelésre
Interspace SE - mahagóni 360 000 Csak külön
rendelésre
Spacedeck: The Space Deck is the longest
selling model in the Nottingham line, with over 10,000 space
decks having been sold. Though the model has evolved over
the years, the same basic concepts are still evident. The
motor is mounted in its own separate mounting pod. The visual
design element of overlapping circles ensures that there are
no corners for resonances to build up, or get trapped in.
These are all core to one of the most successful and upgradeable
turntables on the market.
The Space Deck offers a variety of upgrades. One of the support
legs can be removed and replaced with a mounting pod for a
second tonearm.
Spacedeck 370 000
Hi-Fi Choice
How does it sound? It sounds like music. If you are dead serious
about this turntable stuff, the "Best Buy" Spacedeck
is one of the first real ports of call… Most impressive
of all is the sheer lack of artifice in the sound of this
design – it plays LPs so honestly, it’s enough
to make you want to sign you name in blow-torch on your CD
collection.
The Absolute Sound
In my system, this set-up is dynamically nimble, rhythmically
engaging and harmonically coherent. Unlike a performer with
a good voice or instrumental skill, the Nottingham is like
a performer with a good voice or instrumental skill hell-bent
on getting the deeper meaning of the music across. Upon coming
home each day, I eagerly rolled a record on the Nottingham.
For me, that’s what this hobby is about. Yes, this combo
is a bit more expensive, but when I consider the Space combo’s
ability to get me in touch with the nuance and flow of music,
the bang-for-buck factor makes it a bargain.
Listener Magazine
The first thing that struck me about the sound of the Spacedeck
and the Spacearm was its utter solidity. I’ve been struggling
to describe exactly what that solidity sounds like, but it’s
something that real music has and, I now think, one of the
things about reproduced music that allows us to instantly
recognize it as an imitation. It’s a combination of
explosive dynamic attack, high extraction of detail, taut
bass, a very low noise floor, sharply defined images, and
some other stuff I haven’t figured out yet. I’m
content to say that from the deepest bass that ... could manage
to the highest shimmering treble my 42-year-old ears could
hear, everything played on the Spacedeck/Spacearm had a focus
and authority that I’ve never heard from my system before.
Don’t misunderstand. This is not an imaging-over music
component. The Spacedeck’s resolution and focus make
subtle details of performance and expression more apparent…
The Spacedeck and Spacearm combination is the first turntable
I’ve heard in my system that was fully satisfying, and
where I wasn’t always aware, even if only on some subliminal
level, that there was something not quite right about the
sound.
Positive
Feedback teszt
Hyperspace is “where the majesty
begins”. The Hyperspace is the first table
in the range to incorporate the graphite mat from the “heavy
kit” and the oil pumping bearing.
Most turntables rely on a single point bearing for the platter.
This means that the point of contact between the spindle supporting
all of the mass of the platter assembly and the thrust plate
is dry. Lubrication only occurs around the sides of the spindle.
The Hyperspace, Dais and Anna Log utilize an ingenious oil
pumping bearing which pulls a thin surface of oil between
spindle and thrust point as the platter spins. The graphite
pad is 7/8ths of an inch thick and adds mass and resonance
control to the system. Graphite was chosen because it has
the peculiar characteristic of being both hard and soft at
the same time.
Hyperspace 800 000
Listener Magazine
It [the Hyperspace] sounds bigger as in BIGGER—more
spacious, more spread out—and darker as in lots of dark,
space-like silence where silence ought to be… I spent
almost two weeks with the Nottingham Analogue player before
writing down a single word about it, because I kept hearing
those qualities. This record player sounds big, and there’s
a blacker, spacier silence behind the music. Really.
I have heard other big record players that sound big and that
sound blackly silent between the notes, and they’ve
mostly all shared an additional quality: They suck. They put
me to sleep. They make impressive sounds, but they don’t
really play music.
For whatever reason, the Hyper is a whole ‘nother story.
Its presentation, its balance of sonic qualities, is very
different as compared to that of the Linn or Roksan or Pink
Triangle Anniversary or Rega 9 — but like them, it,
too, makes music.
Audio Quarterly
I was amazed at how much more music there was. The space opened
to be very three dimensional. All the instruments in live
recordings were very much more natural. They had realistic
tone and colour. You could be deceived into believing the
real thing was in front of you. I could not believe how much
bass definition was missing before and just how much detail
was in the mid-band. The treble was so sweet and full of colour.
DAIS The Dais is the culmination of years
of effort by the Nottingham team. While not the most expensive
table they have ever made, it is the one of which they are
currently most proud. The Dais incorporates the best features
of the old Anna Log (still a much sought after classic) and
the newest thinking on materials and design. In addition to
a more robust version of the oil pumping bearing design mentioned
in the Hyperspace information, the Dais incorporates a gravity
spun iron platter. This platter is actually spun while casting
to eliminate even the tiniest air pockets thereby insuring
consistency throughout the platter. The Dais also includes
the Wave Mechanic power supply that provides ultra-stable
AC wave form to drive the motor. Just looking at the Dais,
its most striking design feature is its simplicity. It almost
vanishes except for the platter. It almost vanishes except
for the music. Music, without machine.
DAIS 1 400 000
Anna Log 2 600 000
DECO 6 800 000
További
képek Nottingham lemezjátszókról
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