Space Deck

Denon 103R: fantastic value and such great overall performance.
Nagaoka MP500: warmer full-bodied rich punchy.

Both would be good choices for this table.

 

Which exact arm do you have? The 10" Space Ace, the Interspace, Anna?

Just realized the DL103R is probably a no go, unless the arm has oil dampening. Need a heavier arm. Higher compliance carts > 15um/mN are the way to go.

 

The OP just bought a used Nottingham deck and stated a budget of $750 for a cart.

Why are we now recommending or mentioning stuff that costs moar and moar like 12" Anna and SME arms, and Lyra carts?

Is this what we want to tell people: That your very very good Nottingham table is not good enough? That you need to spend more? Because if you don't, you suck?

 

Here, I stole this from vinylengine. Look for carts with compliance over 15 to be safe. Some stuff on the edge might work. But without more exacting information, best to play it safe. The last thing you want is a 18Hz resonance.

FYI, the AT440 is the opposite of the MP500.

In general, the microline, line contact, hyperelliptical, Shibata needles go deeper into the grooves and extract more information. With these types of needles, you get the privilege of hearing every little bit of surface noise and every single tardigrade which had made its home in the grooves. The conical stylii don't go in as deep, but some folks prefer their surface lower noise and rendering of vocals to that of the finer bladed stylii. Then there are shapes in between like elliptical or Fritz Gyger and variants that try to acheive a balance.

Other than that, Nagaoka does have a house sound, so does AT and most others. Ortofon is all over the place within a line (sound seems predicated on the color, like Bronze for the Quintent, MM, and Cadenza lines might indicate a tick warm). A good strategy might be to get a few entry level carts for direct cheap, like <$150. MP-110, AT440, etc. and then see where you want to go from there. Hard to make a recommendation without taking into account system synergies (phonostage, amp, speakers, etc.), not knowing personal preferences, and not having any references.

 

I dig the Nagaoka MP-500 with it's evocative, oil painting like presentation. Didn't really dig the Denon DL-103 (can't recall if it was an R or not, probably just a compatibility issue anyway). I have the 10" Ace Space arm.

 

That's on my list. How did you deal with the three pin fuckery? I'm too lazy to deal with soldering small wires. FYI: Moffat bass = Decca bass, as told to me by the man (Mike) himself.

 

I forgot to mention, I found the MP-500 on Ebay (BNIB) for $500. So, quite a bit under your budget.

 

My understanding was in the context of the vinyl thread where @bushdoc inquired about high value TTs on the used market. I had offered several choices: VPI, Micro Seiki, Nottingham, Clearaudio, etc. So I assumed that he would go or had already gone that route.

It was less you, and more the other guy, The deep pockets guy. I'm mean sure, why not a SME V arm and an Lyra Atlas for @bushdoc's Space Deck.

 

Doh! I feel like retard now.