Comments about Nottingham quirks

True, although he does say if it were his money he wouldn't buy one. My local dealer only has the interspace on the floor so there's no way for me to check out the 294 in person. Anyhow, how does the tonearm stay in place? This seemed to be an issue in this review.

As a Spacedeck owner, I personally love the spin-by-hand starting.. it's convenient and makes me feel like a club dj. My tonearm is a Nottingham (Pre-Anna) "The Foot" (yes, it's 12") and it does hum like crazy with a low output Zyx. But it was re-wired so who knows.. as for a finger lift, let's just say that Mr. Clumso doesn't need that temptation.

I have an Interspace (for sale, unfortunately) and have never had any of the issues he talks about with hum. The finger lift is a non-issue. As far as securing the arm, get a $300 Ginkgo dust cover and nothing's going to mess with it. Nottinghams and Shelters are awesome. The 294 is truly incredible, it is rather large though. Get a Shelter 5000 or better and you are set for life.

Most of the quirks mentioned aren't really valid reasons to avoid a Nott table. As a former Spacedeck owner, my experience is that the only really problematic issue is the super-fragile nature of the tonearm wire. This is the touchiest wire I've seen, easily damaged. If you buy local, make sure that the dealer mounts your cartridge.
FWIW, the manual start/stop is a benefit, fun and easy to use. The lack of finger lift never bothered me.
Sonically, the Nott tables excel at casting a big soundstage and have good PRAT. If detail is your thing, you can do better elsewhere. Cheers,
Spencer