Linn LP-12 compared to TW Acustic, SME, Nottingham

Rossb's comments seem very helpful. The Nottingham arms get the job done, but are not trustworthy... I believe one of the dealers in the UK (Walrus, I think) recommends the Moerch arms with Nottingham 294 and Hyperspace, which was the reason why I wanted to try the combo. Moerch DP6 is a killer arm for the money, although on-the-fly VTA adjustments aren't possible... but the wands are replaceable. Very handy if you have multiple carts and you want to swap them.

Having owned both the Nottingham Hyperspace & Raven AC, I have posted comments elsewhere. The Hyperspace is a very musical table. But it does have a sound. Mind you a beautiful sound. Black background and a little bit of a "large" image size with a touch of bloat. This is with the SME V as commented above. I did use quite a few cartridges and with a thin sounding cartridge the match came out very nice.

The Raven AC is more neutral. More sea through than black if that makes sense. They share a sense of musicality but the Raven is less so while not being sterile. While the Raven is a great table, for the money the low priced Nottinghams are a great value to not be ignored. If I am right a Space Deck goes for under $3000. You do get a lot of value in the Raven One which I have directly compared to mine. You can't really do better than a Raven One until you go up significantly in $$$$. With the Raven you will hear what your cartridge or arm is doing. With the Nottingham, it is all about creating a system synergy to balance the Nottinghams sound. I haven't heard the Dais so no comments. Owning a Hyperspace makes me appreciate my analogue journey. But it wasn't my stopping place. I have had only the SME on the Hyperspace, but I did have the SME on the Raven with the same cartridges. It was a fair comparison but no side by side comparisons. Just from one day to the next.

Consider an Acoustic Solid Machine Small, off board motor, heavy dense platter - and you can mount a Moerch arm on it as well. The Euro has slipped some, so the price is nice. I am enjoying mine, and yes definitely as fast versatile arm - I have the Unipivot (UP-4) mounted with a Denon DL-103. I might try to upgrade to a Lyra Dorian at some point - but content for now.

Well, I have ordered a brand new Linn LP12 + Keel Aro.

It will be a while till I get it, but when I do I'll let you guys know how it sounds. I will have my current 1997 LP12 next to the new LP12 + Keel and it would be easy to compare them side by side.

The LP12 with the Keel will truly be as modern as any other TT.