TW Raven One vs. Nottingham 294?

Caspermao,
I agree with David12 in recommending the Raven One. It could definately be the last TT you will ever buy. I have a friend with a Space Deck in a very nice system and it is a fine TT but he is now considering a Raven One. I have a Raven Two (a Raven One with two arms) with a Graham Phantom with Air Tight PC-1 and an Ortofon 309S 12" arm with an Ortofon Rondo Bronze cart. While the Ortofon combo isn't up to the Phantom/PC-1 level, as you would expect, it holds it own very nicely and I could be happy ever after with this combo alone. Regarding the switch from 33 to 45, all you do is push a button on the motor control. The control holds speeds exactly and the whole design is simple and elegant with exemplary engineering. Jeff Catalano will help you through the decision making process and is fair and honest in his dealings.
Good luck.

I'm the guy Inman29 is referring to (hi Bill!) and from my perspective the Raven One is in a whole different class than my Spacedeck and Ace Space Arm. The level of musical detail, dynamics and tone I heard on Bill's Raven TT was the best I have ever heard from any system. I'm sure the Graham and Air Tight were an important part of it, but the Raven seems to be a TT platform that you can mate with the best arms and carts available.

To be fair though, the Raven with suitable arm is going to be about $7,500 - $9,500 depending on the arm. So the proper Nottingham comparison would probably be the Dais with Ace Space or Ace Anna arm. I think the 294 with arm is about half the cost of the Raven even if you use an inexpensive arm on the Raven.

Regarding changing the Nottingham from 33 to 45, it is no problem. It takes all of 10 seconds and the speed stabilizes dead on 33 or 45 after just a few rotations.

In my research, and now listening, I am down to the Raven (arm TBD) or Dais for my "final" turntable.

Regards. Dave

Thanks for your great feedback, guys... very helpful! Any 294 owners want to chime in here? No disrespect to Spacedeck, but I heard the 294 was in a different league? That 294 price point is really the sweet spot for me, and I'm really wondering if the Raven One, which would end up costing twice the 294, would be a bona fide step-up or another example of law of diminishing returns.

Dave, and thanks for letting me know about the 33 to 45 on NA. That's very good to know!

I upgraded from an older Spacedeck (with the thinner platter) with Space Arm to a Space 294 and it was a significant improvement. A dealer told me the difference between the Space 294 and the newer thicker platter Spacedecks with Ace Space arm is not as great.

Just recently I replaced the Ace Space 294 arm with a used 12" Moerch DP6. The Moerch arm took the table to a whole new level. The DP6 gives me better bass, improved detail and dynamics. I kept the same Dynavector Karat 17D3 cartridge. I also use a Boston Audio Mat 1 instead of the supplied foam mat.

Good to hear, Scompracer. I have a feeling that, although excellent as is, the Raven One can't be 2x better than the 294, especially if you equip the 294 with a superior arm as an upgrade later. 294 seems the better value, no?