The urge to tinker is awash. What TT might better mine and why?

I would audition a suspended deck. If you like the characteristics a used Oracle Alexandria might be budget friendly. If you can find MK III or MK IV, they are more reliable and easier to set up; but hard to find. You can add your choice of tonearm, but there are some weight restrictions with all suspendeds. Of course if your budget allows, the Delphi is well worth a listen.

Of course, you could go Thorens or Linn, if you don’t mind being one of a pack.  ;^)

Uber

interesting thread:  a year ago I swapped out my spacedeck/spacearm (9”) for an ace spacedeck and ace Anna 10” arm; at the same time I added the Kiseki purple heart ns cartridge which replaced a cadenza bronze 

i use a walker audio motor controller and a Cary ph302 mk ii phono stage with a factory added external power supply ( similar to those used on the Cary slp98 pre amps ) - I put 4 circa 1950 vintage nos 6sl7 tubes in the phono stage

when all was said and done I achieved noticeable improvements in all areas of vinyl sound reproduction - incredibly low noise floor, great dynamics, detail, soundstage, you name it - the improvements were not subtle 

personally i love the Nott sound and didn’t want to get away from it, so I just got ‘more of it’

i think it’s the same with a speaker sound you prefer, if you like it and want ‘more of it’ just move up the line 

Well after some tweaking of arm and cart setup on the Denon I can see why the dl103d is so popular.

It has bloomed nicely from the tweaking, bass has more depth, more air and separation. Overall a pretty good budget cart that came with tt so hard to complain.
And after looking at specs on VinylEngine it is really not a bad match for the arm.

However I will be trying out some vintage mm carts on this table along the lines of Pickering, Shure, ADC etc.
Its fun to have new toys and at the price point of vintage mm carts not the end of the world.

@markmendenhall personally i love the Nott sound and didn’t want to get away from it, so I just got ‘more of it’

Yep. And air bearings are yet more of the same. I much prefer the ’sound’ of really good bearings to anything else, regardless of the touted advantages of this technology or that.

T9

I’m by no means a techie, not even close, but the absolute minimalist design of the Nott makes me think (right or wrong) that it’s gonna play what’s on the record: no more, no less. Having owned two Notts going back 15 years, the reading I’ve done on materials and implementation tends to focus on bearing design, which is line with your thinking.  I look at all the mechanical and electrical parts inherent in rim drive and direct drive tables and intuitively I think simpler has to be better.  Of course that’s too easy to definitely conclude and proper implementation of most designs can yield spectacular results, we all know that from experience.  All my components stress ‘low noise floor’, including the Nott.  Music just creeps, erupts, eases, or bursts from a dead silent, inky black background and fills the stage with a wide and deep sonic panorama, particularly with well preserved and recorded vinyl.