VPI Classic or Notthingham Hyperspace?

You must be kidding. Run, don't walk, back to your dealer and bring home the Hyperspace before someone else beats you to it. The price is a giveaway on a REAL turntable that will leave you with no reason to upgrade in the near, or far future.

I have the Hyperspace custom fitted with a Basis Vector 1 arm and Transfiquration Temper Supreme cartridge. I've never had it in any other configuration except without the wave mechanic when I first bought it. I've had it for some 6 or 7 years now and it still tickles me. It's wonderfully musical and gives a very insightfull view into recordings. You get used to the platter start up routine real fast and IMO you have to have the wave mechanic or some speed controller with it, at least in my neighborhood. It's extremely sensitive to VTA changes so get it right and you'll have virtually no maintanance.

To add to my previous reply.

Nottingham arm, though also uni-pivot, is much more stable than VPI JMW. I have never seen the arm rock side-to-side, image has been very stable for me.

In terms of service, both VPI and Nottingham are superb.

One thing I noticed about Hyperspace, the distance between motor and platter is very critical and you need a strobe disk/light to ensure it spins at the right speed.

Another thing to note is VPI Classic uses aluminum platter which some love and some dislike.

Thank you all very much for your replies and advice. I got a little overexcited seeing the table for the first time up close and, not being familiar with the NA line, I made a mistake identifying the model. It actually is the Space 294 turntable with the 12" Space tonearm, not the Hyperspace. Also, the actual price the store owner agreed on, is $3400, and not $3000, as the salesperson originally quoted. The reviews for this model seem to be overwhelmingly positive, but I wonder if you'd still recommend it over the Classic with this higher price.

If anyone owns or used to own the Space 294, please share your experience and advice.

Thank you!

I have had the 294 for a year and am a very happy owner. I would strongly recommend adding the optional heavy kit (comes standard on Hyperspace) if the store owner has not already included it in the asking price. There are also a lot of different 12" arms that you can try out with the Nott. My bias is that while the Notts are world class tables the arms (while good) are not up to the same level. I have a two arm set-up where the space-arm is used with a mono-cartridge and a SME 312S is used with a Stereo cartridge. As I've said many times, the Nott's don't have the marketing buzz of a lot of other products. They are just very well engineered tables that have stood the test of time and provide good value for the $. In particular, the Notts have some of the quietest, blackest backgrounds that I have experienced.