Nottingham and Teres comparison

4yanx, how did you like that Illustrious tonearm and the 901 cartridge?

Twl, one word. Fabulous. I may upgrade to this config eventually before a table upgrade (Spacedeck/Spacearm/Shelter 501). I am not fully convinced that the extra bucks for the 901, as opposed to the 501, is justified in all cases, however. While the 901 was outstanding there is a certain richness to the 501 that is hard to put into words. If you are into solo stringed instruments or piano and/or small ensemble-type groups of any kind, the 501 might be all you'll ever need. I am half tempted to buy another in the event they ever go out of production! :-)

As aside, I did a comparison of the 501 to SEVERAL other cartridges (most costing MUCH more) at the same shop mentioned above before opting for the 501 for my table.

OK, I knew I couldn't make a post with just one word! HA!

4yanx, that's a great shop that will enable a customer to compare several cart's before buying. When I was shopping around DC, I couldn't even find a shop that could solo audition just one of the cart's I had in mind - and most couldn't audition any at all. I had to wind up buying my Glider M2 by telephone based solely on the advice of a few distant dealers. I'm not hoping for any better should I ever decide the bite the bullet about upgrading my current TT. Thanks for sharing the results of your comparitive listening sessions.

4yanks, does this dealer live in California? I can't see any east coast hawkish dealers doing that comparisson if their lives depended on it!! I am dying to hear the TERES against my custom made maple base TT.(see: "VPI redesigning experiment") on the Analog site.
By the way, a local record shop has a notingham TT with a wooden platter, I have never heard that before, does anybody know about that and it's resulting sound?

Some of the lower end Nottinghams have HDF platters, not wood. I have never heard of a real wood platter on a Nottingham. The new Teres 265 has a real wood platter made of Cocobolo wood laminated for stability, that is nearly three inches thick. I have not heard this platter yet, but it is claimed to be awesome.