Tom Fletcher, Managing Director of Nottingham Analogue, on the SPACEDECK TURNTABLE

"In lots of ways our Spacedeck turntable is the most important one we make. Around the world there are almost 10,000 Spacedecks. As a tribute to its reliability, over the years, the need for spare parts have been rare, even belt replacements."

"The Spacedeck is ‘out of the plinth’ - at first people though how silly! You can’t have a turntable out of a pretty little box with a perspex lid over it - but as the years have gone by other manufacturers have come to the same conclusion as we did 40 years ago."

"A turntable is in lots of ways like a musical instrument, it plays resonances in the audio frequency above and beyond, it is better to do this in a controlled way, not to be influenced by a sound box come cabinet. Most sound boxes in music are shaped in proportion and size to a limited frequency; i.e., the violin can go higher than a cello, the cello higher than a double bass. Now our task, or the task of all turntable manufacturers, is to take account of all the frequencies so it is better out of a sound box than in. The Spacedeck stands on a plinth and that comes as part of the package, but it is not forced to stand on the plinth to get just as good results musically. The Spacedeck motor is divorced from the main platter. We were one of the first to see this made a lot of sense. We use an Admiralty bronze bearing with soft inner and hardened outer spindle, a soft alloy platter damped at the outer edges to stop ringing, and an ability to put two arms on. The motor has the power to keep very stable rotation without adding undue resonance to the platter, arm, cartridge and record - music minus machinery."