Hand Built Music by TOM FLETCHER

 …It is based on the fact that these companies still believe in workmanship, attention to detail, and a devotion to the reproduction of the live sound. Music and the pride taken in perfecting their products are a key to understanding the value of their products. Often, you gain an insight to the musical capabilities of the audio produced by these men, by understanding the men themselves and their value system.

These three Nottingham based companies can be seen as modem day Artisans. They are much the products of designers who believe that they can make an art out of audio design. The individuals behind these companies embody devotion and perfectionism to their audio arts, as an antithesis to the run of the mill. There is a pride in doing it their way, against the grain, and value is placed on quality, where hand craftsmanship is still superior to the machine.

On visiting Tom Fletcher of Nottingham Analogue you begin to gain an insight into why his designs are so minimalist and so musical. Tom is a very direct and strong character and so are his designs. The more time you take to listen to Torn and his audio designs the more you appreciate both. For about three decades Tom has used the same design principles and has evolved a product range from the experienced gained from the day-to- day manufacture of these designs. The material used, the perfection of his designs, have developed into audio that sounds balanced. This is very much the value of working with material to gain an organic sense of how it works for his products.

The idea of the high-mass platter is that the inertia of the weight, once set in motion, will mean that your platter can turn at the right speed without the need for a powerful motor. Torn uses motors that will gently keep the platter at speed. These motors are very quiet and contribute to the great resolving power of the Hyperspace. The costs are kept low so money can be spent on the quality of the materials used for the construction of the cast alloy platter.

The idiosyncrasy to this design is that the motor has not enough torque to start the platter moving or to brake it. Therefore, you have to spin the platter firmly to kick-start the motion. This is a lot more fun than an on/off switch and gives the whole design a tactile feel. Switches only degrade the signal path so this is just another part of the 'silent running' that Tom has engineered into the Hyperspace.

The appearance of the Hyperspace is that of the Stealth Bomber. It has as much purpose in its looks. The structure is in two parts, each separated for isolation. The turntable is then assembled on top of an attractively marble-finished wooden board, which passes off as a plinth. In fact, this is not really essential, as any flat wooden surface will make do if the board is not to your style. I have tried a number of surfaces and I would go along with Tom's recommendation to use birch-ply board or a heavy wooden table.

The two main parts are a motor unit, and the platter and arm board unit. Each structure has three equidistant feet that can be adjusted to level the platter and the motor axis horizontally. This allows precise setting up, as do all components from Nottingham Analogue.

Tom can be disarmingly simple when questioned about his designs. You are usually given his stock answer, to paraphrase him; "all we are attempting is a little bit of an illusion of live music."

Do not underestimate what he means by this. Tom loves music, and he is driven to reproduce this as realistically as possible. His somewhat Gallic response is to be respected for its honesty. If probed further, he will provide you with an illuminating metaphor.

What may appear on the face of it to be idiosyncratic as an approach to design can be explained as so obvious that you begin to ask why doesn't everyone design turntables his way. If you are not au fait to the Nottingham Analogue method, then maybe you expect to see an on/off switch.

It seems reasonable enough, but such electronics are seen as detrimental to the electrical silence of the deck. Rather than using electronic power to move mass, Tom's decks use mass to maintain momentum.

The Nottingham Analogue Hyperspace used for this progressive system, uses such mass and not a complex motor drive system. However good your motor system, it will transfer energy back into the audible band. You can hear this distortion. The Hyperspace sounds so transparent and resolved that it is like the Large Format camera to the others which are on a par to Kodak Brownie by comparison. Listening to a Nottingham Analogue deck is an ear-opening experience.

The Hyperspace has in the style of all Tom's decks, a high-mass platter. The more expensive in the range the heavier they get.

The Hyperspace was partnered by the entry arm, the space arm and the Tracer 2 cartridge. The arm is a unipivot design. Tom argues that the unipivot arm allows the most exact control of movements and energy paths. The Spacearm is wonderfully open and powerful. It draws music from dark black silences and spaces. The combination of motor unit and tone arm provide a very sculptural sound. The bass was very detailed and full of tones. The unit could sound very lifelike and tangible. It makes other turntables sound very pastel by comparison with this oil painting of illusion. The sound of the Nottingham Analogue combination is so dramatically more realistic than any other source that I have heard to date, with only the Wadia CD sounding as big and as stable. The cartridge was musically well focused but could sound leaden and heavy.

However, I found that it was very three dimensional, and gave a full blooded sound to acoustic instruments. It can sound very fast and delicate. I found the perspective very real. It is very good value when you consider there is no need for a step-up transformer. This makes it an ideal source for valve amps.

The system assembled included Art Audio amps; the new Conductor phono amp MM ($850), the VPL pre amp ($795), and the Quintet power amp ($1423).

The Living Voice speakers were the new Auditoriums ($1500). These prices may seem high on first impression. The system I used prior to this one for an extended period cost about half the money. I wasn't sure just how much a return this high-end system would offer. I was pleased to learn that there are very tangible improvements but such an investment.

I was amazed at how much more music there was. The space opened to be very three dimensional. All the instruments in live recordings were very much more natural. They had realistic tone and colour. You could be deceived into believing the real thing was in front of you. I could not believe how much bass definition was missing before and just how much detail was in the mid-band. The treble was so sweet and full of colour.

This was my first real trip into the high-end, and I did not come out dissatisfied. Although you are going to have to spend some serious money, you will be rewarded with well crafted products and a very musical sound. Yes, you can get closer to the real thing.