STW audiophiles - what amp and speakers for a Nottingham Analogue turntable.

Nice 🙂

So many variables to really suggest something.

Main one is budget but, also how much room do you have, what cartridge does it have in the arm (for amp or phono stage setup), what music do you like, where in the room is it all to be located - the list goes on.

For an everyday mini system or similar, these things don't really matter but, if you want to do the turntable justice you will need to be spending a fair bit of money and in doing that you might as well spend it wisely.

You could ask the TT manufacturer what they recommend as a start, or have a dig around hifi forums.

My gut reaction would be something like Naim or Quad amps with Tannoy speakers. Remember you may also have to get period kit refurbished or at least checked over.

Could get very expensive very quickly.

I'd look for a second hand Naim olive series preamp and power amp if I were you.

Or a second hand Audiolab integrated amplifier.

Speakers are too subjective to recommend I think, best to listen before buying.

Main one is budget but, also how much room do you have, what cartridge does it have in the arm (for amp or phono stage setup), what music do you like, where in the room is it all to be located – the list goes on.

it has a new carbon fibre Nottingham Analogue tone arm and cartridge - the original was damaged beyond repair.

It's for the wife's vinyl so generally soul/Motown/eclectic but not guitar based.

The room is large open plan with wood floor.

We're not audiophiles and I had the turntable repaired for her dad's legacy rather than the turntable being a decent piece of kit. Rather than buying a new amp and speakers I'd prefer to buy something in period to the TT.

What is your budget? Personally I’d get modern amplifier to go with some decent period speakers. A Quad Vena 2 would be a good choice that you can use with modern digital kit too. Or the Leak 130 - likely almost identical underneath. Both of these have a more relaxed vintage sound that will pair well with vinyl.

Speakers are very subjective. I have a set of period Rogers JR149s that I am very partial to. Classic BBC LS3/5A drivers but in a larger and more funky round aluminium case. I would pair these with the Quad or Leak. But there are lots of other options.

Plan to spend about £1000 or more for a nice set up Including a decent mount for the turntable.

Speak to Wilkinsons in Nelson.

They've a large selection of period correct amps and speakers, serviced and guaranteed.
Go and have a listen, see what you both like.
Very nice people to deal with, always had excellent service from them. Local as well.

And when you've got it all set up, can I pop round and have a listen?

They’ve a large selection of period correct amps and speakers, serviced and guaranteed.
Go and have a listen, see what you both like.
Very nice people to deal with, always had excellent service from them. Local as well.

And when you’ve got it all set up, can I pop round and have a listen

Thanks for the link - having had a nosey at their website they are definitely the people to go speak to!

I think its going to be a while till we have a working system but you're more than welcome to call round for a brew/beer/listen.

I’d ask on the Pink Fish Media forum too. There will definitely be some useful suggestions on there.

Took a few pics for anyone interested. Not its final place and I don't have an amp or speakers yet but even so it looks nice!

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Wow, what a machine! Thanks for sharing the piccies, i love where it is situated too.

That’s just lovely.
You do know that this could get expensive.
I can’t in any way profess to know what’s good and what’s not, or even what is period correct.
I’m assuming they sound good, so purely on looks JBL L100s with nice stands.
Even if it’s only now and then, an evening with a glass or two of wine, some vinyl and a nice HiFi is a real joy.
Do keep us updated.

Lovely. Get the Leak in the wooden case. Period correct looks with modern insides but a more traditional sound.

Does it have a dust cover? Might you want one?

Get the Leak in the wooden case. Period correct looks with modern insides but a more traditional sound

I have one of those and I love it.

Your turntable ^ is just beautiful though.

Purifi Audio power Amp hidden out of site, then go all out on period pre amp and speakers.

I’d go with the suggestion to get a modern amp, perhaps with streaming capability or combined with a decent Wi-Fi streamer, as this will offer greater flexibility than a basic analogue set up. High quality digital audio will get much more from any amp, and vinyl ever will anyway, as you have far greater dynamic range etc. What you get depends on budget, and auditorium. 20-30w for a smallish room, 40-50 for an average sized living room, and 60w+ for larger spaces. Richer sounds have a load of offerings around the £400-500 mark, which gets you into ‘proper hifi’ territory rather than ‘lifestyle audio’, but you can spend less and still get something really good. Second hand can be a minefield, but something classic like an A&R Cambridge A60 will offer decent sound for not a fortune, or maybe an Audiolab 8000A for a bit more grunt. Pretty ‘neutral’ sounding amps that have been around for ages for good reason. Stuff like Naim and Quad are excellent, but very pricey, although the Vena streaming models are ok. I was a bit underwhelmed by the Vena, tbh, and I don’t think it does Airplay if you’re an Apple user. Naim etc does require some serious commitment.

Get the Leak in the wooden case

I auditioned the Leak recently, alongside a few other amps both old and new, and found it pretty lacking really. Overpriced and mediocre in my humble opinion.

Lovely turntable that 👍. Haven’t seen one before, hope it sounds epic when you get it fired up.

Whoah seriously nice turntable op. It’s tricky because to match that in terms of speakers and amp is going to be serious money. Agree that you shouldn’t get too hung up with running a vintage amp because the last thing you want is failing caps getting in the way.

Tannoy dual concentric floor standers and perhaps a music fidelity amp, or maybe a nice Nad would be my choice, for around a grand.

Father in law was into his vinyl/ record collection in the early 80’s when their house in Hebden flooded and they lost everything.

Just about the worst time to buy a quality turntable when the quality of vinyl was abysmal! Oil crisis meant vinyl was very thin, poorly mastered and pressed, and was commonly recycled - I had an album that popped and crackled and jumped; close inspection showed lots of little white specs which turned out to be bits of the label from ground up albums mixed into the new albums! 😳

I took five copies of Peter Gabriel’s fourth solo album back because the background noise was too intrusive, it was the very first CD I bought as an alternative, and I never bought another vinyl album.

I was playing vinyl on a Logic DM101 deck with a Zeta tonearm and an Audio-Technica AT33 moving-coil cartridge at the time, so quality vinyl, like Paul Simon’s ’Hearts And Bones’, pressed from first generation masters from Masterdisk, mastered by Bob Ludwig, and Dire Straits ’Love Over Gold’, also mastered by Masterdisk, really showed just how good vinyl could be, but sadly seldom was.

Still got that deck, and those albums, but the deck needs looking at, as it’s speed control doesn’t function any more.

What a lovely keepsake in memory of your father in law. He had good taste - Nottingham Analogue is a good make and they still produce some very highly regarded turntables.
Having been an 'audiophile' for 40 years the best advice is to find a dealer who stocks NA and take their advice. They really are the experts and generally know what they're talking about. Everything else is personal opinion.

Some thoughts to help you;
1. Hifi has moved on greatly since the 80s, with some modern entry-level systems having much better sound quality than high end of yesteryear. So dont get too hung up with buying retro or vintage, some current valve amps are exceptionally good and still look the part.
2. Although its a deeply personal memory item it's you that will listen to it. So arrange a demo with a dealer and put aside a couple of hours (time flies when you're having fun). And trust your ears.
3. Don't be put off by the cost. Hifi can be expensive but doesn't have to be. It's also relative - many people happily spend a lot on bikes and cars and only use them occasionally. I have a £26k system but listen to it every day and get a great deal of pleasure from it, so my value-per-hour ratio is probably very high so to me it's worth it. Also bear in mind it's an investment for years to come, so its all front-loading now but for a long term benefit.

Enjoy the journey! Music nourishes the soul.

I took five copies of Peter Gabriel’s fourth solo album back because the background noise was too intrusive, it was the very first CD I bought as an alternative, and I never bought another vinyl album.

This ++.

Still, Bonny deck OP.

YMMV, but I’d go with the suggestions for a modern amp.

Speakers? Again, I’d go with something modern. But perhaps with retro looks? Maybe https://www.richersounds.com/jbl-l82-classic-orange.html?nosto=nosto-page-category2

Old stuff has a tendency to go awry. Plus, HiFi is like bikes: new is often better and cheaper in real terms.

By the way, I hope you’ve given proper consideration to some cables. they make so much difference 😉

Do a old Vs vintage shootout somewhere like here.

Always fancied a pair of these but haven’t got round to it yet…

https://audiogold.co.uk/product/tannoy-cheviot/

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated and have read them out to MrsRNP as it was her dad's turntable.

We are going to have another rummage in her mum's garage as there might be speakers and amp buried somewhere under the clutter....

Tannoy speakers and Marantz amps are a great combo btw.
Both companies use each other's gear when developing new products and they match very well.

If you can find an older,serviced Marantz amp with 'KI' (the initials of the designer) in the model name, you'll be sorted.

Took a few pics for anyone interested. Not its final place and I don’t have an amp or speakers yet but even so it looks nice!

Amazing what you can do with a 70s Quality Street tin - John Noakes would be proud! Nice use of gold spray left over from the Christmas coat hanger decorations too. 🙂 👍

Lovely turntable! If it was bought in the 80s then to historically match it accurately with 80s amp and speakers then you'd be looking at "visually dated ,unfashionable" solid state plasticky,black boxes. I'm guessing that the look you're after is more 70s but be aware that the quality, classic solid state 70s amps, Pioneer, Marantz, Sony, Sansui are now going for premium prices and may well need servicing and re-capping but there are new retro style ones available as above ie Leak. A valve amp would look brilliant with that turntable imho and sound good too,as already mentioned Quad. New ones are spendy but I've got two new Chinese valve amps off e bay that look stunning and sound superb but you would probably need a standalone phono pre amp which is no bad thing as it can be used with other amps too. I'd second Wilkinsons HiFi and pay to get a fully serviced retro amp.
As has been said there are lots of new retro style speakers on the market Wharfedale,JBL,Tannoy ,Mission which would be worth checking out.

No audiophile here, but enjoy my music and work alongside professional PA systems.

Broadly speaking, the loudspeakers want to match/work with your room. You may also want to consider a certain amount of "acoustic treatment" of the room - you mention a wood floor - some rugs will damp resonance; think about where you're listening from, stuff like that. Don't necessarily go with big impressive looking boxes just because - speakers generally sound better when driven harder, so unless your space is enormous and both you and your neighbours like it LOUD, little ones might well suffice.

Then the amp needs to work with the speakers. In my case my PMCs are a transmission line design and quite current hungry, so my amp is quite chunky (Quad 909). In an ideal world the amp doesn't "add" anything. It just makes what's already there louderer...

You'll need a (pre)amp with a phono input to deal with the turntable - but that could be a separate box.

Good to see the A&R a60 getting a mention, I had two in the '80s with my Systemdek and Marantz speakers or the original Wharfedale diamonds and it was great
Must get up the loft sometime as I'm sure I still have one but probably needs some work to get it perfect again

Looking at that link to Wilkinson's they have a Marantz pm94 listed. I'd seriously consider that if it's still available. Very tempted my self 🤔

Me too!

However, I currently have a PM66KI, serviced and bought from Wilkinsons which is pretty much perfect for my needs.

Drives my Tannoy floorstanders nicely and I can't fault the phono section, works very well with a Denon cartridge in 35 year old Rega Planar 3, which I also had serviced by Wilkinsons.

I know I mention them often in threads on here, but they are such a contrast to the snobbish, elitist shops I dealt with in my youth.
A genuine pleasure to deal with.

I love that Nottingham Analogue turntable. No idea what would be best to pair it with though!

However, I currently have a PM66KI

Me too, one of the best purchases I've made. Must have had it for the best part of 25 years now. Gets a lot of use, mainly with my vinyl collection 🙂

How about a Naim nait 3? the phono stage is way better than most integrated amps and if you find you like the vinyl experience you can get a NAP90 power amp and convert it to pre/power but on it’s own the nait is going to look great next to the TT and sound great.
TT looks great, i’m not of fan of the big black/marble TT’s they do now but yours looks stunning and i expect it will sound as good as it looks.

Re the phono stage make sure it matches your cartridge (moving magnet or moving coil) the phono boards on Naim can be swapped out.)

Broadly speaking, the loudspeakers want to match/work with your room. You may also want to consider a certain amount of “acoustic treatment” of the room – you mention a wood floor – some rugs will damp resonance; think about where you’re listening from, stuff like that

Very sound (!) advice. The brutal truth is that the average living room has pretty crap acoustics, in terms of providing a ‘neutral’ sound from the equipment. I remember the massive Goodmans Jamo type speakers of the 1980s, favoured by many a teenager. ****ing loud, but absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. Dreadful things really. Whereas modern home speakers such as Sonus, Focal, Castle and Klipsch can sound amazing even in relatively acoustically poor spaces. At the ‘reasonable’ end of things, you really can’t beat the aforementioned Tannoy, Wharfdale etc, and Mordaunt Short, B+W etc. Because they are designed more for ‘homes’ rather than purpose designed auditoria.

Good to see the A&R a60 getting a mention

Lovely old amplifiers. Hard to beat for smaller rooms, even by much more modern kit. And the venerable NAD 302 was a mainstay of many a ‘budget’ Richer Sounds system back in the day. The Marantz 66KI is another classic. Can’t go wrong with such kit, as it’s simple and unfrilled.

How about a Naim nait 3?

Very tasty. I looked into a Naim system recently, but decided it was a pathway to a world of financial pain, and my home probably isn’t going to do such expenditure justice, so I wisely decided against it. The advice from my local hifi shop (Audio Gold) was that probably wasn’t advisable unless I was willing to commit very seriously. Plus they had problems finding the correct cables to connect it all up; are they proprietary? KISS is my motto. 🤯

A nait 3 is £350-£450 as for the din cables it’s easy to get them as there is a big service market for keeping early equipment going, probably more than any other british hi-fi available apart from Linn LP12 turntables, try getting your 80’s black box amp serviced/repaired now...

the turntable input is standard phono plugs, i paid £18 for a din to rca cable for a DAC

Sounds like your local hifi shop wanted to sell you something they had in stock..

I’m actually going to make a similar retro journey soon, got rid of a pre/power to go straming but will likely sell my UnitiQute2 and get a 25 year old 72/140 pre power on show with TT and then a bluesound node out of sight to do do all the Tidal/DaB/HDMI/internet radio podcasts etc.

There’s a good looking Naïm nait 3 on eBay at the mo’ - Click

Sounds like your local hifi of shop wanted to sell you something they had in stock..

…a bluesound node out of sight to do do all the Tidal/DaB/HDMI/internet radio podcasts etc.

They had some Naim amplifiers in stock. Newer models than the Nait 3. They just couldn’t find any suitable cables to hand. I had no idea what type they were, hence the question about proprietary ones. They sold me a Bluesound Node*. 😀 And I had them service my Audiolab pre/power combo. So I actually ended up spending a lot less than I could have. Audio Gold are most definitely not the kind of shop that would try to rip you off. Quite the opposite. What I wanted was a streaming solution, and was prepared to spend a bit. They helped me realise that the best system was in fact the one I already had, I just needed a digital streamer. Adding something like the Node transforms any decent analogue set up into a fully integrated Wi-Fi streaming system, for not a vast fortune. The guys at AG have forgotten more about hifi than most people will ever know, and have listened to more gear than almost anyone else. They really know their stuff. Which is why getting advice and buying from such shops really is the best way to do it.

*The Node is truly excellent, integrates perfectly with my Airplay system. A big step up from basic DAC streamers like Chromecast Audio, Amazon, Yamaha, Sonos etc. Very highly recommended.

What was the outcome of this then? Did the Op find a perfectly good amp and set of speakers in the loft? Or have they spent £30k+ on something mad? 🤔 I think we should be told...

Lovely look to that thing and fantastic the manufacturer was ready and willing to refurbish it. Makes me all the more grumpy about Linn instituting a cut off date. They won't repair anything older (iirc it was 15 years old at the time) 😟

What was the outcome of this then? Did the Op find a perfectly good amp and set of speakers in the loft? Or have they spent £30k+ on something mad? 🤔 I think we should be told…

sorry to disappoint - life's got in the way a bit. Next stop is to search the MIL's garage to see if there's an amp and then go speak with Wilkinson's in Darwin.

Lovely look to that thing and fantastic the manufacturer was ready and willing to refurbish it. Makes me all the more grumpy about Linn instituting a cut off date. They won’t repair anything older (iirc it was 15 years old at the time) 😟

They were lovely to deal with as well. We dropped the TT off with them on the way past Nottingham - they said they had refurbished turntables in far worst condition than ours although the our tone arm was completely damaged beyond repair. It was a little bit like BBC's repair shop - MrsRNP was teary eyed over her dad's turntable being handed over and they were teary that our dog running round their garden looked exactly like their dog that had recently left them😢

Wilkinson seems a decent shop. Proper old school. They’ve got some really nice amps in under £1000; the Rega Brio I’ve heard at a friend’s house, it’s very good. I’d also recommend an Atol IN80 as it’s the closest sound I found to my Audiolab 8000A. Ie; very neutral, well balanced, clear and with plenty of dynamic range. It’s probably what I’d buy if I were starting from scratch right now.