TechDAS lll experience

@lewm I was questioning the tonearm mounting scheme myself on the AF3. Hanging a tonearm on a peg would seem to me to be a 'kludge' at best. 
@mijostyn  Agree. The Basis models or the Grand Prix Monaco are IMO far superior sounding to the AF3. I have heard all three models....and like you I am no real fan of Direct Drive. The Grand Prix just about changed my mind.

YOU HEARD THE GRAND PRIX! So, Daveyf what did you think??? These guys design and make stuff for formula 1 and cart race cars. They are very serious engineers working at the tip of the spear. It would not surprise me if they killed it.

The Grand Prix Monaco has been around for quite a while, maybe a whole decade.  It has not made a big splash in the turntable world. What I don't love about it is the rather small plinth and the carbon fiber. I have a bias that CF causes a kind of muffling coloration that I have not liked in speakers or tonearms.  The small and ergo maybe light weight plinth puts me off because I favor high mass plinths for DD on the premise that Newton's Third Law of Motion applies, the motor wants to rotate either the plinth or the platter, and it doesn't know the difference.  Thus, the plinth must be massive to channel all the rotational energy into the platter. But my theoretical questions mean nothing; one would have to hear it.

It should be no surprise that the AF 3 and 5 look like MS, since the head of TechDAS is from MS. 

Stella has been around since 1989. I don’t think you need to fear them disappearing. 

@mijostyn  I heard the Grand Prix Monaco 2.0. It was matched with a carbon fibre Triplanar Arm and a Lyra Etna. One of the best sounding analog front ends that I have heard. Extremely quiet in the groove and very resolving, plus the speed control was obvious, as it was exemplary.