I'm not the most knowledgeable about different turntables, so my experience is rather limited. I've only had a Rega P3, Rega P8, and then made a (very large) jump to the Dohmann Helix One Mk2. The audiophile friend who's been in vinyl for decades was very impressed with the Dohmann. Coming from the Rega P8, it's a world of difference: a vast improvement in every aspect: detail and clarity most obviously improved to my ears
@drbond I had the wisdom, luck, or just curiousity to stop by Dohmann HQ on Sat Feb 18th. (Mostly to see about a Schroder brass HS weight)
It was a wonderful couple of hours, and it is hard to find any fault with the TT as it was setup, and the music that was there was about a 50% overlap with what I have, so it was a good sign.
There are many “double negative” Australian sayings, and they can be subtlety different than without double negatives… but as the saying goes, “Dohmann makes it hard to not like him.”
I have a good cart, arm, phono stage and the SOTA rebuild is proceeding. But that Helix is really something else again.
I don’t think you will have much left to blame things on… but cartridge set up is an easy way to find a failure even with everything being good on its own.
well done!