Who is Nick Doshi?

Hi,

Larry pointed this thread out to me yesterday. I am extremely flattered for the attention and the very nice comments (the checks are in the mail guys)

The information that Doug, Dan and Larry provided pretty much sums it up.
I started building audio equipment when I was 12 or 13. I have been involved with music since I can remember and chose to become a recording engineer which led to my employment in the Broadcast industry. I am currently a manager at a Television facility.
The preamp and individual phono/line stages came about as an experiment. I had built many designs that while boasting superb technical specifications, left a little to be desired musically. I chose tubes because they are an easy way to get a lot of gain in a single amplification stage, I chose tubes designed specifically for audio because this allowed me to operate them as intended without feedback and conservatively for a long life.
I realized that the sound quality of these units would then be dependent on how the circuit modulated the power supply and overall coupling and isolation of power supply, signal and drive ability.

Making these units for those who cherish them has been a great reward as I have been able to expand my musical horizons and enjoy stimulating company. I don't profess to have mystical knowledge, I have applied circuits that have been around for a long time in slightly innovative ways. I don't profess to match all components to .1% but I have paid careful attention to proper loading between stages, careful component selection and mechanical damping. I have nothing against matching components to .1%, I'll get to it right after I find tubes matched to .1% :-)

This thread has caused quite a bit of email traffic. I have convinced a close friend and Audio Professional Larry Marcus at Paragon Sight and Sound to field these inquiries for me. Larry was the owner of S/N 000 of my preamp (he only owns it because he refused to send it back, he is currently devising a system to make sure he has it in the afterlife, in case there's audio y'know).

Thanks for the nice comments. Enjoy music, tolerate equipment.

Regards,

Nick

"Enjoy music, tolerate equipment." I wish I'd said that, and I may.

Thanks to Nick for stepping in. Looks like we blew his cover, but this looks like a good development ...

- for Nick, since it will free the time he spends handling inquiries to focus on equipment building and design. He has other products in the pipeline. Our amp is a Nick Doshi prototype and it's the finest we've heard below at least $10K, yet it cost us oodles less. (Hugs self.)

- for Larry Marcus, of whom Nick has always spoken most highly. Now he can show his customers the best preamp he knows, not just the best that's commercially available.
Of course they may have a long wait. The Alaap queue may grow to Schroeder-like proportions.

- for potential owners, who'll have a ready source of product info. There may even be demo units, though Larry will have to be careful. No "demo" that Nick sends out ever comes back. That happened three times last year. Larry's not the only Alaap thief!

There should be no quality degradation. Nick plans to keep making each unit himself. Production will be limited by his artistic soldering skills and the patience of his lovely wife and precocious daughters.

Paul and I feel honored to own one of the early Alaaps. Ours is s/n 11, one of only 12 built in 2005. Like Mr. Marcus and others, we know this is the finest component we own. As Dan_Ed can attest, it is also quite a bargain.

Enjoy music, tolerate equipment!
Doug

I'm really pissed about this!

All of those gold fish I had to swallow live, crawling through the hot, glowing coals, the hours spend memorizing the Alaap plebs credo. And that secret handshake gave me carpal tunnel!

Now I can't even look forward to taking it out on the newbies!

Stop whining. At least we let you eat the goldfish first.

It's tough to handle sushi after you get carpal tunnel. That's why we do it in that order.

BTW, where is Paragon Sight and Sound? Someday I might want to drop in an meet the new Grand Poobah of the Doshi sect.