Seeking turntable upgrade advice

What erroneous conclusion have I arrived to with the Doshi other than it's not to my taste in my system? It's a highly regarded piece of equipment and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. Btw, the mismatch for me was not due to the phono stage, but rather the line stage. I spent a fair amount of time and money playing with isolation and tubes, trying it in other systems to get a good feel for its character and I think in my situation I'd be better served by something else. That's allowed, no?

This thread was simply about trying to find a TT match for my Dynavector XV-1s cartridge and Tri-planar arm, not the Doshi.

Thom: for the record, we spoke at least twice - both times you said you would follow up with me in the next few days and both times I never heard back from you. I'm not criticizing the way you operate, but having no idea when I could successfully place an order (let alone receive a unit) is not for me. It's now been a few months and I've given up. Our conversations were very enjoyable and I have no doubt the quality of your products is top notch.

SonofJim: You're are most correct - the SME's are expensive! I'm now considering a Teres 265. Any caveats with this choice? Phono is a Manley Steelhead and preamp is an unknown.

I'm not sure I understand everything you're saying about harmonics, but my take-away is that you're suggesting I get a less than detailed tonearm because my system or room can't handle harmonics.

Pretty much.

Until you address the cause(s) of those distorted harmonics, which arose months ago and which still exist AFAIK, buying a tonearm that will send even more harmonics into the signal path seems counterproductive.

I expect a TriPlanar will do exactly what the Alaap did – introduce more harmonics into your present system/room than it can handle.

What gives you impression I have distorted harmonics in my system, Doug? You haven't heard it... I'm confused.

Hi Madfloyd,

If I were to make a decision on the Doshi based on limited exposure to it, I too would find that it is not to my taste, or more correctly, that I heard shortcomings in the systems where I had the opportunity to audition it. My respect for the Doshi is by inference - from people whose opinions I trust - people with whom I've shared observations and listening tastes in the past. In this sense, it should be on everyone's short list.

There are elements to fine components which are obvious once you learn what to listen for. For example, phono stages like the Doshi, the Essential, the Atma-Sphere MP-1, and the Einstein (to name a few), have a remarkable immunity to input overload. Raul has mentioned this in various threads on this forum. Many times, what sounds like cartridge mistracking or distortion is in fact a phono stage input section whose slew rate is too slow - one which can't gracefully respond to transients, and rings (resonates) in response to them.

Of course, there are numerous dimensions to a sonic evaluation. I point the above one out because it's one that you can analyze in any system context. Tonality on the other hand is difficult to determine unless you are familiar with the system context.

My main point relates to a system building approach - to encourage you to pick the low hanging fruit and work from there. From this perspective, the Doshi would serve you well - in spite of the fact that you currently don't find it to your liking (and might never, for that matter). From the dialog in this thread, it appears as if both ends of your system are candidates for change front end, and apm/speaker.

Now, in the end, you still might not like the Doshi, but I think it will (paradoxically) help you make better decisions about the rest of your system. I still think that you are most likely shooting the messenger. Have you considered sending it back to Nick for an inspection?

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

What gives you impression I have distorted harmonics in my system, Doug? You haven't heard it... I'm confused.

In your own words (unless there's another Ian who has a VPI/XV-1S and just bought and sold an Alaap)...

From your email to me dated 3/27:
"I have not gotten rid of the 'ringing' in my TT, but I did call VPI and ask their opinion, expecting them to tell me I needed to upgrade my arm, but they insisted that my JMW 9 Sig was just fine and that the problem was VTF. They had me increase it to 2.5g (Dynavector XV-1s). It was a significant improvement. The ringing is still there, but much fainter."

As we heard with your TT/arm/cart in my system, your rig actually produces clean harmonics. The "ringing" comes from other components which can't handle those harmonics.

From your email to me dated 3/27:
"If I listen over 80db I get ear fatigue rather quickly; I think the extra harmonics are a little harsh sounding. I get tons of bloom and my impressions are that it's not as clean and imaging is not as good (it's as if the bloom causes images to overlap)."

No other Alaap owner has ever complained of that. Sounds like ringing in the system/room to me.

From your email to me dated 4/1 (regarding your Doshi):
"Distortion. While I absolutely adore the bloom and huge soundstage, I can't listen to this louder than 70 db without ear fatigue. If I play something at 80 db it drives people out of the room (it sounds like it's over 100db). It's lovely with jazz and folk at lower volumes, but it adds so much in the way of harmonics that anything recorded with harmonics gets noisy very fast."

Likewise.