Tri-planar vs Graham

Oh and Thom: you've been very gracious and always given me great advice - I've been meaning to thank you.
Madfloyd

send him a bloody nice email & graciously thank him for all the free help he has selflessly offered you. :-) IMHO the situation demands it. Don't thank him BTW in a 1-liner at the end of your post. It certainly looks very "by the way" which his help was not! ;-)
Thanx.

This wasn't so much about gear lust or desiring something new but wanting reassurance that synergy wasn't going to be an issue. I've made some huge mistakes when it comes to synergy...

Getting synergies right is vitally important and can be difficult, as you say. Paul and I have been very lucky in that respect, but if you've suffered through expensive mishaps I understand your desire for reassurance.

As you now hear, there are no synergy issues between XV-1S and TriPlanar. Dan_Ed and others with that combo could attest to that, as I could from hearing the combo in several systems. There are certainly no issues between the Raven and a TriPlanar (or any other arm, probably).

I admit I'm shocked to find a table and arm could make this much difference.

:-) :-) :-)

Table and phono stage first
Tonearm a close second
Cartridge a distant third

This has always been the appropriate upgrade order and probably always will be. Linn has been saying so for 30 years. The number of people who mistakenly believe they will get first class sound just by dropping a first class cartridge onto a second class rig seems to be innumerable - though it just dropped by one. ;-)

Glad to hear you're happy and finally getting sound you enjoy. It may be a bit disappointing to have ditched a first class preamp for a second class one due to problems which had nothing to do with the preamp, but I agree you should enjoy the new front end and work to optimize/maximize it before you go there again. Among other things, your MintLP, when it arrives, should provide another clear upgrade from the alignment you probably achieved in that single effort with the stock protractor.

As Nick says, enjoy music, tolerate equipment!

Hi Doug,

It may be a bit disappointing to have ditched a first class preamp for a second class one due to problems which had nothing to do with the preamp,

To which preamps (make and model)do you refer? Do you think their performance is in absolute terms or system (Ian's) dependent? I know that Ian did recently change his amps and perhaps the old preamp was simply a mismatch.

The Dynavector XV-1s/TriPlanar/Raven should be a very good combination once set-up properly with the MINT Tractor. Congratulations Ian and enjoy that new front-end.

Hi Peter,

Ian's Alaap reproduced harmonic overtones his system couldn't handle without ringing at higher listening volumes. It's possible this change to a harmonically more transparent/less ringy turntable and tonearm might have eliminated the ringing and allowed him to enjoy what the Alaap can do. Now he'll never know (unless he tries another one). :-(

As you say, it's also possible that other components and interactions were contribting to the ringing. I'm unfamiliar with his speakers, amps and wire. IME, most SS amps aren't particularly adept at reproducing higher order harmonics cleanly, or at all, but that's just a generic statement which may or may not apply to Ian's amps.

Just saying it's a pity that due to the short trial he may never know...

Hi Doug,

The harmonics/ringing issue makes sense to me. I did't hear that with his front end in your system with your Doshi. I didn't hear it with his Doshi in my system. The Doshi did'nt sound that good in my sytem. Ian is the third owner of that unit in a year or so, so perhaps it needs to go back to Nick for evaluation. Those listening that day attributed it, I think, to a mismatch (impedence?)with my Pass amps and not my system's inability to reproduce/capture harmonics. It seems to do that pretty well, though maybe not quite to the level of your wonderful system. At least no one mentioned that at the time. Perhaps Dan_Ed could elaborate?

The point of my question is this: I just didn't know which of Ian's few preamps you catagorically consider "first class". I now understand that to be the Doshi Alaap. He has had a few other preamps in the system - ARC Ref 3, H2O Fire, Pass Labs XP-20, to name three. I don't know exactly when he had them relative to the Doshi. Do you consider them all to be "second class" and the Doshi to be in a leaugue of its own? That would be an interesting, and somewhat unique, opinion it seems to me. Just curious to what you were referring when you made that assertion. That's all. Thanks, Peter