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Linn sondek vs sme

I recently read a thread actually comparing a Linn sondek to SME and many saying that the Linn "outperformed" an SME.  Really?.  Are some people on LSD or is this a fair comparison as I am looking to upgrade in the near future and was planning on listening to SME.  I never thought they were in the same league.  I have been told that my modest scout beats the sondek.  How can that be true?  The thing is I have no dealers for either locally.  Only VPI and project.  I think I want to movin a different  direction than VPI.
tzh21y
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
1,174 posts
 
I guess I'm not much of a 'Linnie'! I have no interest in the term PRAT or for that matter 'playing the tune;. To me, the table needs to reproduce what's on the record as close to the sound of 'real' live instruments playing in an acoustic space as possible. As to playback, I think the sound of the master tape is typically as good as one can get, or expect....IF my table is getting close to that sound, I am pretty happy. 
BTW, I think abucktwoeighty would have been very well served by updating his LP12, but not with the Akito and OL DC drive..The Radikal D and Ekos SE, or the new AMG 9 arm, would have been my choice.
pani
1,049 posts
 
How important is the Keel in the order of upgrade ?
tzh21y OP
1,377 posts
 
How do linns play old records?  The scout can play new reissues decent but struggles with the tracking on older records
bpoletti
1,004 posts
 
Was the comparison made by Pete Townsend? 
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,034 posts
 
  daveyf, at that time I didn't want to put that much money into the table.  I spent more than I wanted to with the upgrades made.  The upgrades you suggest come to roughly $7200, so I would hope one would be very well served.
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