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Linn LP12......That good??

I have an Ariston RD80 (very good) and a Thorens TD 160, also very good.
How good are the Linn Lp12 tt's??
I am always looking for the best most impressive sound.
I will have to sell the Ariston/Thorens if i buy the Linn because i will not need 3 turntables!
The Ariston almost looks like the Linn by the way.
So how great are the Linn's and what is the best combination to buy?
Thanks!
x1884
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
The Linn is great and I was a VPI dealer before I got sick. I had it modified with gear from ? My memory is shot. Will try to post it!
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
Analogue Innovations. They are great at a reasonable price. Also the Hercules PS
rossb
53 posts
 
I had an LP12 for about 20 years. It went through various upgrades: an Ekos I, Naim ARO, then back to an Ekos II, cirkus bearing, Naim Armageddon power supply. At the end I did the full Linn upgrade route - Keel, Ekos SE, Radikal ... and it sounded terrible. It was coloured, dull sounding and had poor speed stability. The best version was the earliest - and cheapest one. It was very musical but my expectations were low. But after spending around $20k on upgrades, my expectations were high and it did not meet them. And, yes, it was set up by a very experienced and highly regarded Linn technician.

Now I have Kuzma turntables - a Kuzma Stabi S and Stabi Reference. These sound amazing. Even the cheaper Stabi S is better than the full spec LP12 at a fraction of the price. They are well designed and have solid engineering behind them. And they do not need a technician trained in the mystical arts of Linn set-up to wave his magic wand at it every few years. I can set them up myself in minutes.

Thirty years ago the LP12 was a decent mid-price deck that had its strengths and weaknesses. Today it is just not competitive.
ronnierocksrecords
26 posts
 

I have 2 Linns. One is a stock 1984 lp12 with Ittok lv2.the other is a 1979 or so far from stock. Both tables gave me much pleasure over the decades, up till about 3 years ago. I was going to go full hog on the 1984 model ,only to be miffed by the prices asked for the various upgrades. This led to my current setup of a TTW gem V2 rim drive with 42 pound copper platter and mag lev bearing of my design/Teres Verus motor speed control. I still use the Ittok arm with this setup, soon to be replaced by a highly modified Eminent Technology ET1 arm.

So two completely different approaches to spinning the vinyl. the only constant between these decks is the Ittok arm. When I first heard my current rig the difference to the approach of music reproduction was clear. I like my current table better than the Linn. What will be interesting will be to hear the Stock Sondek with the SoundSmith strain gauge currently mounted on the Ittok. That will happen once I mount the ET1 to the TTW.

Ron

daveyf's avatar
daveyf
1,174 posts
 
rossb, you say you had a LP12 with a Radikal power supply and it had poor speed stability????? What the heck are you talking about! Poor speed stability with a Radikal power supply would lead me to say that something was drastically wrong with your set-up...so much so, that either you had a major fault with the power supply, or something else was very amiss! Too bad you couldn’t have figured out what the problem was, your investment in the table would have then made a lot of sense to you and you would NOT have posted what you did!
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