Which LP12?

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone, I am just about to purchase a Linn LP12 Sondek, and I'm wondering what particular things I should be looking out for. My maximum budget is just north of £500 and practically perfect condition is a must. For this price, what arm/cartridge/motor/power supply should I be looking at? -oh, and are there any better tuntables second hand for the price? Many thanks, Hugs.

 

[gpi]

This one is a good example

 

[gregory]

i would go to a dealer like grahams if your in London or any one that stocks linn. they can advise on any future upgrades needed, if any and will have it serviced included in the price. it would be nice to have the original box as transporting them, although not a pain can be tricky. you should easily be able to pick up a nice one with an earlier ittok and Valhalla power supply for around £500.00. the cartridge would be extra though.

 

[the record spot]

I don't know about "better" as it's a matter of preference, but Rega's P7, Michell Gyrodec, or the Roksan Xerxes if you can get one, and of course, there's the Brinkmann La Grange.

OK, forget the last one - out of your budget, but a killer deck!

For £500 the Linn has to be on the list - Linn still service the originals from 1972 and you can mix and match the different power and arm combinations to suit your ears. If it was my money, I'd be looking at a small but select audition. Not sure what cartridge to recommend, but you don't want to skimp - there's some great new options out there, but more learned heads than me will know more about the recommended combinations.

 

[the record spot]

Alternatively, how about - if you fancy a project (no pun intended) - get a Technics SL1200 - upgrade the arm (an RB250 or RB300, put on one upgraded by Origin or Audio Origami if funds allow), put on a good cartridge, change the supplied mat and you have a very serious mid-price turntable. Different league in fact.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you have a point with the SL-1200! Infact, for the mean-time, I may buy one new from Superfi (a MK5 or MK2 version?) and then buy a Orfoton 2M cartridge for it and upgrade the arm at a later stage (can any arm fit it?)

 

[the record spot]

I've mentioned the SL1200 as you can get these for a reasonable price on Ebay, although shop around for a deal for the new version too. Maybe worth checking if there are any differences build-wise or in the internals on the new models against the old ones. Either way, assuming there's no big differences, Audio Origami and Origin do customised Rega arms (I'm not sure about the others that you could put on to be honest or the pros and cons of those), but the price increases accordingly. I think we're talking around the £400 figure or thereabouts.

If you buy secondhand, but get a good condition model, you can then get the cooking RB250 (easier to mod than the RB300) for about £130 or so (plus the cost of the work to install it on top) and bung on a good cartridge. If funds are a little tight, you can always get the new deck and a cartridge. Either way, they are superbly built decks and - like the LP12 - haven't been around since the 1970s for nothing!

Incidentally and depending on if I ever find it, there was a thread on a forum somewhere by a chap in Germany who'd done the mother of ALL mods on a knackered old Technics deck. I mean, this was a mouthwatering, jaw dropping, stunning piece of work. I'll trawl the pages again, if only to see it for myself once more.

 

[Anonymous]

"lovely black lp 12 with an ittok lv ll arm and ortofon 2m blue cartridge, fantastic condition serial no 040731. comes with valhalla power supply this is for collection only from central london. auditions welcomed. sorry no photos but can vouch for it's lovely condition. cash on collection prefered."

*This wouldn't be you now would it Gregory?!!!*

 

[the record spot]

Here's that Technics restoration project I mentioned earlier. Whether or not this is too 'bling' depends on one's personal taste (it's a little too bling for me!), this is an astonishing effort and a stunning piece of workmanship ultimately. How to take an utter car crash of a deck and customise it into something that is a real headturner.

It goes from this:-

to this:-

and this is has all the steps in between and how the guy did it:-

http://www.12x0.de/index.php?forum-showposts-214

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again,

Does anyone know if you can fit a Project Debut III's arm to an LP12 while I save up for a new arm?

 

[Anonymous]

No?

 

[John Duncan]

Well I wouldn't, would be a bit of a palaver - you'd have to locate the phono sockets somewhere. Better off with a second hand RB250 for 70 quid or so, I'd say, even though I hear they don't suit LP12s anyway (unless with the origin live counterweight mod or similar).

But the answer to your original question is - the Michell Gyrodec

 

[the record spot]

A rare thing of beauty - lovely deck. Saw my first in 1980 at a secondhand record shop in Edinburgh; major talking point every time I went in. A stunner. Susceptible to footfall though I hear?

 

[John Duncan]

I've found that with all suspended decks, paradoxically - you'd think they'd cushion the blow, but had more issues with my systemdek than my solid-plinth RPM5. My friend went from a Systemdek to a Gyro and has reported that it is more sensitive, yes, but I think both it and the LP12 need specialist setup to minimise this sort of thing - getting the suspension to move only up and down, rather than in circles...........stick your support on a paving slab and you'll be fine.

Anyhoo, I'm biased as have never liked the look of the LP12, so will never have one, even if they're the best sounding deck on the planet

 

[gregory]

first to hughesy, yes it was me selling the linn but unfortunately it developed a serious fault with the motor so i had to withdraw it from the sale, so off it went for a service and then i went off on holiday. anyway a new motor is on order but a friend is taking it off my hands so not to bad. in the meantime i have bought a technics sl 1210 and put on an audio technica 110e to get it up and running and after just a couple of days what a cracker of a deck. i will go into more detail at a later date of critical sound quality but already it's sounding great. I've had a gyro se and as you all know the lp12 and an ar eb101, the easiest to get along with is the gyro. no footfall problems unlike the linn which if you breath on it be prepared for a bouncing needle not to mention the upkeep of the thing, as for the a&r lovely deck as it is the arm seriously lets it down but i had the latter model, the earlier ones had an arm plate to change arms if you so wished. now to hobnob Duncan, john how can you not like the look of the linn, yes i know it's a copy of the thorens 150 but all the same it looks purposeful and is beautifully made, i forgot to mention the roksan xerses which imo is better than the linn and at one time, a long long time ago i thought the linn was the best deck on the planet but i now know that is definitely not true but saying that i still want another one but the missus has said enough is enough so 4 sets of speakers have to go as do 3 amps 4 tuners and 3 turntables, a sad day in the lynch household. god bless you all.

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="gregory"]now to hobnob Duncan, john how can you not like the look of the linn, yes i know
it's a copy of the thorens 150 but all the same it looks purposeful and is
beautifully made[/quote]

Beautifully made it may be, but it's a box, in the same way that a Ford Cortina is a box. The Gyro (even more than the perspex-clad Gyrodec, if you ask me) is a true design classic. Ditto Clearudio, Pink Triangle and latterly the Funk Firm, SME, Wilson Benesch and to a lesser extent Pro-jects teardrop models (though in design terms they've copied other people, TMM) - they've taken turntable design (and function) further than Linn have, although they undoubtedly owe Ivor a great deal.

[quote user="gregory"]i forgot to mention the roksan xerses which imo is better than the linn[/quote]

Agreed. And it works with Rega arms, which is a plus point for me. Still just a box though.

 

[gregory]

the mk lll was a bit of a looker though.