Linn Bedrok LP12 Plinth Upgrade

@lewm   You bring up a very good point. As the price of the Linn LP12 Klimax version rises, so it gets closer and closer to competition that may be not only better value, but also superior sounding. Some Linn folk believe that the Klimax LP12 cannot be bettered, yet I think this is simply because these very same folk have not had enough experience to really know what the competition offers. I am a big Linn fan, but I do not delude myself by thinking that the table cannot be bettered--- for a price. 

To me, this is where I think Linn's pricing stagey could end up hurting them...as the more 'experienced' listener will then turn to alternatives in the market...

They may not be there yet, but I think they are knocking on the door. 

This is part of a discussion on an ongoing Linn LP12 thread

@lewm

Lewn, darling. Do the sums properly. I can see the price of the Technics SL-1000R as £18,999 at two UK dealers. The list price of £25,098 for the full Klimax LP12 less £6,050 for the Exstatik cartridge and £3,115 for the Urika phono stage works out at £15,933. That is considerably less than the Technics on a like for like basis.

And you could save another two and a half grand on the LP12 by substituting the standard Radikal for the machined one. Linn say that has no effect on sound quality.

Personally, I don’t care whether a turntable has direct or belt drive. I doubt if most Linn aficionados, as you call them, that I’ve met would even know the difference.

It’s Lew M, not Lew N. I live in the US, not in the UK. The price on the Linn website is $32,800. The price of the SP1000R at Music Direct is $19,999, or something like that. The list price of both TTs does include a tonearm. So, for a US resident, there is a roughly $13K difference in price, in favor of the Technics. However, I was not aware that the price for the Linn Klimax also includes a cartridge (AND phono stage?) If the Linn price does include a phono stage, then I do stand corrected. But that does not make the price of the Linn LESS than that of the Technics. They would be about the same here in the US, unless you posit that the Linn cartridge and phono are a phenomenal value.

I don’t. use the term "aficionado" as a pejorative. If you have owned the same TT for 30 or 40 years and have upgraded it along the way at high cost, and if you defend that TT on internet websites against its critics, then the term aficionado applies, in my parlance anyway. I’ll admit to being an ESL aficionado, for example, since I have owned nothing but ESL speakers of one kind or another for more than 45 years. You could also say I am an aficionado of OTL amplifiers to drive ESLs. I also beg to differ with you on Linn owners. They are an intelligent lot who certainly do know the difference between belt-drive and direct drive.

@lewm

I am sorry about spelling your name wrong. Does that mean you don’t love me any more?

My original point was that the SL-1000R and Klimax LP12 are in the same ball park price wise.

You aggressively contradicted me by saying the Klimax is massively more expensive than the Technics.

I showed you evidence from the UK that clearly shows that it is in fact the other way round.

If you now want dispute that, I suggest you get hold of the US Linn price list and make the comparison on a fair like for like basis in dollars. I’ll be very surprised if it makes that much difference.