A lot of information and misinformation on the LP12, but
that isn’t unusual. I’m Thomas
O’Keefe, better known among Linnies as ThomasOK, an LP12 technician of some
regard and the person who discovered the torque system of fine-tuning an LP12
over a decade ago.
I’ll start out answering the OP questions. Any turntable needs to be setup
periodically for the most musical performance and the torque system I developed
applies equally to every turntable to a greater or lesser extent depending on
how many fasteners there are. I
have used it to set up all kinds of turntables including VPI, Thorens, Rega,
Well-Tempered, SOTA, Teres, Origin Live, Clearaudio, ProJect - the list goes on
and on. Admittedly some only have
the fasteners of the cartridge to the headshell to adjust but many have tonearm
bolts, armboard screws, bearing housing screws, etc.
The standard Linn LP12, however, has 29 screws and bolts
that benefit musically from precision torque adjustment. The values vary significantly from one
set of screws to the next and have to be determined by ear. In addition, the LP12 needs to have its
suspension adjusted properly for pistonic bounce (as mentioned) and so the arm
cable doesn’t interfere with the suspension if you want the best
performance. There are also other
things that change the musical performance such as alignment of the belt, mat
and platter (clocking the platter as mentioned by nkonor who may be one of my
customers). Now once the LP12 has
been PROPERLY setup and tuned it should remain stable for a good amount of
time. I recommend my customers
bring theirs back in every three to five years or whenever they are in doubt
about the life of the stylus, whichever comes sooner. It really should be unnecessary to bring it in any more
often than that. One reason is
that things can drift a bit, after all the plinth is solid hardwood which can
change due to the environment it is in (sunshine, humidity, etc.), although a
well setup unit will remain as stable as most any turntable.
Another reason for a checkup after a few years is that even
after 40+ years we are still discovering ways to make the LP12, and turntables
in general, more musical. In the
beginning nobody was aware that the mat sounded better one way up than the
other (as indeed it does on Regas and any other turntable using a felt mat) or
that the belt had an inside and outside (it is now known that it also has a top
and bottom). 13 years ago nobody
knew that you could hear a musical difference if the torque of a fastener was
off by a couple hundredths of a Nm, nor that the inner platter had an optimal
position in relation to the inner platter. Recently a couple of associates of mine, Paolo Nobile in
Rome, Italy and Fredrik Lejonklou of Uppsala, Sweden and I discovered a way to
improve the musical performance of Linn dynamically balanced arms.
However, there are a few other reasons why Linn specialists
like myself are often kept rather busy.
First is the simple fact that Linn have manufactured and sold well over
100,000 LP12s in its 44 year history and I would suspect that 98+ % are still
viable although some will need minor repair. This automatically brings a fair number in to any good LP12
specialist for checkup and stylus/cartridge replacement. Combine this with the resurgence of
vinyl over the last decade plus a lot of baby boomers now having grown children
and you have a regular stream of people digging their LP12 out of the attic or
basement and bringing it in to have it gone over. Also Linn has created a fair number of top level and mid
level upgrades for the LP12 over the last decade and a half and these do make
quite a substantial musical improvement.
So you have quite a few people bringing their tables in for one or more
upgrades. Indeed in the middle of
writing this I was asked to talk to a customer who wanted to discuss the most
sensible next upgrade for his Valhalla LP12.
Linn now has three subchassis offering increasing levels of
musical performance and all better than the standard subchassis of 10 years
ago. They have three different
motor/controller combinations the least of which is at least Valhalla
performance level, they have three arms, and they have three different
cartridges. This gives many
different possible permutations and performance levels before you even look at
all the other possibilities in cartridges and arms out there. Contrary to what one poster has said
the upgrades Linn has come out with, from as simple as an improved $30 felt mat
through to the quite amazing $4250 Radikal motor/controller, have all made
substantial musical upgrades that many, many owners feel are well worth the
money invested. A fully loaded
LP12 is musically something to behold and still musically superior to anything
else I have heard. Indeed my own
$26.000+ LP12 fronted a system that was given Best Sound of Show at Rocky
Mountain Audio Fest last year even though running through a pair of speakers
costing only $1766! Of course,
since the source is the most important piece in a system, and since IMHO this
was the best source at the show, this rating makes perfect sense.
I think this answers the original questions and hopefully
dispels some of the misinformation on setup stability. But there are still a couple of bearing
questions. First, on leaking. Saying “the bearing (usually) leak” is
totally incorrect. On the other
hand saying they never leak is not totally true either. In my almost 40 years of working on
LP12s I have seen a few LP12s with a bearing housing that had a slight
leak. By a few I mean literally
fewer than 5 out of I don’t know how many LP12s I have worked on but the number
is easily in four figures. This
has always in early pre-Cirkus bearing housings and was caused but an
incomplete seal where the bearing housing grips the thrust plate around its
circumference. This could be
easily remedied without replacing the bearing housing by thoroughly cleaning
the bottom of the bearing housing and applying some silicone sealant. This brings us to the Cirkus
bearing. What was wrong with the
original bearing? Nothing – I have
seen 40 year old bearings that still have only a small polish mark at the point
of contact and no pit or appreciable wear. This is the rule and not the exception. These bearings still spin with minimal
friction and noise. However, Linn
practices a policy of constant improvement making small or large changes as
they find better materials (the Titanium/Aluminum/Stainless steel Ekos SE, for
example) and better ways to make them.
The bearing housing went through at least seven changes, some more
noticeable than others, and the Cirkus was the biggest improvement combining
several updates over earlier bearing housings for musically improved
performance: inner liners made of ventilated PEEK, a material they found
superior to the previously used PTFE, improved positioning of the liners,
addition of a small reservoir for oil at the top of the housing and, probably
most importantly, a heavier and stronger housing allowing for an even more
solid attachment to the stronger subchassis introduced at the same time (the
early 1990s). The Cirkus bearing
housing and inner platter/spindle, along with one of the stronger subchassis,
forms the foundation of the LP12 turntable so it is the upgrade to do first on
any pre-Cirkus LP12 as everything else builds on it. It does definitely make a substantial musical improvement to
the LP12 in clarity, bass extension and tonality, bass evenness, and rhythmic
quality of all music.
I hope this answers the questions and gives a better idea of
what the LP12 is all about.
