@lewm I very much doubt that there was an issue with the arm wiring until I underwent the several hour trip to see Stan. Highly likely that the wire to connector got loose in the car. Before that, I had absolutely no issues with drop outs or any other sound problems.Yes, the WTA is a major pain to set up, but my modded ‘Black ‘ arm sounds extremely good, having replaced my old Ekos as a significant upgrade in SQ. To improve on the arm, possibly an Ekos Se, but not guaranteed, except in ease of use. Most folk have never heard a WTA on a Linn, it is a hard arm to better, and would require multiple thousands of $$ to do so.
Who knew?
I am a big fan of the Linn LP12 table, having owned one in one form or another since the mid 80’s. I have always had my LP12 serviced and modded by a dealer. Knowing how it is not an easy table to set up, and that a bad set up is going to be detrimental, I have had ‘fettlers’ set up the table.
This year, I decided to replace my original Afro fluted plinth with a new Oak plinth. The original plinth and top plate were the only remnants from my original LP12.
Unfortunately, the art of ‘fettling’ these tables is going the way of the blacksmith…and fewer people are able to do this.Now, the LP12 is not a table that needs constant attention, even though folk who owned one back in the early 80’s thought so.
I acquired a beautiful new Linn oak plinth and then decided I needed to visit my closest LinnLP12 dealer for a plinth swap. For those in the know, this requires a complete and total tear down of the table. Not an easy task, specially since I own a Well Tempered Black arm, an arm I have used and liked for many years.
My closest Linn dealer has now retired, so my next option was to drive about three to four hours each way to North LA. Specifically to see Mr Stan Zeiden at Shelley’s audio. Stan has ‘only’ been working on these tables for decades and I knew he was the man to do the upgrade.
On Wednesday, I drove up to Stan and let him do his magic..and believe me, Majik it is!
Stan took several hours to swap the plinth, adding a new top plate and brace along the way. To say that the tonearm was a head ache, would be an understatement, since it utilizes a liquid bearing with silicone oil as the liquid. We had to remove all of the silicone and then replace it, luckily with new liquid that I had brought along. A very messy affair.
Stan set up the table and re-adjusted my Lyra along with setting up the arm.
After four plus hours, we were ready to test the table…and sure enough a big problem!
One channel was out. Stan quickly chased the problem to my arm wiring, which is something of a nightmare, as the arm utilizes litz wire. For those in the know, each strand of the litz is smaller in diameter than a human hair!
With exactitude and decades of knowledge, Stan re-soldered the litz at certain points and figured out that the cartridge pin had separated from the wire!
IME, very few techs could have done this, maybe one or two on the whole coast!
After re-soldering the pin to the wire, which is almost too small to see, we were back in business.
Now here’s the real eye opener, I always thought that my Linn was well set up, the pros who worked on it before were highly thought of. Yet, after Stan had worked his Majik, it was obvious that I had never really heard what my table was capable of!
Yes, it was good before, but now…simply better in so many ways. Who knew!
This is the crazy thing, I suspect that there are numerous Linn LP12 owners out there, who are happy with their table and sound, but have never heard what it can truly portray. Anyone who thinks they can get the maximum from the table, because they once set up a VPI or similar are delusional.
Moral of this story, a real and expert set up of any table, and particularly the LP12 is well worth the expense and the effort.
Thank you to Stan and the good folks at Shelley’s audio.
- ...
- 31 posts total
@jasonbourne71 Glad you like your vintage LP12, but don’t miss out on a chance to hear a new one if you can get the opportunity. Only problem is that you may well want to open your wallet at that point. |
@theophile is that a constructive comment? |
OP, Thank you for sharing your experience. I am the kind of person that never touches delicate mechanical devices. I would destroy something. Fortunately I have a local audio dealer that is a certified Linn technician. He loves setting up any turntable. He has basic Linn certification and went to the week long advanced training. He says by and large they are easy to set up these days, but that the problems he sees come back from the field are really elementary stuff. The springs in the wrong place… grossly unbalanced suspension.
Anyway I have a contemporary Linn LP12 nearly Klimax with an Audio Research Reference 3 phonostage. Sounds wonderful. |
@ghdprentice Glad to hear you have a local ‘fettler’,one that you like. The eye opener to me was that while I was at Stan’s, he showed me a couple of areas that the previous’ fettler’ erred with. Simple things, but important aspects. For example, not enough oil in the bearing, a wire that was incorrectly routed, possibly resulting in an interference with the suspension ( a major problem), incorrectly aligned cartridge SRA, and incorrect attachment of the Trampoline 2 base. I would not have known about these issues, until someone with his kind of expertise showed me. i won’t name names here, but my prior ‘fettler’, whom I had assumed was good, really is a big disappointment now.’ |
- 31 posts total