Linn Audio

I bought my new LP12 in 1977 c/w a Rega arm and can't remember the cartridge. it was a chunk of change as I was just starting college. I could not stretch to the Grace/Supex? combo. I still have the LP12 with the Ittok/Asak in the UK as well as the Isobarik DMS speakers. I dread to think how many changes/upgrades I would be behind If I ever chose to ship it over here.

You should give a listen to the latest generation of the Linn Klimax DS/DSM with Katalyst DAC architecture. This new model just came out last year. Sounded quite a bit better than the previous generation of Klimax DS/DSM. It isn’t cheap I think it retails for $30k new.
But literally you will have to step up to something like the MSB Reference or Select ll DAC or something like the DCS Vivaldi full stacks or the Esoteric Grandioso stacks to better it.

I used to have the LP12 Klimax version turntable with Ekos SE titanium tonearm, Kandid mc cartridge, Trampolin baseboard, Keel sub chassis, Klimax Radikal PSU & Urika phonostage (previous model). IMO they sounded very good in my all Linn Klimax setup and system. Then when I upgraded to the Audio Research Ref 10 linestage preamp + D’Agostino Momentum M400 monoblock amps (2 pairs) + Wilson Audio Alexx speakers for a little while I was still using the Linn LP12 Klimax version turntable and they sounded great together until late last year when I upgraded to the Kronos Pro turntable with a 12" Black Beauty tonearm, PC-1 Air Tight Supreme mc cartridge, discrete class A linear PSU & Audio Research Ref 10 phonostage. These are indeed better than my previous Linn LP12 Klimax version turntable but are at completely different price points, thus not a fair comparison to begin with.

Recently my setup and system has changed and evolved again since then.
I got rid of the ARC Ref 10 linestage pre, D’Agostino Momentum M400 monoblock amps and the Wilson Audio Alexx about 4 months ago and decided to upgrade to something better and different.

I never liked Linn's tactics with regards to how they used to treat the dealers. The dealers had to sell certain gear that would not compete with the Linn gear. I know this because I was friends with a dealer in London back in the early 90's. You'd never find a shop that you could audition a Linn TT against a Roksan, Pink Triangle or Michell. Soured my taste for their gear from then on. 

With the various arms, subchassis, bearings, power supplies, top plates, bottom plates and even plinths, LP12's are not all the same. Those upgraded to the highest levels are very good and compete with other expensive turntables. In my experience, I preferred my upgraded Linn to a significantly more expensive turntable that I owned simultaneously and compared using identical cartridges.  I am sure that there are better turntables out there but I believe that the various iterations of LP12 compete with other turntables of comparable, and sometimes higher, price.

Linns benefit from careful set up and it is not easy to do competent LP12 set up without some experience. If you don't have a good dealer or are not comfortable setting up an LP12, it may not be a good choice. Linn proponents are quick to dismiss comparisons between LP12's and other turntables when LP12's lose. They often claim that incompetent set up of the LP12 disadvantaged it. Or they will just say that those with preferences for other tables are wrong. Ivor Tiefenbrun, the LP12's inventor, has been a very combative guy and while probably right more than wrong during the last 40 some years, he seems never to doubt his own opinion. 

There are more than 150,000 LP12's that have been made. The popularity of the Linn reflects clever and aggressive marketing to be sure, but it also reflects a product that, when set up well and given reasonable care, sounds very good. It's worth a listen if you have a chance. 

Just to clarify my prior post, Mr. Tiefenbrun's intelligence, confidence and aggressive promotion of Linn products struck - and may still strike - many as arrogant. The company sometimes reflected its founder's attitudes and some US dealers opted not to deal with Linn, thus depleting their previously strong US dealer network. US distribution changed a couple or three times through the years and that seems not to have helped maintain the dealer count. 

More recently, Linn has focused increasingly on digital products, even digitizing the signal taken from an LP12 and converting it to a digital signal at the phono preamplifier, transforming that signal back to analog only at their speakers that include their own built-in DACs and amplifiers. I have heard one of these systems in an all-Linn shop in Europe that was set up under supervision of a senior Linn representative. The sound did not appeal to me but I may not have given it adequate opportunity. 

I love my LP12 and have upgraded it to a high specification. I would probably need to spend more than I am willing to improve upon my LP12 so I am likely to keep it, maybe forever.