Linn Audio

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. 

Loved my old Kan IIs, like my current Tukans a lot. But that's about  as far as I drink the Koolaid.

Polarizing LP12 kind of took the thread over didn't it, lol.  I also noted that the "Linn attitude" was a turn off.  A few other Brit-based manufacturers were mentioned as not being discussed much here (in the US I'm assuming).
What about the quality of the equipment? (Output sound, build quality and on and on).
The Linn dealer near to where I reside (and I'm talking "back in the day (80's-90's)" was nothing but enthusiastic about Linn (bang for the buck type of quality) but never conveyed the illusion of Linn being the be all-end all of high end audio equipment; in fact, they would happily demo other equipment that was considered (and sounded) better...but also cost a good deal more too! That's my experience (for what it's worth).