linn sondek tt

I spent lots of time taking my Linn back and forth to the Linn dealer.  ....never to stay put.  The only vinyl component I had more trouble with was the Helius Orion tonearm which had to be sent to England regularly for pivot issues.

@daveyf  You're right, I got rid of mine 15 years ago after poor performance and nothing but hassle. The LP12 money drain palaver (along with marriage/kids) finally resulted in me giving up vinyl for good.  

Still kept around 50 records though. They hold far, far too many memories. And who knows, I may go back to vinyl in the future. But if I do I'll be looking at Technics, Pro-Ject, Rega, Funk Firm etc. Scarred for life by those crap Linn cartridges, and that ghastly 45rpm speed changer. 

@cd318. Fifteen year old Linn, set up poorly with a bottom of the line Basik plus arm and a entry level cartridge...is not going to perform at a very high level.
Unfortunately, your LP12 experience sounds like someone sold you a bill of goods and even more unfortunately, you didn’t have the experience necessary to realize how to change that. A much better solution for you would have been a Rega or similar. Plug and play basically. 
I believe you are 100% correct, you needed a plug and play table back then...and you still do.
But please don’t be naysaying the LP12 table simply because your experience with it wasn’t up to your expectations due to what sounds like bad dealer support and an inexperience on your behalf.

costing more does not always equate in a better table. For example, the technics 1200G sounds better than the Linn Radical from what I remember to my ears.

Like I said, the scout was close in some ways to the linn, but the linn was better. 18K vs 1600 bucks is a big difference.

However, from your and other comments, I wanted to reverify my conclusion and listen to a newer updated Linn but I have to drive 200 miles to hear one which is a massive inconvenience considering the service and North American distributor of Linn is a couple miles away from me.

I mentioned the 6 videos on youtube because if there are six parts to a video on how to set up a Linn, that is too many steps and way out of line in this day and age, especially when they cost over 6k for a basic new Linn. with that being said, the linn has been around for fifty years so it obviously makes a lot of people happy with its sound and its good looks. So if I was able to acquire one that was reasonably priced, I could tinker with it while I listened to my 1200g.

 @tzh21y You are not getting it! The whole problem of a table like the Linn, which needs to be set up very precisely is NOT to have an amateur like you ‘tinker’ with it! 
If you think the Technics 1200G sounds better than a properly set up Radikal D...well buddy, I guess as they say YMMV! 

It is unfortunate that you would have to drive 200 miles to hear the table, but I suspect if you wanted to hear a new Basis or a new Tech Das etc.,...you would have to drive even further. That’s just the way it is with this type of gear, it’s not a Technics- soon to be handled by your nearest Best Buy!