Thoughts on the Linn LP12 turntable

As an owner of a contemporary Linn LP12 (almost Klimax) I can say unqualified that today’s Linn LP12’s perform at levels commiserate with their cost, competitive with units of many ten’s of thousands dollars. You can see my system under my UserID.
 

From my research and experience Linn has advanced continuously over the last decades besting their competitors while allowing all older tables to be upgraded to contemporary performance. 
 

I am currently listening to my Linn LP12 with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature using a Audio Reseach Reference 3 Phonostage… this combination is simply breathtaking.

Sometime in the '90's my wife bought a Linn from the esteemed Gene Rubin. In other words, it was quite well-set up. I can't remember the arm or cartridge but they were Linn/Gene Rubin approved.  I already had a SOTA Sapphire with the modest arm they often came with (an MMT?).. .When the wife went out of town for a time, I set up both 'tables side-by-side and did several weeks of intensive comparative listening. The verdict -- The Linn had better speed stability and the sound had more punch. Yeah, my toe did do some tapping. The SOTA system, by contrast, sounded more immersive.  The timbres of the instruments felt more authentic and I got a more precise, fall-into-it sound-stage. The Linn's bass was more tuneful but the SOTA's went deeper and sounded more natural. In any case it wasn't  long before I put the Linn back where it came from..

When the Sondek was introduced in the early-70’s (I first learned of it in 1974), Linn was touting its superiority over all other current tables (I at that time owned a Thorens TD-125 Mk.2) in two regards:

1- As the first turntable designed with the table’s job defined in terms of it’s performance as a mechanical component rather than an electronic one. For that reason they put a lot of emphasis on the quality of the deck’s main bearing, an idea now taken for granted but in 1974 wasn’t.

2- As the turntable affecting not just the sound of music, but the musical performance that is contained in the LP groove. They invented the concept of a turntable "playing the tune". It was for the Sondek’s musical qualities that many early (and perhaps current) Sondek enthusiasts---including Herb Reichert and Art Dudley---were long-term owners of the table. After many years as a Sondek owner and lover, Dudley eventually decided idler-drive tables (Thorens TD-124 and Garrard 301) "played the tune" even better that the Linn, and made the switch.

Detractors dismissed Linn’s argument (regarding the Sondek’s superiority as a tune player) as Linn-created mythology, designed to make a rather ordinary suspended turntable design (the Sondek is basically the same as the budget-priced---80 bucks in the early-70’s---Acoustic Research table, but with parts machined to a higher standard) be perceived as something more than it actually was.

That was the situation until Peter Moncreiff in his magazine International Audio Review pitted the Sondek against the Oracle Delphi, pronouncing the latter "634 times better than the Linn," Linn and their enthusiasts dismissed that claim as the expected result of listening to tables for the wrong things.

As far as I know, though the Sondek has been upgraded in many regards over the ensuing fifty years, that remains Linn’s argument.

It sounded pretty good in its day, better than the AR table that was basically the model design used by Linn,  But the design was dated back into the mid-1960's. The Linn arms were manufactured by Jelco and OK, but Jelco had better models for much less.  Not sure who manufactured Linn cartridges, but they were never competitive with like-priced offerings from other cartridge manufacturers.

When VPI came along, it quickly dispatched a lot of Linn LP-12 tables to the for sale listings.  VPI and other table manufacturers moved the state of the art forward.  Linn stagnated.

Those hanging on to their Linn tables do so for sentimental reasons, not for performance.

I’m a Linn naysayer... I owned this table back in 1975 and I had so many problems with it after my car mechanic and I set it up i could never recommend it, which is why i sold it then. My friend also owns a Linn LP12, he bought his in 1980 and updated it in 2000 to the current model, he also set it up himself and there is no doubt that this table is easily bested by my new Crossley. I love my Crossley and i know for absolute certainty that it sounds way better than the Linn LP12 of any vintage. i have not heard a Linn LP12 since 1980, BUT I know for sure that it is overpriced and like bpoletti stated --exists for sentimental reasons and has no performance.