Sonic differences Ariston 11S vs Linn LP-12

The LP 12 is better. As for set-up, Sounds Like Music in Phoenix does it for me when I need it, which has been about every five years. I gave my Ariston to an avid tinkerer. It sounds better at his place. The Linn does not go out of kilter, but when I am making a change, I have them do the set-up.

I have two Aristons and a Linn Sondek. They are all a pain to set up! I learned to do it myself! Sonically, as the French Chef says " No diffawrance." I will remind the younger audiophiles that the Ariston RD came first in 1973. Ivor Tiefenbrunn of Linn fame wanted to start a company building turntables so he had Ariston build the first Linn Sondeks. These were just re-badged RD's. Ivor made small changes as more LP12's were sold. He changed the plynth from teak to afromosia and used a wider flat belt. When Ivor had more capital he opened his own factory around 1975.

Ivor did not design the LP12 as he claims! The basic design/concept was done by Ariston's Stuart Hamish. The RD and the LP12 are close cousins. Ivor's real claim to fame is his premise that the signal source is most fundamental for sound quality and cannot be corrected for later in the component chain. 

Oh yes, Ivor went to a conical bearing rather than a ball bearing in the Ariston RD. Sonically it doesn't matter!