MOVE ON!! But, no to the well Tempered or VPI. A isolation suspension is crucial for the best performance. The Kuzma Ref 2 or the Stabi R on a Vibraplane, The SMEs, The Basis tables, The Avid Acutus then the best value of them all, the Sotas. You can put any turntable on a vibraplane or MinusK, but you will save money getting the suspension built in. The Sota design borrowed by Basis, SME and Acutus is far more stable than what you have in the LP12. I do this demonstration all the time. Put a seismograph application on your phone. Put it on the surface your turntable sits on then jump on the floor and bang the surface and watch the response on the phone. Now put the phone on your platter and do the same. On the Sota Cosmos platter you get absolutely nothing. Not even the tiniest squiggle. People think if they put their turntable on a big heavy object that will protect them from environmental rumble and noise. That application will show you that is nonsense. With the system like yours I would get a Sota Sapphire and put the best Rega arm you can afford on it. The RB2000 would be killer. Sota will mount it for you. Get the dust cover. You will be blown away by the improvement and ease of handling. Do the seismograph test and smile!
Upgrade my older Linn Sondek or move on?
Hi All,
I have a 1984 Linn Sondek that is still as it came new with a couple of exceptions. I did rebuild my Valhalla board as I was having some issues. Still has the Basic LV X arm, but I added an XTC counterweight as the stock counterweight bushing turned to mush. I am running a Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge.
Question is do I drop the money to upgrade the arm, bearing, and power supply or move on to a new or used table? Looking at used parts to upgrade the Linn I can easily spend $2k. I can sell the Linn and that puts me in the $3.5k budget range for a different table.
I have been looking at Well Tempered and VPI. Any thoughts on these or other recommendations? Better sound quality and ease of set up / use would be the objectives. The rest of the system: Quicksilver M135 mono amps, Fisher CX-2 preamp, and Magnepan LRS+ speakers.
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If you have a local Linn dealer that is going to install the parts or you are a detailed oriented meticulous person and want to do it yourself I would do the upgrades. Each of the upgrades you propose will significantly increase the sound quality. I have a LP12 which I have upgraded several times and have been ver impressed with the cost effectiveness of the improvements. In the end, you can take the table as far as you want to contemporary Klimax if you choose. A really great feature of the line.
If you are neither of the above then sell it and buy a new table. It is not that Linns are finicky or incredibly complex any more, they are precision instruments that must be set up precisely. A friend of mine is a Linn certified master technician and tells me lots of stories of folks that set up their own table and put on the wrong nuts, or did not level the internal springs and wonder why it didn’t sound right. Anyway, if you are not a detailed oriented person, like me, there are lots of great tables available. |
@ghdprentice The OP seems to have a c. $2k budget. |
I have a few friends who have Belt Drive TT's, I have shared this info before. One TT is a Brand that is modern, one TT is a older model from a Brand and modified with OL Parts and the other is a LP12 of similar vintage as your own having undergone some of the available upgrades (note Linn are not the only Company with Upgrades on offer for the TT). The demo'/comparisons were far from perfect, as a result of using different Tonearms and Cartridges on each TT. The outcome reported from the attendees was that there was not too much to be discovered, and the Linn was as attractive in use as any other being demo'd. There might be discovered within the Link some info that inspires you to keep on with the Linn. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/linn-sondek-diy-mods-that-work.272570/ |
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