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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.

thermionicemission
ddrave44
148 posts
 

@daveyf

I just chatted with my local Linn dealer and he did say that there’s less wear and tear on the tables nowadays. Especially for the ones with the with the newer motors - Radikal or Lingo4 compared to the older motors and suspensions. Often now a customer comes in for a cartridge and while it’s there he’ll tuneup the table and do the other upgrades they ask for.

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
609 posts
 

I had an LP12 for awhile - decent table but I moved on (now use a VPI TNT V and a Sota Cosmos in my systems). I prefer either of them to the Linn.

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
609 posts
 

I had an LP12 for awhile - decent table but I moved on (now use a VPI TNT V and a Sota Cosmos in my systems). I prefer either of them to the Linn.

theflattire
209 posts
 

@thermionicemission 

I looked at Clearaudio too.  I think you need to research the arms to see which combo is better.  Was very close to getting a Concept when the VPI popped up for sale.

I think at this level, arms make the difference.

rrm
47 posts
 

I had a 1980s lp12/ittok. Nice sounding but a bit bloated. Replaced the valhalla

with a mose/Hercules which tightened the bass. Well worth the upgrade.

Then I found a michell gyrodec. So much better and cost less than the price I got for my linn. Hard to find nowadays but worth the search. Trouble free,  built to last and it looks gorgeous!

 

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