Linn LP12 turntable

@yoyoyaya 

I guess the further you are from Glasgow, the less likely you are to return a unit for repair!  Linn's early market was the UK and that Stereophile article is itself over 30 years old.

Strangely, an inverse law seems to hold for Scotch.  The further you are from Scotland, the lower the price.  Another good reason to live in Australia ...

I have tried many TT from a Project to a Clearaudio Emotion and finally a Linn LP12.  Mine is a 1988 vintage with a corner braced plinth.  It has the Cirkus bearing, Hercules II PS, an Akito l tonearm w/Adikt cartridge, Trampoline ll, and a few other minor bits.  I am in it for just under $2K.  I had it setup by a Linn dealer after it shipped to my home.  I will say it sounds fantastic and doesn't leave e wanting anything more.  Based on what upgrades yours may have it sounds like a good buy.

@richardbrand. I'm not that far from Glasgow. But glad to know that Scotch is cheap down under - it certainly isn't in my neck of the woods - proving your scotch theory :))

@ alessandrocat - SME and Linn's turntables are the proverbial chalk and cheese when it comes to sonics. If you love your SME then I very much doubt you would like an LP12.

Price seems low, hopefully it's ok.  I have had my LP12 since June 1984.  Some

upgrades have been installed.  The Ittok arm was probably the best.  You should see an LP12 up close.  Hold the outer platter and feel its mass/weight.  It has been

perimeter weighted and dynamically balanced.  The inner platter is similar.  Even the belt pulley is machined, not made from inexpensive plastic. Its my understanding that the metal is nonmagnetic so that there will be no interference with the magnets in the phono cartridge.

I could say more, but don't wish to be too verbose.  I will close by saying I have no intention of disposing of my LP12.

@yoyoyaya

SME and Linn have quite similar origin stories, albeit with a couple of decades separating them. Both had access to high-precision engineering facilities. In SME’s case their founder was looking for a tone arm and asked the workshop if they had any tubing. The resulting 3009 and its relatives were a perfect match for the likes of the Garrard 301 and the high compliance, high trackability, Shure V15 cartridges. Almost half a million tone arms were sold.

Fast forward, and the founder of Linn was unhappy with his turntable - it was not as good as his dad’s. So he built one, but it was not an improvement. He worked out that acoustic isolation was important, hence soft springing, but also that any slack between the stylus and the record would be amplified. Very tight bearing tolerances and rigid tone arms were needed.

SME responded by casting one-piece magnesium tone arms and eventually made their own turntables at pretty eyewatering prices. Eventually SME even picked up the remnants of Garrard’s turntable business and now offer a ’new’ Garrard 301 at prices that make me wonder if they are serious about it.

There is some speculation here about why Linn has not introduced new designs for vinyl playback. This only makes sense to me if the new design moves away from the modular, belt drive, suspended deck platform with rigid tone arm model. Maybe a direct drive, massive table like the half-ton Wilson Benesch GMT One System. Or something like the bargain price (by comparison) tangential tracking, air bearing Holbo deck?

From Linn's business perspective it probably makes more sense to continue down the digital path they once decried ...