Linn LP12......That good??

Thanks guys for the information, i want to buy the Linn once with any of the important upgrades already installed.
How are the bearings in the Linns, is that something to be carefull of?

The Linn Bearng has been one of its strong points.

X1884, The bearings are good. You want the "Circus" bearing upgrade. It has very tight tolerance and cuts the surface noise in half over the old style bearing. I had an opportunity to A/B an exact table, tonearm, cartridge comp with the bearing against my deck without, it was a no brainer. I pulled the cash out and got back less noise and more detail. It was not subtle. Ahhhhh!

I sold and set-up Linns (circa 1975) and I have owned the Ariston RD11, Oracles (several), Rega, Thorens, Maplenoles (several), SOTAs (several) and, finally, the VPI TNT. I have compared the Linn (a recent version) with a SOTA and my VPI TNT. I preferred it to the SOTA but it was not even close to the TNT. The Linn was also substantially better than my Ariston and my Rega 3. However, I do agree with Arthur Salvatore's assessment of the Linn - it is still worth buying, if you can get it for less than half list price - but there are many more modern designs that are clearly superior for the same or less money.

Cleopatra52: Do you recall what arm and cartridge were on the LP12 you heard? When you say recent version, I assume it was Lingo (version II) with a Cirkus bearing. But the difference between an Ittok and an Ekos, or even between an Ekos I and an Ekos II (especially one with an Akiva mounted) is very dramatic.

I of course have no problem with people who have actually heard a full spec LP12 and compared it fairly to another table, and then concluded that they like the other table better (for example, a VPI TNT). But the specifics about the arms and cartridges involved are critical for the comparison to be very meaningful.