Linn LP-12 still competitive with the very best?

Mapman, i have an Axis that i have owned for nearly 20 years too and it has always been good and very fuss free. 3 years ago i bought a late 80's LP12/Ittok from EBay for what would have been about 1000 dollars. I live in the UK. I set up the lp12 myself from manuals on the internet and the the deck has been sounding wonderful ever since. In fact it is sounding better than anything i have ever heard and has needed no further tweaking. Compared to the Axis which is still set up on the same system, the LP12 is punchier, much more focussed with better treble extension and has a much blacker background between notes. It also appears to almost literally throw instruments around the room with its dynamics and soundstage presentation. I know there must be better decks around, especially nowadays with all the development that has gone on but for what i paid it is an awesome turntable and thoroughly stomps over any of the CD players that i have tried on my system, including a Lin Karik/Numerik mk111.

I have a large room- 24 feet across so lots of room on each side of my speakers. When listening to CD's the sound stage rarely goes beyond the speakers, I think I have just one or two CD's that extend a little bit beyond. But when I play records on my Sota, the soundstage nearly doubles in size. The sound stage, on a few exceptional records even goes almost wall to wall.

Redhunter,

I'm curious what cartridges have you used in comparison between Axis and LP12 and with which tonearms and corresponding phono pre?

IS it an apples/apples comparison of equally well matched cartridge to tonearm in each case and playing through same system otherwise?

I always wonder when tables sound different how much is the table itself as opposed to the overall synergy among table, cart, and tonearm, which is always very key IMO.

Hi Mapman, i have used a K9 and a Goldring 1042 in both decks and the results are pretty much the same. The LP12 sounds better. The arms are Ittok LV11 on the LP12 and Akito on the Axis. The 1042 sounds great on both decks by the way. Recently i tried a Denon 103R on the LP12 and it was pretty good but in some ways not as good as the 1042. This was replaced after 4 months by an Audio Technica AT33PTG after i broke the cantilever on the 103R. The AT33PTG is definitely the best cartidge i have owned and really sings on the LP12. I will not try to fit it to the Axis because the headshell on the Akito is quite small and it would be a very tight fit, as was the Denon 103R. The Goldring is now back on the Axis and still sounding good with a newly run in stylus but the LP12/Audio Technica is a lot better. I was very happy with my Axis and bought an LP12 to satisfy my curiosity with all the hype, having wanted one for 25 years!. I drove 200 miles to pick it up, to avoid damage in transit, and i was dissapointed at first listening. I set it up over a few weeks and changed the oil and have never looked back. I keep the Axis to play 45's and to play less than perfect records on but always actually listen to the LP12.
My phono stages are all home made. I have 5 or 6 of them, all battery powered. One is moving coil only but i also have built a moving coil step up stage that can be used with any of the other moving magnet versions. I have to say that they all sound very good. In this case the phono stage is not the issue as i have swapped them between decks many times during their development.

Eee3 Your arrogance stands a head above all other linn owner's. I have just finished reading the posting from uktel, about Linn's unfair marketing advantage in the UK, by not allowing their table to be compared with other's.That should say it all, yet this will never convince the linn devotee out there that his linn has become an anvil being held up by blind sentiment. A product that still uses an outmoded science with backward technology. A company that refuses to investigate to use of better materials that continues to use the same old suspension system developed 35years ago.That even to this day is susceptible to "FOOT FALLS", and all are given the same tired story of "just follow the tune".