Linn or VPI

VPI scout is the best I have heard for the money. Not to say it will be better than your origenal set up.Just to say I have tried. The Rega,Basis,Clearaudio. The Vpi was the better of them

Elkyman,

You have a point on who'll be here to back up the table years from now. That's why I suggested you go with a table as bullet proof as you can get. If Linn really was committed to analog why is it they haven't introduced any new products in many years?

I had my LP12 for about 12 years. My expert could set the table up where it wasn't sensitive to vibration, the same result you found with your test. You should be able to bounce the spindle, lightly of course, with your finger while playing a record without skipping. The arm/cartridge should only move vertically, not side to side. I found that this really told me if the unit was set up correctly. The Linn is more sensitive to vibration but if set up right it isn't really an issue.

While you've heard lots of opinions, good ones, remember this. Until you live with a front end for a long time and optimize it to suit your needs, you really don't know. You have to listen to many records for months to know for sure. The reason is there are just to many variables to make a decision quickly. Consider how many adjustments one can make to an arm/cartridge. Small changes in VTA or tracking force can make a huge difference.

I can tell you this. The Graham is a better arm than the EKOS. The Basis/Graham long term sounds at least as good as the Linn/EKOS, I think better, has solid engineering, is built to last and can be worked on by the owner alone. I suspect the VPI has the same advantages but I cannot comment on it's sound as I haven't heard it. Think twice about a Linn.

Get the TNT

Elkyman: As i stated in my post, my comments are based on older Linn's. I do not know if they have made any changes to these as i have not seen / used one of these in a LONG time. My friend Carl used to be a dealer for them back in the mid 80's. There is a Linn store in downtown Chicago though, so maybe i should stop by to see what they have to offer now.

Other than that, i have a review from High Fidelity magazine from "way back when". They did a comparison product review between the Linn LP12, another "high end" TT and a respectable yet inexpensive Japanese model ( Kyocera ). Out of the three, the Linn had by far the worst isolation. They specifically stated that the Linn was hard to get set-up, that it suffered problems from heavy footfalls, mistracking, acoustic feedback, etc... when the other tables did not. If you can mount the Linn on some type of specialized isolation device, keep it perfectly level and balanced, minimize external floor-borne or air-borne vibrations, etc... you might not run into such situations.

While the installation that your friend has was obviously done quite well, not everyone is capable of setting up or having such an installation. In those cases, i can pretty much guarantee that there are other tables that will perform better with less hassle. After all, a "good" product should be designed well enough to overcome most of the common mistakes / less than optimum installations that most people would consider "normal". If one were to take the extra steps to really make such an installation "sing", that would fall under the category of "tweaking". Obviously, your friend has done quite a bit of that.

Since others have stated that owning a Linn and getting it to perform optimally and keep working at that level would require a "factory trained expert", that alone should scare you away from owning one. It should also tell you that i'm not alone in my beliefs or comments.

To each their own. As i've said before, buy and use what you like. Nobody else has to use it, listen to it or enjoy it. As such, do what will make YOU happy as that is all that counts in the long run. I've seen WAY too many systems built on "brand name recognition" that absolutely sucked. Sean
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Oracle Delphi V would be my only pick. Do some research on this 'table...it's easy to set up, infinitely tweakable, and very easy to swap arms if you're so inclined. It's also drop dead gorgeous.