Linn Sondek LP12 impressions

There are tables such as Clearaudio, Brinkmann and AMG that would get my money before a blown LP12 but that is just a personal preference. I own a Clearaudio and am equally impressed with the other German tables. If you go British and suspended, I prefer the AVIDs.

Magazines in the UK during the 1980s were embarrassing in falling over themselves to anoint Rega and Linn as the only two worthy tables to the point that a lot of very good designs went away. Magazines are not as afraid to call out weakness of products today.

More recent reviews of the LP12 seem to be polite rather than truly enthusiastic. Revered more as a surviving design that is respected but not truly representative the best that can be had from a modern turntable though certainly competitive as one flavor of high end.

Linn did themselves a disservice by not bringing out a more modern turntable with a clean sheet design like their competitors.

BTW the Linn Majik package is actually quite nice but it failed one of my critical tests. I have an LP that everyone of my 12 turntables can play. It has a small pressing defect that would always skip on my old LP12. I took it to my local Linn dealer and it skipped on the Majik but not on the fully blown LP12 . So I need to spend $20k on a Linn to play a record that my $350 Pro-Ject Debut can easily play. And BTW the Majik even had a Pro-ject arm.

Sorry, just having a little fun but it was one of the things that bothered me about my Linn. It would not play certain records that my other tables would. That's not good enough in my book. Not for Rolex money for a base model.

But I agree with you Daveyf.

I trully believe that a fully upgraded Klimax LP12 is in another league facing very few competitors.

I'm a huge fan of Rega (simplicity/cost effective/musicality) but I also have to agree with you that the top of the line RP10 is not in the same league as a top flight Klimax LP12. That said, it comes really close to the Akurate LP12 at half the price.

Get my point? If your idea is to keep the same TT for life then the entry level Majik LP12 (or any used Sondek LP12 in pristine condition) makes sense because of its upgradeable path as funds allow.

However, if your idea is to go with something great but more affordable, then there are many options out there; Sota, VPI, Acostic Signature, Rega, Clearaudio, Thoresns, Townshend, just to name a few.

You also hit the nail when you expressed that the LP12 was more "to your liking" when compared to the Palmer. You mentioned you got "burned" at the Linn vs Sota blog, correct? It's hard to persuade others to agree with your own opinions.

That's exactly the beauty of this hobby. Put together a nice system that will satisfy your ears based on your budget. Heck, my entire analog system falls under $15,000.00 and I'm pretty sure that many analog lovers are on the same boat.

In the end Daveyf, there is no right or wrong, just a matter of preference.

I can honestly tell you that, to my ears, my current fully tweaked Rega/DV P-75/Delos driven by Rogue Audio sounds far more to my liking that my late Linn LP12/Lingo/Linto driven by Linn.

The thread started with the following question "I was wondering if someone still uses this old designed turntables" Obviously the answer is "YES", many people still love this old design. But there is no doubt in my mind that many analog lovers (including me) would prefer to spend $2k-$4k on a newly designed TT instead.

No hard feelings, just my opinion.

Banerjba, since when is the table tracking the record, LAST TIME I LOOKED-- IT
WAS THE CARTRIDGE/STYLUS/TONEARM! do tell us what cartridges were being
used at the time of your demo.

Cartridges were Linn Adikt and Klyde. $500 and $4k respectively here in Canada. On my Linn my Linn Basik, K5 and Sumiko Blue Point cartridges could not track it. The same cheapo Linn Basik cartridge had no trouble on a different table, a Revolver with you guessed it a Linn arm. I was surprised that a modern Linn set up in a good shop could not play it either.

BTW, I really liked the sound of both of the Linns I heard. I thought the Adikt was a really good cartridge. My dealer thought it would be a good match for my Rega P5.

If Linn ever revives their non suspended designs like the original Basik or Axis, I would definitely consider them. I regret selling my Axis.

One other thing that might work against or for the Linn is its appearance. A nice used one for a $1 to $2k looks similar to the new ones costing 10 times as much. There are some really nice looking tables out there now.

Again, I am surprised Linn did not bring out a more modern looking table considering how attractive all of their other components are.

Banerjba, what were the tracking forces used on the different tables? I doubt that they were the same. An incorrectly set up cartridge might not track well in one instance and would track better once correctly set up. Same thing applies for an incorrectly set up arm.
As to the looks of the Linn, I don't subscribe to the fact that it looks bad. In fact I think the fluted look is pretty classic. Plus, one can change the plinth to make it look amazing. If you don't like the look of a plinth, that's another thing, BUT I think there are a LOT of TT's that look worse than the Linn and at all prices.