Linn Sondek LP-12 happy/un-happy owners

I purchased my LP-12 used in 2002. It is a 1992 Valhalla model with an Akito arm and a Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge. My dealer set it up for me and it has been working fine ever since. It has not been moved since it took up residence in my home. It plays music without any fuss or drama. I have not felt the urge to upgrade so it must be doing something right.

I used to own an LP12 with the Cirkus and Valhalla upgrades, I was never really satisfied with it. I sold my LP12 and bought a Teres 255/ET2/Shelter 901 and have not looked back. I have had the Teres for about 2 years now I'm very happy with it and have not even thought about any upgrades so I guess this is saying something about the Teres 255.

Steve.

I have owned an LP12 for a little over 20 years. They don't always go out of tune - my experience is that every 2 years or so it benefits from adjusting the suspension, changing the belt and checking the tonearm cable dressing.

When the Linn was launched the manufacturer cleverly shifted the goalposts by demonstrating the table with what were then quite exotic tonearms (Grace 707, FR64) and moving coil carts.

Until then, the majority of "high end" analog rigs were Japanese direct drives which came fitted with the manufacturer's own tonearm. Most owners fitted mm carts - the V15 MkIII was a popular choice.

The Linn dem'd well and the legend was born. It exploited a lack of knowledge of acoustic isolation.

My own experience is that an old direct drive deck fitted with a decent arm (modified Rega) and isolated on a sandbox shelf sounds better. The Linn sound whilst quite seductive has weaknesses - bass extension and articulation are not that good and there is a boom in the upper bass. The motor is a cheap AC type and speed stability is always an issue.

Set-up is crucial. Fortunately there are many excellent "how to" instruction sets available for free download and if you enjoy tweaking a Linn can be an enjoyable purchase. If you don't want to teach yourself Linn setup then be prepared to fund your Linn dealer's pension plan!

If you want to set and forget a Rega would be a better prospect. Many Linn owners have upgraded to Nottingham Analogue Spacedecks or Roxan Xerxes which offer the same kind of presentation with less drawbacks.

In conclusion, don't think about buyin a LP12 without hearing one and whilst the table has many advocates there are, in reality, better designs out there.

i bought an LP12 with valhalla and ittok initially and was quite pleased for a while. for me (and my ten thumbs), set-up issues plagued that particular table. i heard a basic teres setup and promptly sold the linn as the sound quality bested the linn by an embarassingly large margin. i then had a teres 245 with moerch dp-6 and allaerts mc-1b. unfortunately, my teres had problems of it's own (recurrent motor controller faults, cracked base that had to be replaced, etc. etc.). i now use a modified lenco L-75 with moerch dp-6 arm and denon DL-160 cartridge and have achieved what is easily the best sound (and reliability) to date.
flyingred's concluding remark pretty well sums it up. whatever table/arm/cart combination you eventually decide upon, enjoy the music!

I have not used a turntable in years, but I once had an LP12 for 2 or 3 years. I never liked it, I never enjoyed using it and I was happy when I sold it.

Perhaps it was never set up correctly in the first place, but the very tweakiness of its set up and suspension never made me feel very comfortable.

I found it sensitive to vibration and footfalls, and positively dowdy in its appearance and operation.

Linn's insistence on using what appears to be an ordinary, perhaps even cheap, felt mat on the platter was always symbolic to me of this quirky, voodoo product.

Like flyingred, I had some excellent experiences with direct drive turntables including a Kenwood KD-500 with an SME III arm and Grado Signature cartridges.

I also had a Yamaha PX-2 (praised in another recent thread) that was great sounding with several different cartridges including a Dynavector Ruby, Grado signatures and a Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 moving coil, back in my audiophile youth heyday.

If everything Linn says about turntable design is true, than these turntables should not sound good. Yet both of these tables kept me up listening well into the night, something that never happened with my LP12.

To be fair to Linn, I once heard an LP12 with the outboard power supply, with Linn arm and Linn cartridge, through Naim electronics and driving the original Linn Kan, sound very good and very musical.

But in general, these products never lived up to the cult like devotion and hype that they have somehow inspired in some people.

For my next turntable, I think a Michell Gyrodec SE would be a far sexier and I suspect very good sounding turntable, with any decent arm and a Denon 103 moving coil for some old fashioned analogue magic.

Whatever you decide -- good luck.