The new Linn LP12 50th Anniversary edition

Cool.

I own a near Klimax LP12. If I had been a lifelong LP12 devotee and was thinking of upgrading… I would go for it. if you want the absolutely best performance for the money… this is probably not it.
 

I am retired, and following decades of 70+ hour weeks and incredible stress… why not enjoy the fruits of my labor. Sure, you are paying extra for the cashe…. But for most audiophiles, we are the only ones that will see them… and enjoy. I have a leather bound book about climbing Everest, signed by Sir Edmund Hillary. It makes me feel connected.

For most of my life I have owned high performance, butt-ugly speakers, used cars, and bought Scott TP. I now own two beautiful speakers (that also sound great). Sometimes, it is great to just splurge.

OP,

I think you are correct… in that at the $60K price point, you can get a better sounding table. Different league ? Well, that would have to be determined in a real intimate comparison with both of us in the same room comparing our preferences and listening.

I guess I was talking in two different ways / observations. My guess is that the 50th anniversary Linn will perform at the ~$45K performance level (judging by the fact that my $35K Linn analog leg performs at that level) … if it performed at the +$45K that would be great. Anyone buying one, would be excited to have this special TT… knowing that they are paying for that. So, plus or minus $15K would not be an important difference. So, if I were in the market for the very best $60K TT… I would know this is not it. But adding in the nostalgia, it would be a good deal.

So, how you look at this is really a question of you value of money, audio and performance. But, I don;t think for someone that really appreciates Linn this is a stretch.

A couple comments. The nouveau riche would not buy a $60K Linn… they wouldn’t get it. They would buy something flashy.

The Linn 50th, is say $15K for nostalgia. There are folks for which this makes sense.

Yes, arbitrarily marking up an high end item has a limit. Let’s say you marked it up to $100K… it would get trashed in the professional journals, and they might sell one or two. Loosing money on the effort, and jeopardizing their reputation. Companies that have stood the test of time do so by being careful and making sure the performance / cost ratio remains positive.

I have had the privilege of buying some “luxury goods”, and the thing I walked away with was that the performance / cost ratio was always much greater than I expected. This is the key to pricing items. For instance I had to decide between another Toyota Avalon or a Lexus. I chose the Lexus. Holy cow, the benefits so outweighed the $10K it wasn’t funny. Luxury goods that do not outperform die… except for watches for some reason.

And then there are the @noromance types that have old stuff and think it doesn’t get better. We all have our journeys. My experience had been that audio components have improved leaps and bounds over the last fifty years. And Linn has put in the engineering effort to bring that to their sound quality. A friend of mine is restoring an old Garrard. I am looking forward to hearing it. My experience to date has been that newer stuff of audiophile quality sounds better. 
 

Who knows, maybe I will be talked into buying an old 1960’s turquoise clock radio because of it;s great sound.

@noromance

V6 👍 😊

Honestly, I don’t know what the 50th anniversary edition sounds like. So, this is all complete speculation.

I own a LP12. I am retired. Let’s say my net worth was three times what it is. I spend three hours a day listening to my system. The extra cost is no big deal to me. I have always loved Linn turntables. Why not. It is not only about performance any more. There are a lot of folks that have earned a lot of money. This isn’t for those of us that are budget constrained… it is for those that are not. Also, if you’re young and can afford it… in fifty years it will be a collectors item.