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Thoughts on the Linn LP12 turntable

I don’t see many discussions that include the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and was wondering why? They’ve been around since the late 70’s and other then power supply and a few other minor changes (IMO) are relatively unchanged. I had one in the early 80’s and another in the late 90’s. They are somewhat finicky to get setup correct and once you do, they sound great. That being said I know there have been a lot better designs to come out since the LP12’s hey-day. Are they worth considering  anymore or has the LP12 just become another audio vintage collectors item?

markcooperstein

Showing 1 response by bpoletti

bpoletti
1,530 posts
 

It sounded pretty good in its day, better than the AR table that was basically the model design used by Linn,  But the design was dated back into the mid-1960's. The Linn arms were manufactured by Jelco and OK, but Jelco had better models for much less.  Not sure who manufactured Linn cartridges, but they were never competitive with like-priced offerings from other cartridge manufacturers.

When VPI came along, it quickly dispatched a lot of Linn LP-12 tables to the for sale listings.  VPI and other table manufacturers moved the state of the art forward.  Linn stagnated.

Those hanging on to their Linn tables do so for sentimental reasons, not for performance.

 

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