Thoughts on the Linn LP12 turntable

Please.

I'm still paying off my analyst bills after owning one some 20 years ago.

What's bad?

Stolen design? (AR, Thorens td150, Ariston)

A giant money pit?

Unauthentic timbre?

Dodgy top plates on pre 2000 models?

Needs regular specialist servicing?

Motor mounting issues?

Needs a better arm than the Ittok?

Temporal anomalies?

Outdated design?

Uncompetitively priced?

 

All true in my experience.

 

So what's good about it?

An audiophile icon?

Better bandwidth than budget decks?

Neverending upgrade options?

 

Also true in my experience.

 

So what's the problem then?

 

I believe that its crucial problem is the way that the subchassis is balanced on top of 3 compressed springs, each of them bearing a different load.

Therefore the heavy platter is free to drift over time. Remember that the rather flimsy belt and the pliable arm cable is working with the  springs in keeping the platter/subchassis in position.

 

Whichever way you look at it, it's not a particularly secure way of keeping it there, is it?

Yes, you can use it without an optimal setup, but if you do, it's a very ordinary sounding deck that way.

Very.

To keep its lovely air and bloom, the suspension must be optimised.

And therein lies it's main problem.

 

There's a good video here showing how it's built.

Make of it what you will.

 

 

 

 

@daveyf

@pindac 

"The Linn marketing strategy has made this viable, as the ambition of the average Linn Deck user, is that a upgrade is a must, talk about the power of marketing on a psyche."

 

 

The Cult of Linn was at its Zenith in the 1980s.

Nowadays there's just a few diehard cultists left.

Everyone else has long jumped ship for a better value, more fuss free, more long term consistent and less bullshit hyped turntable.

Thankfully even Linn have abandoned their once notorious brand of advertising.

That kind of nonsense just won't wash these days.

If it wasn't for the innumerably bewildering, endlessly milkable upgrade options I suspect even Linn would have dropped the LP12.

 

Just for the record, has anyone bothered to compare the original basis LP12 to the top of the range 2022 model in order to assess exactly what a gazillion bottomless moneypit upgrades have actually achieved?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if many Linn owners found a decent non Linn arm and stuck with that. The harshness of the Ittok was one of the reasons I sold mine.

It was either that or cough up even more cash for an Ekos or the even better but more fiddly Naim Aro.

A unipivot on a 3 point suspended turntable is not for everyone.

@daveyf

"because IF you had done this you would not be posting the drivel that you do!"

 

"Drivel", is that how you feel about your constant need to defend your beloved LP12?

Seriously? 

 

Well then, perhaps you could suggest to us exactly how we should go about making that all important comparison between vintage and new LP12s?

Right now it appears tough enough to get to hear any LP12 of any vintage.

[You wouldn't just happen to know of any accomodating dealers now, would you?]

Me, I can't ever recall even seeing one at a show.

 

Linn, unlike Thorens, Rega, Roksan, Pro-Ject and quite a few others have never seemed to have had any interest in demonstrating their turntable as far as I know.

Perhaps they don't travel too well?

Or could it be the hours and hours of delicate setup that's the issue?

Or maybe it's the lack of specialist personnel, and their hourly rates that's the real problem here?

 

Whatever it is, this unseemly reticence on the part of Linn does seem strange when I can remember one London show where we got to see the fabled Continuum Caliburn turntable complete with its out of the world stand.

A little odd, don't you think?

You'd think Linn would be super keen to show off all of their mega expensive 50 year 'improvements', wouldn't you?

Or could it be that they feel they don't need to when they have such good stalwarts such as yourself to act as keepers of their flame.

@mijostyn

"cheap stamped sheet metal sub chassis sitting atop three springs tuned to the wrong frequency and the crappy Masonite arm board flapping around in the breeze, the two piece platter that rings like a bell. The tiny little dink of a motor that I can stall with a Q tip. Then there is that pathetic sort of wood base stapled together at the corners."

 

 

Err... yes. That more or less sums it up.

I was going to post a link to Peter Swain’s 4 hour Cymbiosis LP12 set up guide (seeing as how @daveyf was kind enough to suggest paying him a visit) but unfortunately those clips seem to have strangely disappeared off the internet.

A real pity, since long term stability concerns have continuously plagued this deck ever since it's inception.

Oh well, since Leicester is fairly central, the next time I’m passing I might just drop by Cymbiosis.

Especially as it seems even Linn themselves have now given up the ghost in promoting their one time highly lucrative cash cow.

@dogberry 

I learned to avoid too much fancy suspension

 

When it comes to the main issue with the LP12, you've hit the nail on the head!

Why oh why did they chose to suspend the subchassis on a flimsy piece of polished aluminium?

To make matters even worse, a piece of aluminium only supported on 3 of its 4 sides!

Then to seal the deal, why not attach an MDF armboard to the subchassis with three meagre screws?

[Yes, I know the Keel fixes this, but at what cost? A mere £3000 if you're asking. Meanwhile it does nothing to address the 3 sided support issues].

Finally, for the cherry on top, why don't we use the tonearm cable to keep the notoriously wibbly wobbly subchassis aligned and free from drifting?

Genius.

Is not the word.

You can blame Linn or, if you like, Ariston. Although to be fair, the Ariston RD 11 Superior does away with the separate armboard of the standard RD11 and appears to show a closer resemblance to the AR turntable setup.

Either way, the LP12 illustrates a shockingly bad way to design a turntable suspension and as a consequence the LP12 gives suspended decks a very bad name indeed.

There are obviously far better suspended designs out there, the Alaphason Sonata to just name one.

 

https://loud-clear.co.uk/glasgow/shop/keel-lp12-subchassis/