Thoughts on the Linn LP12 turntable

As I had eluded to in my earlier post... I think that we (as vinyl lovers) should all feel extremely blessed that we have such a plethora of tables/arms/cartridges/phono stages available to us at virtually every price point that allows almost any music lover the ability to spin records and enjoy their music collection.

I believe that there is an awful lot that goes into making a system reproduce the recorded music in an enjoyable way. Notice, I said "system". It’s so much more than just a turntable. It’s having a power supply that can keep a steady speed and stable pitch. It’s finding an arm that complements said table as well as matches your cartridge. It’s finding a phono stage that does an admirable job of amplifying that tiny little signal and that can pass it along to your pre and amplifier as unmolested as possible so that your loudspeakers can transduce it all into something that can immerse yourself and touch your soul in a very special way.

I have a very large collection of records, recorded in both mono and stereo. My LP12 only accommodates one arm and I have my Benz Ruby Zebrawood cartridge mounted to it.

I’ve been contemplating lately of adding another table to my system... using one table for mono and the other for stereo. So, I went to my local audio dealer to have a listen to what they might have - with open ears and an open mind.

I listened to the AMG Viella Forte 12 Turbo ( $30,000 for just the table and arm ); Lyra Atlas Lambda cartridge ($12,000); SimAudio 610LP solid state phono ($8500) - this was being used as their Audio Research Ref3SE was currently out on home audition; Audio Research Reference 6SE tubed linestage ($18,000); Audio Research Reference 160S Stereo tubed amplifier ($22,000); all feeding the Sonus Faber Olyimpica Nova III ($15,000) all totaling roughly $106,000 before sales taxes!!!

We spent the afternoon spinning various records ranging from jazz ballades to hard bop, to big band, to classical. A great range of recordings, all hand selected by the salesman.

So, how did it sound??? I felt that the AMG Forte, Turbo Arm and cartridge did a great job of keeping the speed stable, had good drive and dynamics - kept my foot tapping 😀. However, listening to the entirety of the system as a whole.... I was underwhelmed. It sounded like a relatively good stereo system, but nothing more. It didn’t touch my soul.... it didn’t move me in an emotional way... it didn’t make me think - Damn, I’ve gotta have this!!! It didn’t do anything to make me feel like I wanted to stay there and keep listening for hours and hours.

I came home and started spinning selections from my collection. Wowza!!! My system just keeps drawing me in! It sounds like the musicians are here with me... 3 dimensional, living and breathing, flesh and blood performing just for me!!! It gets right at my emotions and truly touches my soul. It’s dynamic, the sound is full, natural, and organic. My system keeps me listening for several hours on end making me want to pull out record after record... to the point that my wife is yelling to me "...are you going to come up to bed???"

Isn’t this what it’s all about??? I can say without a doubt, it is for me!!! Granted, I didn’t listen to the AMG combo in "my" system. Would it perform well in my system? Probably. Would it do better than my LP12 rig in my system? Maybe? BUT, and this is a BIG BUT..... Do I feel I need it to do any better than my LP12 rig??? Absolutely not!!! I am in absolute BLISS right now listening to my "system" even with what some of the forum Linn haters would say is nothing more than a "polished turd”; “ the Linn LP12 is a flimsy cheap implemented table that Rates as midi gear. Compared to the class A standards is laughable;” …. and yet, I feel like I’m in heaven and having the time of my life right now.

How can this be??? Is it all in my head? Am I a delusional cultist? Is it just me that could possible garner this much enjoyment from this analog rig? Clearly, I’m not the only one as was testified by Pani, "the LP12 bested the AVID Acutus by the ears of many listeners. Herb Reichert said the Linn LP12 compared favorably to his Dr. Feickert and others and seemed to feel it was still at the upper echelon of performance! Go take a visit over to the Naim forum and you’ll see many people who love the LP12.

So, why didn’t the above $106,000 system not move me? I’m not saying it was the AMG table/arm that was at fault at all. Maybe the cartridge didn’t transduce the signal to “my" liking? Maybe the Simaudio 610LP, while reportedly is good sounding for a solid state design seemed a little too threadbare or two-dimensional to me… it could have been anything or a number of things. That’s why I said earlier… getting enjoyable sound reproduction is so much more than just the table. it takes a whole entire system/room/recording etc to get the job done. My LP12 rig definitely gets the job done in MY system and that’s what’s important to me.

So, to the Original Poster - If you have an interest in the LP12…. don’t let the naysayers sway you. It’s worth your time to go listen to it with your own ears, with an open mind and judge for yourself. Does it touch your soul and emotions? Does it make you want to rediscover your vinyl collection and listen for hours on end? If it does, great! If not, keep looking and you will find something, as there are a lot of great options out there to be had.

Wishing you all the very best,

Don

P.S.  I would also like to add that the above mentioned establishment that I had the pleasure of visiting today was completely AAA+.  Very friendly and welcoming.  I enjoyed my visit with them very much today.  They have excellent products in many price ranges and I would be very happy to purchase from them and I feel blessed to have them so close by.

Unless I’m mistaken, Ivor Tiefenbaum designed the original LP12 to minimize relative movement between the stylus and the record’s surface. This required identical suspension loading and damping at each corner of the turntable’s platter suspension, a rigid connection between the platter and the arm board, and arm board suspensions which matched the loading and damping of the platter’s. The consequently precise setup procedure requires technical expertise and a model specific jig which are beyond the scope of most audiphiles’ capabilities.

I invested ~$7k in a vintage ’90s LP12 equipped with an Akita 3 Tonearm and a Linn Krystal MC cartridge--each designed to complement the ballistics of the other. And the sound quality of my set up is the best I could ever hope for, even compared to current LP playback systems that cost twice as much as mine did. That’s why I agree with a great many audiophiles and published critics that the Linn LP12’s design is timeless, not a relic of the past to be discounted as such.

FWIW, I wouldn’t hesitate to make the same (ahem) "mistake" again.

BTW: I’m one of those impractical hipsters who actually enjoys the multifaceted ritual of LP playback, notwithstanding the accurate reproduction of the ultrasonic emotional and sound staging cues I hear in live music of which only high-quality analogue systems are capable. But I’m just an old geezer who loves live music more than just about about anything.

Well, I certainly didn’t expect to get the plethora of responses to my original post as I did. One thing I can say, audiophiles are extremely passionate about their hobby!

😎

OP,

Honestly neither did I. I did a huge amount of research before swapping out my VPI turntable for a new Linn , and have listened to high end tables for years. If you read the professional reviews and listen to contemporary tables the Linn is near or at the top of most price categories in which they compete ($5K - $30K). They have been nearly forever.

OP.  

Yes, you are correct... audiophiles can be very passionate about this hobby in many ways....

Vinyl vs Digital

Single bit vs Multibit vs NOS

Red book vs Hi-Res upsampling

CD vs Streaming

Belt drive vs Rim drive vs Direct drive

Spring loaded vs Mass loaded

Unipivot vs Gimbled

Pivoted vs Linear tracking

Tube vs Solid State

Single ended vs push pull vs Class A, A/B, D

Full Range vs Floor Standers vs Stand mounted

Dynamic vs Panar/Ribbon Speakers

Multi Driver vs Single Driver

Certainly there are a lot of topics that can be discussed and debated. We all have our own set of ears and we all hear things as we hear things. We all have certain aspects of sound reproduction that are important to us. Whether it is tone, pitch dynamics, soundstage, etc What is important to one, may or may not be important to another.

However, with all of the things that we have to discuss... I have rarely found a single product that has been as vocally polarizing as the Linn LP12. As of this post we are basically at 50/50 with 19 members showing appreciation for the LP12 and 20 members who feel that it has been left in the dust.

There are a lot of products that are highly touted and are popular. But all too often, in time, many fall out of favor for the next best flavor of the month. Not to mention, go out of business.

One thing I can say for sure is that my Linn LP12 has given me many years of musical enjoyment, has been able to continue to improve with various upgrades and has been in business for many decades.

Best wishes to all,

Don