Upgrade my older Linn Sondek or move on?


Hi All,

I have a 1984 Linn Sondek that is still as it came new with a couple of exceptions. I did rebuild my Valhalla board as I was having some issues. Still has the Basic LV X arm, but I added an XTC counterweight as the stock counterweight bushing turned to mush. I am running a Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge. 

Question is do I drop the money to upgrade the arm, bearing, and power supply or move on to a new or used table? Looking at used parts to upgrade the Linn I can easily spend $2k. I can sell the Linn and that puts me in the $3.5k budget range for a different table. 

I have been looking at Well Tempered and VPI. Any thoughts on these or other recommendations? Better sound quality and ease of set up / use would be the objectives. The rest of the system: Quicksilver M135 mono amps, Fisher CX-2 preamp, and Magnepan LRS+ speakers.

thermionicemission

Showing 2 responses by theflattire

I always wanted a Linn, but passed mainly because of the endless upgrades.

I went another wish list TT: VPI Prime.  Despite what others may say, it's rock solid-set and forget.

Clearaudio, EAT, and SOTA were also on the radar.

@thermionicemission 

I looked at Clearaudio too.  I think you need to research the arms to see which combo is better.  Was very close to getting a Concept when the VPI popped up for sale.

I think at this level, arms make the difference.