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Interesting read. If you are a Linn owner and enjoy your table good for you. I have chose my poison with a Artisan Fidelity Lenco table. Great table. Yes I owned a Linn back in the day but my dating period with Linn is long over and I have a keeper with the Lenco. If I was looking today for a new table I would add a Technics to that list. |
Bought my LP12 in October of ‘88. It provided a lot of pleasure all these years. I was always on the lookout for something better; but Better could only be had at a substantial cost. Even the sota Linn upgrades got Spendy and made me keep looking. That has changed !! I picked up my new modded Technics SL1200G with Triplanar Classic SE tonearm and Lyra Kleos cartridge. I will need to do the Shootout with Tom; but final invoice for the Technics rig puts it well below Linn and Many Others. IMO Linn and the Others should be starting to sweat, My Technics rig is preforming at an astonishing level for significantly lower costs. Granted that the Technics and any other rig will not be 🍎to🍎 and 🍊to🍊. In the analog world of TTs; This is a bargain for astounding SQ. We now have a ( dare I say it ) “Value option” that will take on A Lot of rigs out there. IMO, Technics is changing the game. |
LP12 w/ Radikal in sheet metal case = $22,390 LP12 w/ Radikal in CNC machined aluminum case = $ 25,190 These prices include phonostage, Ekos SE tonearm and top mc cartridge. Modded Technics TT, Triplanar Classic SE arm, Lyra Kleos, All new, Pass XOno,Used = $16,300 Every Record sounds new even though I have heard all that I have played many times. New and clearer details, Bass is more textured, black backgrounds, On and on, beyond my hopes. Happy; This is my last rig. Used Linn, For Sale. |
One of the things I love about the new Technics 1200g is that it is very neutral. It does not homogenize music. You hear what is there, no more, no less. I have found in the past that I found myself listening to a few records in my collection that sounded great. Now, every record I put on sounds great and different. It does not matter if it is an original Pines of Rome Shaded Dog or the newer Hot Rocks reissue. Jazz sounds amazing on the 1200G as the left hand on the piano is very alive and timing is impeccable. Bass is very good, very tuneful. The LP12 I listened to was about 20 grand. I like the 1200G better. I see and hear why people like the LP12 as it does sound very good, very deep and big stage but there is something that the 1200g does that I have not heard very often in analog. I cannot even imagine how good the new reference tables must sound. The new 1200GR and 1200G may be the best values in audio today. |
Some of the most musically involving systems I've heard over the years used Linn turntables. While I truly enjoy my highly modded Well Tempered turn table (original), if I had to do it all over again, I think I'd go for one of the classic rim drive tables of yore with the new modifications and upgraded plinths that are available today for around $6000 or so. Having heard them in a couple of friend's systems, they seem to really put more "life" into the recordings. Check these out: https://www.google.com/search?q=modified+rim+drive+turntable&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&... Frank |
@vinny55 hold on there a minute. How many of the other tables that are even 20-25 years old, even have the possibility of replacing a faulty bearing?? Which particular era of Linn are you talking about? The new Cirkus bearing is a pretty major step up over the older bearing design..pity that the old Garrard/ Thorens/Lenco bearing design is well....still the old Garrard/Thorens/Lenco bearing design, lol. |
I had an LP-12, Ekos, Arkiv - FET-10 Hi & PC + Mac MC-30’s and M&K Sat./Sub between 1990 and 2010 and I loved it! All was lost in 2012 after years of unemployment, and my system had to be sacrificed. Now, I am back to square one, with an AR XB on an XA base w. M97Xe playing through Schiit bits and an Adcom 545II into M&K S1-B’s & a Volkswoofer gifted by an old friend and I am just fine! I live on a busy street in Santa Barbara with heavy commercial traffic, so my ’real’ listening comes mainly at night, and at very moderate sound levels. This fits the bill for my SS Retirement Income. :-) |
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Now that I have listened to the Technics / Triplanar rig for 5-6 weeks; I like it even more. Does it mean that My LP12 doesn’t sound good? No, it sounds different and still pleases in different ways. Will the new Technics put every other TT in the attic, basement or used market? Absolutely Not. Every TT at every price point is still valid. They will all provide the pleasure of vinyl. At this point in time for Me; the Linn being a sprung TT has become untenable. I will keep my Kuzma belt drive and enjoy its qualities. Better? No just different, as they all are. I notice more TTs on the used market. Great deals to be had, whether your first, 2nd or 3rd. |
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Lots of LP12 for sale...because there were SO many LP12’s made over the years, because they’ve been good and popular for a long time. They’re still in demand today. They have an extensive upgrade path. And more importantly, because they hold their value so well that even satisfied owners can be tempted to sell. People here often read the wrong direction into "always see X for sale" or "never see Y for sale" (the latter usually means it’s faded into oblivion, sometimes for good reason - why bother buying an ad for an item nobody will buy?). Not an LP12 owner...but their place in hifi analog history has to be respected. |
drrsutliff"Why are you commenting about someone’s year old posting?" Why are you commenting on someone's comment to a year old posting do we need you're approval, permission, or blessing to issue forth such comment, response, or remark? |
If you get a SOTA Sapphire you will shake your head at just how bad the LP12 really is. Back in the day there was nothing else that sounded as good when properly set up and isolated. But if anyone sneezed in the room......... Plain and simple it is a poorly designed suspended turntable. If you can't stand the thought of an American turntable get an SME. |
The thing is that Linn Sondeks were almost an ideology along with Naim. It was all about Pace Rhythm and Timing. The ideology was challenged by the likes of Roksan and Pink triangle in the UK. The rest of the world woke up to the fact that for all the mods you make it is an awful lot of money for what you get. They aren't particularly fashionable either. Nobody else makes metal platter boxed wooden plinth decks anymore. Most decks are very skeletal now and have far more of a wow factor - that's perhaps why Michell Orbes' have prospered along with SME's. Not only that but people like the idea of DD's and Idlers. Personally, as I said earlier, I personally think they sound great and I'm sure I can spend many an hour listening to one, but I guess they are just not cool, nor loved by the press as they once were. I find that vis a vis the technics SL1200 it's a funny story. That was very much seen as a low-end DJ spinning deck - then a few clever clogs re-plinthed a re-armed the decks and suddenly people realised that actually they were pretty good. If you read other threads many think they were sent from heaven. Me - I'm a bit naughty, and have too many TT's in my collection that need to be set up - if I had the time and space I'd take a punt. |
