Never knew that. Always thought "Ittok" was a homonym (?) for "I Talk", the way Linn have for naming products.
Previously happy LP12 owners who moved on.....
- Thread starter ex brickie
- Start date
Or the designer was Mr Itto.
According to this; specification from linn, design by Mr Ito, manufacture by Denon parts company:
zstereo.co.uk
Linn Ittok LVIII
By many people’s reckoning the Linn Ittok was the world’s first super-arm. Originally manufactured for Linn by the Denon Parts Company of Japan (no relation to the electronics brand), it was design…
zstereo.co.uk
Chris
pfm Member
And so what if they didn’t design it ? What experience did they have at the time ? How do you design an arm to suit all tastes in this hurdy gurdy hobby/business? Assuming the Ekos was thus named because it was truly made in Scotland, Mr Itoh, if he ever existed, must have got a few things right because Linn didn’t see fit to change much on the outside. It could easily have been named the Ittok IV. Have never understood why so many people say the Ittok is so elegantly beautiful while the Ekos gets no mentions. How many non-nerdy people could reliably distinguish one from the other. Yeah, yeah and one VW Beetle is the same as another. Degrees of nerdiness.
The Ekos is all blacked out and therefore it doesn’t have that wonderful this bit is bolted to that bit appeal.
I also love the relatively large screws holding the arm tube and the long headshell on to the LV11.
It has a ’Brunel’ look about it, where each part appears to have been carefully considered and made for the job.
It also holds its settings well and is wonderful to operate.
Finally, it sounds good on an LP12.
I know that not everyone will agree but I think it is a design classic and I will not part with mine.
The Ekos looks good but to me it lacks that raw appeal.
John
Rack’em Up!
The LK1 and LK2 outperformed the 32.5, Hi-Cap, 135’s which was the best Naim offered at the time. We lived with both for a few months and performed the A/B mostly versus the 250. We sold them to customers who had been using Naim electronics paired with Isobariks and Saras. Many of the Linn/Naim dealers in the US ended up dropping Naim as the product no longer made sense for them to sell. The North American importer who originally brought Linn and Naim into the market made the decision to drop Naim and helped them setup their own distribution. They could in not good faith sell a product that wasn’t as good as the Linn electronics. I was deeply involved in the business during the whole period.
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In your opinion, my opinion is very different. Tried the Linn offerings on home dem for several weeks not long after the 280 was released in the late 1980s (as was very good friends with my local dealer) and swapped back and forth between my 32.5/Hi-Cap/135s. Turntable was LP12/Ittok/Troika and speakers were SBLs. Tried with Kan IIs as well. I could not find a single piece of music where the Linn amps did not sound second rate in comparison to the Naim set up. My dealer agreed with me and over the next few years Linn's insistence that he sell their electronics saw him ditch the brand altogether.
david ellwood
Kirabosi Kognoscente
Here’s a picture of the titanium Ittok that Mr Takao Ito made for his son.
Tony L
Administrator
So firmly in the ‘hardcore Linn dealer on commission’ category! Other less biased opinions are available. I was not impressed with Linn electronics at all.
That said I only liked Linn/Naim stuff for that brief period in the ‘80s where each complimented the other. I’ve never liked any full Linn or full Naim system I’ve heard, which is why I moved on.
Miss Ariel
pfm Member
Totally concur with your comments on the Ittok.
I got my first as a teenager having upgraded from a LVX and was knocked out by the engineering.
The red dots on the tracking force and the bias.The arm rest was nice.
I used to also like the thicker arm tube.
For me the ultimate Ittok pic ...would be black ittok with a linn ASAK with that red dot on the end.
What I love about the Ittok its so easy to adjust arm height - tracking force or bias.
Also the Linn Ittok lettering on the bottom of the arm tube is a nice touch.
Tony L
Administrator
That is exactly how I remember it. I remember a dem comparing it to I think a 32.5/HiCap/140 and I just sat there quietly thinking “you have to be kidding, you are actually trying to sell me this!?”.
John
Rack’em Up!
If that’s how it sounded, there was obviously something very wrong with the system and how it was setup.
It’s great to have both though. Qobuz is very good in the way it works with my Innuos Zen, I have albums by the same artist filed together even though some are CD rips & some are streams.Stop itI have said before that I totally get why streaming is now the logical choice in terms of access to music etc. but for me there's a huge collecting element to it as well not to mention that a record/CD collection can be worth money. I also still like handling a record/CD and then putting it on and listening to it the way the artists intended. Playlists etc. are all great, but the art of sequencing an album is dying due to the ultra random access behaviour of so many with streaming. Furthermore records and CDs are specific in terms of pressing, mastering and versions... never really sure what you're getting in streaming in that respect. My partner does streaming and randomly checking I have only been able to find about half of the tracks from my 12' single collection that I have searched for... that would never do. Then there was the case of Aurora last year who my partner likes but woke one morning to find the entire artist's collection removed from whatever streaming service she was using... I told her all my CDs were still there on the shelf... I got barked at for that
I just heard that Beth Gibbons had a new album out, added to my library in seconds & in HD. I can also actually buy the Cd or Download.
It’s a golden age really. I hold no truck with just listening to playlists, still listen to albums as they should be. However, when we have people round it’s a lot easier to just bing a playlist on; it’s usually one that I’ve put together though.
I’ve never really been into 12 inches but can see how many of the mixes etc will not be available.
Isobarik
pfm Member
The power amp I used was near enough similar to this, the Mission 772, the only difference was mine had the transformers mounted on the side.
The amp was made for Mission for demonstration purposes at Hi Fi shows.
I still have it! The Amp was made by the one and only Stan Curtis. I believe the power amp I have, was made before Mission put the 772 into production.
The amp was made for Mission for demonstration purposes at Hi Fi shows.
I still have it! The Amp was made by the one and only Stan Curtis. I believe the power amp I have, was made before Mission put the 772 into production.
Isobarik
pfm Member
I
I really don't think so, John!
I don't remember ever hearing Linn electronics and preferring them to the options available at the time. They were either a bit too dull or downright poor, the Intek. I totally disagree that the LK1/280 was better than the Naim alternatives.
I'm sure a lot of Linn dealers dropped Naim because they were pressured to. Linn do not like competition. Their prefered situation is when a buyer walks in having already decided Linn is the best, listens to a Linn system and buys it without comparison. They've always pushed for that, single brand stores in Harrods etc, enforcing heavy quotas on their dealers which effectively forces them to push Linn.
As for the quality. I could not in good faith recommend products which were unreliable and the manufacturer dropped support for as soon as they could. Naim will still service the 32.5, 135 etc today, Linn walked away from the the LK1 when? twenty years ago? More? Linn don't give a shit about long term product support, they just want you to buy more new boxes.
I wouldn't touch Linn electronics with a barge pole and I would never recommend them to anyone I knew.
Tony L
Administrator
FWIS I actually felt sorry for a lot of dealers who had previously been able to offer kit they liked and believed in from both companies effectively having to pick a side in a bitter divorce. It was a time I lost a lot of respect for the audio market as to my mind, whether the dealer went with Linn, or with Naim, they were obviously diminished and compromised. A real eye-opener for me and probably the point I lost interest in the new audio marketplace.
