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Linn vs the rest of the world.

S

StressedRabbit

Well-Known Member
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.

This was the philosophy behind Tiefenbruns marketing.

Linn basically stonewalled the competition from ever getting a foothold in the high-end turntable market.

This is fact and I'm not going to bother explaining it here, that's what Googles for but I just wondered if anyone remembers going into hi-fi shops and only being able to listen to LP12s??
 
Outside the UK things were a little more realistic and the LINN had to stand on its own performance. It was regularly auditioned against equivalent decks and sometimes more expensive ones as well.

Due to the Aussie exchange rate and local distributer mark-ups, the LP12 quite often found itself up against Decks from Sota and VPI. It fared well if I remember, although these types of brand names were not mainstream in Australia and were generally sought out by people in the Know rather than the “High Street” Public.

Unlike the UK several dealers here would match the Linn With Krell and Mark Levison gear. He also discouraged sales of the Basik and Akito arms as he felt the Rega RB250 was a far superior Arm (and I would agree), His argument was that the good Linn Arms started with the Ittok and later the Ekos arms.

Boarders, exchange rates and shipping costs tend to equalise these types of comparisons.

LPSpinner.
 
StressedRabbit said:
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.

This was the philosophy behind Tiefenbruns marketing.

Linn basically stonewalled the competition from ever getting a foothold in the high-end turntable market.

This is fact and I'm not going to bother explaining it here, that's what Googles for but I just wondered if anyone remembers going into hi-fi shops and only being able to listen to LP12s??
Click to expand...

This is complete rubbish, how many shops did demos of Rega and other turntables against the Linn and let you choose which you liked.

For example I watched Ivor demo the Linn against the Rega, in a shop, in the early days and the customer bought the Rega so your statement is rubbish.

If you knew anything about the early days of Linn you would not make stupid posts like the one above.
 
StressedRabbit said:
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.

This was the philosophy behind Tiefenbruns marketing.

Linn basically stonewalled the competition from ever getting a foothold in the high-end turntable market.

This is fact and I'm not going to bother explaining it here, that's what Googles for but I just wondered if anyone remembers going into hi-fi shops and only being able to listen to LP12s??
Click to expand...
It’s nonsense though. I worked for several shops in the 80s and 90s in the UK that also sold: Roksan, Pink Triangle, Rega and Well Tempered. They certainly didn’t like it and there were dealers who lost the agency who blamed it on that. My employment experience was different though. As long as we did the business, we kept the agency. Common business practice. Linn fought their corner, nothing more. It also goes without saying that the reason most hifi shops stock a limited range is down to money. It’s not unlimited, so most would have chosen the Linn at the time if they could. Dealers are in business, it’s not a hifi club.
 
LPSpinner said:
Outside the UK things were a little more realistic and the LINN had to stand on its own performance. It was regularly auditioned against equivalent decks and sometimes more expensive ones as well.

Due to the Aussie exchange rate and local distributer mark-ups, the LP12 quite often found itself up against Decks from Sota and VPI. It fared well if I remember, although these types of brand names were not mainstream in Australia and were generally sought out by people in the Know rather than the “High Street” Public.

Unlike the UK several dealers here would match the Linn With Krell and Mark Levison gear. He also discouraged sales of the Basik and Akito arms as he felt the Rega RB250 was a far superior Arm (and I would agree), His argument was that the good Linn Arms started with the Ittok and later the Ekos arms.

Boarders, exchange rates and shipping costs tend to equalise these types of comparisons.

LPSpinner.
Click to expand...

No, not the case when I first bought a Linn. The shop stocked Rega and Oracle. I recall that Linn preferred the retailer to also stock Naim, though, but not sure if it was a deal breaker.
 
The one or two hifi shops I used to frequent in the late 80's early 90's did carry competition to Linn and would demo them, my memory is mainly of speakers and later amps and CD players. The LP12 was just so well built and looked so gorgeous it sold itself (sounded good too). The dealers however did try to steer you towards Linn. On a couple of occasion, I insisted I liked the Kef and later a Micromega and the salesman who knew me quite well said that I'd regret it when I took it home and should I wish I could return it and pay the extra to get the Linn he recommended. He was quite right and within a few days I had returned the Kef and Micromega. I now recall a similar event when the LK280 and Kairn were released, they were put up against Naim and Quad.
 
I remember one dealer used to sell the Oracle Delphi with the Ittok, it made a nice match.
We had another Dealer that used to specialise in the "British" gear, He not only sold Linn and naim but also stocked other British stuff like the Royd, Rega, Arcam, Sugden Spendor & Audiolab. It was colloquially known as "Little Brittain".
 
I have a humbler linn turntable...its great!
Linn vs who? Linn won for me on first listen..if I ever change my turntable? It will be for another less humble Linn..I have had my Linn turntable for at least 30 years..never any trouble..Linn Winn
 
Eyebroughty said:
This is complete rubbish, how many shops did demos of Rega and other turntables against the Linn and let you choose which you liked.

For example I watched Ivor demo the Linn against the Rega, in a shop, in the early days and the customer bought the Rega so your statement is rubbish.

If you knew anything about the early days of Linn you would not make stupid posts like the one above.
Click to expand...
Wow...your a bit tetchy!! I find porridge and blueberries is quite a calming combination..well, it works for me!
 

"I have a humbler linn turntable...its great!
Linn vs who? Linn won for me on first listen..if I ever change my turntable? It will be for another less humble Linn..I have had my Linn turntable for at least 30 years..never any trouble..Linn Winn"

I must admit, I have had mine for longer than I am ready to admit. It's had 3 arms, a PSU upgrade and a new sub chassis, I'll admit that I quite like it.

LPSpinner
 
StressedRabbit said:
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.
Click to expand...

I suspect that suggestion won’t stand up to much scrutiny. I certainly remember sitting in turntable dems at Linn dealers between the LP12/Xerxes, LP12 Logic DM101, LP12/The Source etc etc at various times. There was certainly a huge amount of ‘groupthink’ that was pushed by some dealers and the UK audio press, especially about system hierarchy etc, but I can’t recall any even remotely credible dealers who didn’t offer at least some choice even if the chose to push a particular ‘house sound’ for whatever reason.
 
StressedRabbit said:
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.

This was the philosophy behind Tiefenbruns marketing.

Linn basically stonewalled the competition from ever getting a foothold in the high-end turntable market.

This is fact and I'm not going to bother explaining it here, that's what Googles for but I just wondered if anyone remembers going into hi-fi shops and only being able to listen to LP12s??
Click to expand...


Nope. I worked for 2 Linn dealers, first also had turntables from Thorens, Lenco and Revox as well as from a number of Japanese brands, the second had Thorens, Rega, AR, STD and Oracle plus another Japanese contingent.

I suspect part of this comes from Linn's unfortunate employment of a number of evangelical over-zealous PFYs (pimply-faced youths) in the early 80s who basically anatagonised a lot of dealers who had worked well with Linn for a long-time. I started selling Linn in the mi-70s when the basic deck was £75 and even then it was a struggle sometimes to sell them. Cue "I've seen better feet on a kettle" type comments.

One did get the odd diktat on occasion, supposedly emanating from Ivor, but you had to bear in mind these were often reported second-hand (frequently by the PFYs, who typically had no original thoughts of their own) and that Ivor frequently had his tongue in at least one cheek. Basically he was a shit-stirrer, and he was good at it. The PFYs had the bolshie comments but none of the charm, and tended to piss off the dealers quite regularly. Not very much was 'official policy' though.

Linn did manage to alienate a number of dealers a bit further down the line (mid '80s) but I was out of the trade by that time and wasn't really paying much attention.

I do remember an exchange with one of Ivor's inner circle a couple of years earlier when I joked I'd probably be 'excommunicated' for ditching my Linn in favour of an Oracle/Fidelity Research/Koetsu, but the only comment made was "We know where you live..." It made absolutely no difference to the business relationship knowing they had a traitor in the ranks.
 
Eyebroughty said:
This is complete rubbish, how many shops did demos of Rega and other turntables against the Linn and let you choose which you liked.

For example I watched Ivor demo the Linn against the Rega, in a shop, in the early days and the customer bought the Rega so your statement is rubbish.

If you knew anything about the early days of Linn you would not make stupid posts like the one above.
Click to expand...
Actually not sure if that is complete rubbish I seem to remember Serge telling me that he wasn’t allowed to represent Linn because he stocked another brand of turntable.
Keith
 
Dave J said:
Had a Karousel fitted and my Radikal upgraded this week - really pleased with the results and amazed that it's still possible to service and enhance it nearly 45 years since I bought my first
Click to expand...

Mine is a Valhalla, Cirkus with an Ittok LVII. I kind of like to keep it as a snapshot in HiFi History rather than the Latest and Greatest. It matches the Olive Naim gear I also own in my vintage Collection. The Modern downstairs Rig wears a very late build SL1200 into a modern Arcam Setup. Its interesting to compare the eighties with the modern stuff. I like to keep Both.

LPSpinner.
 
StressedRabbit said:
Many years ago I heard that Linn would not allow their turntables to be sold in shops that sold other makes of turntables.

This was the philosophy behind Tiefenbruns marketing.

This is fact and I'm not going to bother explaining it here, that's what Googles for but I just wondered if anyone remembers going into hi-fi shops and only being able to listen to LP12s??
Click to expand...
In his dreams...
 
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