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A new belt for the Linn LP12

The Blue belt is noisy. I ran it overnight and it’s not any better, tried reversing it as as well. The armboard also jimmy’s during startup, the new Linn belt starts up faster with no shaking of the armboard. It’s also dead quite. I was hoping the Blue belt would be good based on the reviews. Maybe it’s more appropriate for a DC motor.

Try giving it a light dusting with talc.
 
Try giving it a light dusting with talc.
I’m done messing with it. I have a brand new Linn belt on there now which replaced one that was 10 years old. I’m getting zero noise from the motor and it’s sounding great.

What’s the talc supposed to do?
 
I’m done messing with it. I have a brand new Linn belt on there now which replaced one that was 10 years old. I’m getting zero noise from the motor and it’s sounding great.

What’s the talc supposed to do?
It just stops the belt from sticking to the motor pulley, which is likely to be what the noise is.
 
I’m reluctant to use talc on the belt. Is that the only way to remove the stickiness? I was under the impression the Mk2 belt were cured and didn’t need boiling and some such.
 
The noise just goes, or it certainly does on a TD-124. It really is astonishingly quiet once this initial phase is passed.
 
The noise just goes, or it certainly does on a TD-124. It really is astonishingly quiet once this initial phase is passed.
I’m not convinced the noise is the belt, seems to be coming from the motor. I’m thinking the blue belt’s smaller size puts unwanted stress on the motor. The new Linn belt I have on there now makes no such noise with the motor and frankly sounds better. Maybe I’ll just store the blue belt outside it’s sealed plastic bag for a few months and revisit this later. The blue belt certainly doesn’t behave the same as the Linn belt on start up, you can see the armboard shuttering. The Linn belt starts up smoothly.

Glad this thread brought attention to replacing my 10 year old belt, it certainly is a huge improvement to have a new belt.
 
Don't worry about what some may say, talc it then clean the talc off through a soft tissue - it has done no harm to my belt or TT this is a sure-fire way to kill the stickiness, without resorting to burning fossil fuel too.
 
I’m not convinced the noise is the belt, seems to be coming from the motor. I’m thinking the blue belt’s smaller size puts unwanted stress on the motor.

If anything it will be the reverse. The blue belt is far more stretchy and compliant than the Linn belt. This is a huge advantage on a fast-running high-torque TD-124, whether it is on an LP12 is up for grabs, but my advice would be just to run it for a weeks or two as I bet it will quieten right down (it takes a day or two on the 124, but that is a more hostile environment for a belt).

PS As stated upthread the LP12 is interesting as the belt and arm-cable can be viewed as part of the suspension. Conceptually moving to the far more compliant blue belt will alter this aspect in a similar way that a Naim Prefix effectively removes the stiff arm-cable from the suspension. Whether this is ultimately good or bad I’d need to hear for myself, but I’d certainly let the belt bed in before making that call.
 
If anything it will be the reverse. The blue belt is far more stretchy and compliant than the Linn belt. This is a huge advantage on a fast-running high-torque TD-124, whether it is on an LP12 is up for grabs, but my advice would be just to run it for a weeks or two as I bet it will quieten right down (it takes a day or two on the 124, but that is a more hostile environment for a belt).

PS As stated upthread the LP12 is interesting as the belt and arm-cable can be viewed as part of the suspension. Conceptually moving to the far more compliant blue belt will alter this aspect in a similar way that a Naim Prefix effectively removes the stiff arm-cable from the suspension. Whether this is ultimately good or bad I’d need to hear for myself, but I’d certainly let the belt bed in before making that call.

It has to be, given it’s size.
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Fitted the blue belt to my Mober'd LP12 and it runs with no noise, it may be a placebo effect but I do think there is a slight improvement, mind you I was using a Thakker belt and not a Linn original. The blue belt is certainly shorter by a decent margin as John noted. I will let it bed in a bit more and then report again.
 
Got mine today, linn belt 33.34 +/- 0.03, blue belt 33.02 -0.94 using RPM app. Speed was set by Peter Swain last year using strobe so app is correct enough. Similar results with 45 rpm except that wouldn’t get to 45 without helping it by giving the platter a spin by hand. It just stuck at 26 rpm. Anyway once up it got to 44.53 vs 45.02 for linn belt. It is silent running at 33 and mainly centres on crown. I did clean the inner platter and motor pulley with alcohol wipe before installing belt with clean hands. Installed it as Mike said in his post. Will leave it running at 33 for 24 hours and check again before doing any listening. Hope the 45 rpm speed issue corrects itself once the belt has been run in a bit. I have a Lingo 1 so will need to adjust the motor tilt a bit. Apart from the app I do have a speed check disc and strobe I can borrow from work to set it correctly. Anyone else had issue with getting up to 45 rpm, this was straight after install so I know to give it time.
 
Well, just to update those interested; my BB is still doing great (talced and talc cleaned off).

No noise and speed is damn close enough for my enjoyment.
 


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