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Linn K5 & K9 confusion

lilolee

pfm Member
I was just about to list in classified these cartridges, but to make sure I had it correct I googled them and am now confused which is which. I thought the metal body was K9 and plastic K5.

Here is a photo of two cartridges and two bodies, and any help identifying which is which would be great.

9f9EEXr.jpg
 
Many Thanks Martin. I think I got confused by the metal body of 3&4. Of course if I had just looked at the box for a K9 it would have helped me out :rolleyes:
 
I’d say Nr 2 is a K5 body, identified by being grey. Some confusion arises as there are plenty of K9 styli fitted to K5 bodies as it was regarded as an upgrade. If in doubt weigh them - the K5 body with thinner shielding weighs about 1 gram less than K9 body. No kidding. And I think the spec is better on K9 body regarding channel separation.
 
Shouldn't have given my K18 to a mate for his music centre!

AT VM styli range fit K bodies. Apparently - according to a ‘sticky’ overview on Lenco Heaven - VM styli with K18 body sounds superb. Mentioned it just in case your mate needs a suitable replacement stylus.
 
AT VM styli range fit K bodies. Apparently - according to a ‘sticky’ overview on Lenco Heaven - VM styli with K18 body sounds superb. Mentioned it just in case your mate needs a suitable replacement stylus.

LOL
It was many years ago... not even in touch any more. Stylus was worn on K18 but good enough for his music centre.
I couldn't justify the cost of new styli at the time as I had better carts.
FWIW I found the K18 oddly balanced in that it was very obviously bass light and treble heavy, which gave it an artificial sense of speed and transparency that could be impressive on just the right recordings but could make others a scratchy bass light mess. I recall it had an Alan bolt holding the stylus in!
 
Early K9 cartridges had a silver metallic body and a yellow stylus assembly. Later the cartridge changed to a grey metallic body and they also at some time changed to a grey stylus assembly.

My understanding is that very late on they ran out of K9 metallic body cartridges bodies but sold off the remaining grey stylus assemblies on the plastic K5 cartridge body. The K9 stylus would fit on the K5.

The late K9 and K5 stylus assemblies actually had writing on the side to distinguish them.
 
Hi folks, could I revive this thread?

The OP's question of identifying his no.2 cartridge body has conflicting replies. Half say it's a k5, others say k9.

I'm needing to think about replacing my Shelter 201 stylus. But beforehand, I have this linn body (mostly) resembling the OP's no.2. But I too have no idea if it's a k5 or9. Could anyone help?

Or does simply a metal body definitively determine it's a K9-? Someone said weight tells which.. but no reference as to a figure, meaning I would just have an arbitrary number should I weigh mine. Not helping.

What I do know: it has a metal body (the grey paint chips reveals shiny steel @ corners), a grey plastic top, & a black back with 932 (serial?) number, & 'japan' on. Thanks for reading. Capt.

4016-B7-BC-AB4-A-4-E61-B61-F-08-FA383192-B8.jpg
 
K5 body.

Stick an ATN95E (£24.99) or AT-VM95E (£29.99, looks better) replacement stylus on and it will sound exactly like a brand new K5. Glue one on and it will likely sound better than a new K5.
 
K5 body.

Stick an ATN95E replacement stylus on and it will sound exactly like a brand new K5. Glue one on and it will sound better than a new K5.

Hi Craig, glue one on? Haven't heard of that before I must say, this improves vibration is my guess?

Ah so there was me hoping this was a k9 body, in which case buying a shibata stylus for this, might have made a better catridge than replacing my shelter 201 stylus.

So the k5 did have a metal body then. Extremely confusing I must say, with most replies saying placcy body = K5.
 
K5 body.

Stick an ATN95E (£24.99) or AT-VM95E (£29.99, looks better) replacement stylus on and it will sound exactly like a brand new K5. Glue one on and it will likely sound better than a new K5.

Actually a better reply might have been.. how can you tell it's a k5 & not a 9-?

Thanks.
 
Grey plastic mounting block/plate with thicker mounting lugs than those on the alloy block. The generator is otherwise identical to that of K9.

An AT-VM95ML or SH would make this a posh MM.
 
K5 body.

Stick an ATN95E (£24.99) or AT-VM95E (£29.99, looks better) replacement stylus on and it will sound exactly like a brand new K5.
So does a pin in a yogurt pot, I remember having one and trying to convince myself that it was better than an AT 95 or AT110.

Glue one on and it will likely sound better than a new K5.
Hmm. A low bar. I may still have mine somewhere, unless I had the good sense to sell it on.
 
Grey plastic mounting block/plate with thicker mounting lugs than those on the alloy block. The generator is otherwise identical to that of K9.

An AT-VM95ML or SH would make this a posh MM.

Better than my shelter 201 would you think? I'm just up to speed on the 'better shapes' of tip the SH & ML are ( tho never heard either), than my eliptical 201. But surely there's more to a cartridge than predominately the tip's shape. Or is there?
 
So does a pin in a yogurt pot, I remember having one and trying to convince myself that it was better than an AT 95 or AT110.
Yes, I could have said 'exactly like a brand new AT95E', same thing.
Hmm. A low bar. I may still have mine somewhere, unless I had the good sense to sell it on.
As with all A-T MMs, the biggest improvement is to be found by getting total loading capacitance well down. Anyone who had been running any of the K-series into Naim MM boards will be in for an ear opener. Having said that, Linn's claims of more than 30dB separation @ 1kHz and 0.5dB of channel balance @ 1kHz for K18 were nothing more than wishful thinking. The lack of centre shield between coils alone makes this generator incapable of achieving much above the 23dB and 1.5dB that A-T have down for VM95ML and SH.
 


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