Valhalla Electronics Minos LP12 Power Supply
About a month ago I bought one of these to replace the Majik PSU in one of my LP12s. There is very little about them on the net so I thought I’d type up some thoughts. These PSUs are often overlooked in favour of the more common lower cost options like the Hercules and even the older Linn Valhalla and Lingo 1 supplies. I think this might be mistake.
The Minos costs the same as the Hercules but is a significantly more sophisticated device. Yes, it’s a two-speed PSU for the old 110v motor but this very densely populated little board hides much more capability than its rival, which is basically a tidied up Valhalla. Firstly, the Minos and its Zeus big brother are actually the same superbly made board. That means you can upgrade to the Zeus spec at a later date, which adds real-time monitoring of the platter speed and digital speed readout. It also makes the Minos a bit of a bargain in my opinion as the actual PSU is the same and even in Minos configuration gives you some pretty advanced features. Using the supplied USB cable you can change the default settings to alter the motor drive phase angles, frequencies and amplitude to reduce motor noise with your specific motor. Adjust the speed, you can even set a sleep timer! Pretty trick for £250. Unlike the Valhalla and Hercules, the Minos board has a big hole in it so can be used with the Karousel. It also runs cooler so will not bake itself inside your deck.
Down sides? Yes, minor ones. Firstly, the switch. The internals of the switch are the same as the Lingo 4 but the case is different. Valhalla have used an alloy body, which doesn’t offer any advantage over plastic and means the switch does not lock into place. It is tacked down by a couple of tabs of double-sided sticky tape. Bit amateurish but the biggest gripe is the switch itself. Rather than use the same size of button as the Valhalla, Lingo and Hercules they’ve used a narrower one which just looks wrong. The other switches look like they are made for the job while the Minos switch looks like they cobbled something together and made it fit a hole that’s too big for it. The only reason I can see for doing this was to be different and result just looks stupid.
The other gripe is a little more annoying. The connection blocks on the board which take the motor and mains power cables are significantly smaller than those on the Valhalla and Hercules with correspondingly smaller holes in them. The cables are a tight fit, forget putting mains cables into them without tinning the ends, and there is a real possibility that you could short cables together if not careful as the holes are very close together. It’s a slight nuisance and something to be mindful of but not a disaster.
The board is simple to fit as it just clicks on like the Valhalla. Once working you discover another slightly annoying feature, the daft control logic. One short press pings the supply up to 33.3, as you would expect. And another short press to switch it off? Nope. You have to hold the button down for about four seconds to switch the power off. It isn’t very intuitive and you find yourself actually counting to four because, if you hold the switch for slightly too long, instead of switching off it spins up to 44rpm! Similarly, dropping down from 45 back to 33.3 requires a hold of four seconds? Nope, seven. Really guys, it doesn’t have to be this hard. At least they stuck with red and green LEDs instead of the blue of the Hercules although 45 is indicated by both lit up at the same time.
There is no more bad news. Checking the speed, the factory settings delivered bang on speed requiring no pulley adjustment. Good start. But what does it sound like? Well this is a direct comparison to the Majik. No other changes or adjustments were made. Didn’t tweak the suspension, nothing. I wanted it to be a very level test. Also, although this is verses the Majik I have used LP12s for thirty-five years with Valhalla, Norton, Avondale etc PSUs so I have a fairly good idea of what these things do.
Bottom line, the Minos is very good. What I hear is a cleaning and tightening across the board with no down sides. It doesn’t make the deck sound more clinical, like the Lingo1 does in my opinion. It manages to improve bass tightness and resolution without reducing bass weight. Clarity and ‘air’ seem better but it does not sound ‘cold’ and boogies very well. The all important toe-tap test is passed with flying colours, you constantly forget about sound quality and become engrossed in the music. The supply doesn’t seem to alter the fundamental sound of the deck at all, it just makes everything better. I can’t say it’s better than the Hercules as I haven’t tried one of those but I’d be surprized if the Hercules was much better than this. Add the extra functionality and Karousel compatibility and I think the Minos wins.
Sticking my neck out I’m fairly confident this is the best LP12 power supply I have used. At £250 I think it’s a bargain and I’d definitely buy it again. If it died I’d buy another one. I like it a lot. May change the switch though ;0)
I posted pictures on an LP12 Facebook group if you want to see them: LINK
About a month ago I bought one of these to replace the Majik PSU in one of my LP12s. There is very little about them on the net so I thought I’d type up some thoughts. These PSUs are often overlooked in favour of the more common lower cost options like the Hercules and even the older Linn Valhalla and Lingo 1 supplies. I think this might be mistake.
The Minos costs the same as the Hercules but is a significantly more sophisticated device. Yes, it’s a two-speed PSU for the old 110v motor but this very densely populated little board hides much more capability than its rival, which is basically a tidied up Valhalla. Firstly, the Minos and its Zeus big brother are actually the same superbly made board. That means you can upgrade to the Zeus spec at a later date, which adds real-time monitoring of the platter speed and digital speed readout. It also makes the Minos a bit of a bargain in my opinion as the actual PSU is the same and even in Minos configuration gives you some pretty advanced features. Using the supplied USB cable you can change the default settings to alter the motor drive phase angles, frequencies and amplitude to reduce motor noise with your specific motor. Adjust the speed, you can even set a sleep timer! Pretty trick for £250. Unlike the Valhalla and Hercules, the Minos board has a big hole in it so can be used with the Karousel. It also runs cooler so will not bake itself inside your deck.
Down sides? Yes, minor ones. Firstly, the switch. The internals of the switch are the same as the Lingo 4 but the case is different. Valhalla have used an alloy body, which doesn’t offer any advantage over plastic and means the switch does not lock into place. It is tacked down by a couple of tabs of double-sided sticky tape. Bit amateurish but the biggest gripe is the switch itself. Rather than use the same size of button as the Valhalla, Lingo and Hercules they’ve used a narrower one which just looks wrong. The other switches look like they are made for the job while the Minos switch looks like they cobbled something together and made it fit a hole that’s too big for it. The only reason I can see for doing this was to be different and result just looks stupid.
The other gripe is a little more annoying. The connection blocks on the board which take the motor and mains power cables are significantly smaller than those on the Valhalla and Hercules with correspondingly smaller holes in them. The cables are a tight fit, forget putting mains cables into them without tinning the ends, and there is a real possibility that you could short cables together if not careful as the holes are very close together. It’s a slight nuisance and something to be mindful of but not a disaster.
The board is simple to fit as it just clicks on like the Valhalla. Once working you discover another slightly annoying feature, the daft control logic. One short press pings the supply up to 33.3, as you would expect. And another short press to switch it off? Nope. You have to hold the button down for about four seconds to switch the power off. It isn’t very intuitive and you find yourself actually counting to four because, if you hold the switch for slightly too long, instead of switching off it spins up to 44rpm! Similarly, dropping down from 45 back to 33.3 requires a hold of four seconds? Nope, seven. Really guys, it doesn’t have to be this hard. At least they stuck with red and green LEDs instead of the blue of the Hercules although 45 is indicated by both lit up at the same time.
There is no more bad news. Checking the speed, the factory settings delivered bang on speed requiring no pulley adjustment. Good start. But what does it sound like? Well this is a direct comparison to the Majik. No other changes or adjustments were made. Didn’t tweak the suspension, nothing. I wanted it to be a very level test. Also, although this is verses the Majik I have used LP12s for thirty-five years with Valhalla, Norton, Avondale etc PSUs so I have a fairly good idea of what these things do.
Bottom line, the Minos is very good. What I hear is a cleaning and tightening across the board with no down sides. It doesn’t make the deck sound more clinical, like the Lingo1 does in my opinion. It manages to improve bass tightness and resolution without reducing bass weight. Clarity and ‘air’ seem better but it does not sound ‘cold’ and boogies very well. The all important toe-tap test is passed with flying colours, you constantly forget about sound quality and become engrossed in the music. The supply doesn’t seem to alter the fundamental sound of the deck at all, it just makes everything better. I can’t say it’s better than the Hercules as I haven’t tried one of those but I’d be surprized if the Hercules was much better than this. Add the extra functionality and Karousel compatibility and I think the Minos wins.
Sticking my neck out I’m fairly confident this is the best LP12 power supply I have used. At £250 I think it’s a bargain and I’d definitely buy it again. If it died I’d buy another one. I like it a lot. May change the switch though ;0)
I posted pictures on an LP12 Facebook group if you want to see them: LINK