What’s the best arm on an LP12?
Oh wow, here we go! ;0) Not a contentious debate at all obviously...
Linn sheeps will tell you the LP12 only works properly with Linn arm. This is obviously shite as the LP12 built its reputation using other people's arms prior to Linn building their own. Or rather having arms with their name on manufactured in Japan.
Linn arms do work of course but are mostly dreadful value. The Ittok and Ekos are old and hard to fix but have a dynamic, powerful sound and great bass. Not the last word in refinement or fluidity but fun. The Ekos SE is very good but brutally expensive and by all accounts the...
Audio Origami PU7 is at least as good, if not better, and miles cheaper. A lot pf people consider
this the best arm you can put on an LP12.
The Aro was very popular, mostly because Naim made it and it matched the forward sound of their amps well. It's just a unipivot and shares the usual unipivot attributes. Beguiling midrange and organic fluidity but a bit soft in the bass and treble and not as dynamic as you might like. Good choice if you want to end up playing a lot of female vocal and don't care about cartridge alignment. Other unipivots, like the Nima, will be similar.
The SME v was never a popular arm on the Linn. Some loved them but most found them a bit bland sounding.
My choice? Rega RB3000. Man it punches above its price and to me gives a perfect balance between the slam of a Linn arm and the flow of a unipivot. I've got an Ania Pro on it now and it's so good I don't want to change a thing. A brilliant arm and sadly overlooked by many blinkered LP12 owners.