advertisement


Now the dust has settled - the Karousel

I had a linn lp12 for 35 years I sold mine last year almost klimax (accurate)Radikal
However something changed when the geddon went that although it was “better” I didn’t enjoy it as much
I had Ekos 1 troika keel geddon and didn’t know that was actually the most “enjoyable”it would get I kept on the linn upgrade path but if I’m honest that was my sweet spot
 
lambo said:
I had Ekos 1 troika keel geddon and didn’t know that was actually the most “enjoyable”it would get...
Click to expand...

It makes sense. I think as resolution increases you can start to reveal too much of the shortcomings in the medium. I was listening to David Bowie 'ChangesOne' the other night and the compression was obvious and annoying. With a less revealing deck the record is more enjoyable.

I feel Linn started to change the sound of the LP12 round about the time of the first Lingo and Cirkus and I didn't like it. You were losing the sense of air and solidity for the sake of detail and to me that wasn't what the LP12 was about.
 
Last edited:
I've got to say I dont regret the upgrade to Karousel which I had done last Autumn at all. Though like I posted at the time, I also upgraded to a Radikal from an old Lingo PSU mk I, so some of the benefits I hear have come from that I'm sure. Made it more expensive though the Karousel was free as a result but my old Linn ac motor had the annoying soft tick and the dc motor is totally silent

Also as the radikal is a bigger box than the Lingo I had to put in another shelf in my rack which physically moves the TT away from the amps and possibly another contributor - the wife said she thought the CD player sounded better which I pooh-poohed but then started to agree with. Could of course just be cable routing or cleaner connections having had to unplug everything and reconnect
 
matfff said:
Ok, fitted the Karousel yesterday, left it spinning overnight and checked levelling e.t.c today. Have been playing lp’s since late morning. Everything else in system unchanged.
Well, I stand corrected. It is much, much better than a Cirkus+tranquility. Just playing Peter Gabriel’s debut. I’m not one for melodrama, but I’ve been listening to this album since it came out and I swear I’m hearing sounds that I’ve never heard before. So to answer the ordinal poster, yes it is worth it. Get one.
Click to expand...

Got my Karousal with a majik subchassis installed last Thursday and have to say it's a superb upgrade.I had a pre cirkus before and really loved it.
But the Karousal really digs so much more information out.Seperation is superb and I am hearing so much more in the mix that before I was unaware of.
Had a late one last night playing loads of familiar album tracks and listening to Peter Gabriel's third album was a revelation.The unsetteling feel of Intruder was breath taking.The miramba and drum pattern was so pitch perfect and so clean sounding.The decay of notes etc.
A good analogy the pre cirkus bearing was like rose tinted glasses ( very enjoyable ) but Karousal is like clean glasses and the music shines threw.
 
I think the Karousel is excellent. It has the charm and warmth of the Pre Cirkus and the detail of the Cirkus.

I have a Karousel on my Stiletto player and my all original Grace/Supex 900 red button player has the Pre Cirkus white liner bearing.
 
Gaius said:
I think the Karousel is excellent. It has the charm and warmth of the Pre Cirkus and the detail of the Cirkus.
Click to expand...
That aspect of sound is what I heard from the Cirkus when I gave it a better subchassis to operate from. Was never a fan of the Cirkus bearing with the stock steel subchassis it came with.
 
John said:
That aspect of sound is what I heard from the Cirkus when I gave it a better subchassis to operate from. Was never a fan of the Cirkus bearing with the stock steel subchassis it came with.
Click to expand...

It's really good to hear these opinions and observations.
 
Well, I finally did the 6 hour round trip to get mine fitted. If you're using the XLR outputs on the Urika, there's an issue with the plugs interfering with the bounce, but once that's fixed (Cymbiosis mod!), it's sounding rather good. Definitely concur with other positive reports - it seems to unpick a lot of detail, without sounding clinical, and it also seems quieter between tracks. Well worth the effort, and allowed me to rebuild my rather dusty Fraim at the same time!
 
I'm finally off for a demo of Karousel on Monday with my dealer... every time I tried before Boris locked us down.
Have a feeling it could be expensive as there is either a problem with my ekos arm or dv20x2 cartridge... cartridge is 9 years old so hoping it's just that. Dealer did check it 18months ago and was still ok then but it did get a lot of use during the first lockdown.
 
TheDecameron said:
What stopped Linn from producing a karousel 30 years ago?
Click to expand...

I doubt that Linn were deliberately making their LP12's less good than they were able, just so that they could improve it later! The truth is that the early ones, though they may have sounded good, had lots of areas in the design that could have been better. To an extent, I'm not even sure that they fully understood how important the elements of their turntable were to the overall sound. Those early sub chassis weren't very good; mine was bent, so that the arm board was never level & the dealer seemed to have no idea how to cure it. The arm board with it's small fixing screws and the design of the top plate that hardly ever sat down properly, whereby the arm board almost never sat square in the cut-out. They thought that they had a good design for the bearing, so it didn't occur to them that it could be better. To answer your question, yes, they could have manufactured the Karousel in the early 70's, but they just didn't think of it back then.
 
TheDecameron said:
What stopped Linn from producing a karousel 30 years ago?
Click to expand...

There were no third party sub-chassis or bearing upgrades that could become incompatible, unusable or obsolete with a new bearing.

But seriously, I'm surprised they came up with bearing upgrade. LP12 bearing, and there were at least 7, was always pretty much the best TT bearing for middle-weight platters.
 
wylton said:
I doubt that Linn were deliberately making their LP12's less good than they were able, just so that they could improve it later! The truth is that the early ones, though they may have sounded good, had lots of areas in the design that could have been better. To an extent, I'm not even sure that they fully understood how important the elements of their turntable were to the overall sound. Those early sub chassis weren't very good; mine was bent, so that the arm board was never level & the dealer seemed to have no idea how to cure it. The arm board with it's small fixing screws and the design of the top plate that hardly ever sat down properly, whereby the arm board almost never sat square in the cut-out. They thought that they had a good design for the bearing, so it didn't occur to them that it could be better. To answer your question, yes, they could have manufactured the Karousel in the early 70's, but they just didn't think of it back then.
Click to expand...
Yes, for me the tin coffin lid and plank arrangement were below deck penny pinching. Pink Triangle’s honeycomb laminate was far better, though I don’t know if it would have worked with the Linn’s comparatively heavy platter.
Ivor went on at length about the importance of the integrity of the structure between the bearing and the stylus and at other times the value of the lossy bond afforded by those three tiny screws! This struck me as contradictory and of course the Keel blew all that away.
 
TheDecameron said:
What stopped Linn from producing a karousel 30 years ago?
Click to expand...
I think the LP12 needed a better subchassis which they eventually got with the Keel. The Cirkus bearing certainly deserved a better subchassis than what was supplied with it originally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top