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Linn Lingo4

I doubt that, once the Karousel was installed, you’d crave the older bearing.

Most of the people who've fitted it have raved about it just as you are so I'm inclined to think it's good. I'm just aware that the situation with the Cirkus was similar. I had that fitted and I was impressed with it myself at first. There were very few dissenting voices and it was a while before I realized that I too wasn't enjoying the deck as much.

Also, it's not cheap. £750 is a lot if it turns out to be a mistake.

I'm in no hurry. I'll just keep my eye on things and maybe get one eventually.
 
The 1, 2 and 3 were basically the same thing in different boxes. I too preferred transformer-based supplies. The 4 is completely different different, comes in an idiotic case with cables sticking out both ends for a start.

Finding useful opinions on how it sounds is difficult as the Linn sheeps just bleat that everything Linn make sounds wonderful. I expect it to sound better than the Valhalla, which I'm also not that keen on.

Colin,

I went from pre cirkus to Karousel last year and the sound certainly changed.I enjoyed the pre cirkus and never heard a cirkus bearing TBH.
With the Karousel you lose that upper bass bloom and the bass really tightens up.Very effortlessly tuneful in basslines,good detail and definition.
Separation and detail it digs out is superb.It's like a very good digital source but still retains the vinyl magic.
Its a lot of dosh as its gone up to £850 now but as everyone says it really is the best LP12 upgrade.

Lingo 4 I really like as I went from Majik to L4 and its great for separation - imaging.Being able to play 45 is a real treat as I never bothered with the faff of the motor adaptor change of belt.
Just ridiculous in a product which costs at retail £3500.
Agree the case is pretty dull and I do think it could look more stylish.I think its to be tucked away out of sight.The blue led is to bright front on.
I quite like the small size of the case though.Rega got their casework so right with the P10 power supply and its scary that a L4 is a grand short of a P10 turnatable.

Radikal 2 is just crazy money but its all diminishing returns.I am sure it sounds awesome though...
 
Agree the case is pretty dull and I do think it could look more stylish.I think its to be tucked away out of sight.

Having cables coming out of both ends is just stupid in my opinion. How are you supposed to put that in a rack? It's not a laptop PSU designed to be temporarily plugged in, it has to be permanently accommodated in Hi-Fi system. None of their other supplies are like that. No one else make a power supply like that. What the hell were they thinking and why didn't someone with a modicum of common sense say something?
 
Having cables coming out of both ends is just stupid in my opinion. How are you supposed to put that in a rack? It's not a laptop PSU designed to be temporarily plugged in, it has to be permanently accommodated in Hi-Fi system. None of their other supplies are like that. No one else make a power supply like that. What the hell were they thinking and why didn't someone with a modicum of common sense say something?

Agree its pretty outrageous from a casework point of view.As I say if Rega can do it with the P10 power supply and it looks stylish like a Aria phonostage why can't Linn do it and Rega do it so much cheaper.
Don't get me wrong I love my Linn stuff but its not good enough for a £1500 powersupply casework wise....Sound is rather nice though.
 
Don't get me wrong I love my Linn stuff but its not good enough for a £1500 powersupply casework wise....Sound is rather nice though.

I just object to being taken for a mug. Linn were never cheap but their prices are greatly outstripping inflation and they are charging crazy prices for their new products. Rega are a successful UK manufacturer who you can tell are trying to deliver value as well as quality. Linn are just trying to milk people for as much as they can get away with. Don't get me wrong, love the LP12 as a record player but really don't have a lot of time for Linn.
 
Interesting that the Lingo 4 motor fastens to the top plate in a different way. Prior to the Lingo 4, the motor connected using metal screws and ball shaped washers where that was the sole contact of the motor to the top plate/plinth.
The Lingo 4 motor mounts flush with the top plate with a foam layer between the two.

Lingo-4-Motor-300x300.png
 
Interesting that the Lingo 4 motor fastens to the top plate in a different way.

The old motor and pulley was designed to tilt to adjust the speed. Because the Lingo4 set up does that in the PCU box the motor does not need to tilt so can fix straight to the top plate.
 
Most of the people who've fitted it have raved about it just as you are so I'm inclined to think it's good. I'm just aware that the situation with the Cirkus was similar. I had that fitted and I was impressed with it myself at first. There were very few dissenting voices and it was a while before I realized that I too wasn't enjoying the deck as much.

Also, it's not cheap. £750 is a lot if it turns out to be a mistake.

I'm in no hurry. I'll just keep my eye on things and maybe get one eventually.

If it's any help , I was disappointed with the Cirkus when I had it fitted many moons ago. I'm a healthy sceptic of Linn. But you'd need cloth ears not to hear much more detail and timbre of a Karousel. As I say, best improvement for me £ to £ - but get a demo
 
30 years+ of LP-12's and many many upgrades modification nothing has been as great an upgrade as the Karousel Bearing. Noise floor of the deck just takes a classic to next level.
 
No. I really lost interest in everything Linn were doing around then as I didn't like anything they were making. I bought the Cirkus, didn't like it. Didn't like the Lingo. Didn't the like Keltik or their other new speakers. Didn't like their CD players or amplifiers. I felt they were going in a different direction, away from the sound of the older LP12 and 'classic' speakers, and it wasn't for me.

I'm still dubious about the Karousel. Most seem to love it but most loved the Cirkus as well but I thought I'm losing something here, which I think is more voluble than what I'm gaining. Is the Karousel the same? I don't know but I've seen a few people suggest that it is.

I love the late pre cirkus too! :eek:
IMHO, The Cirkus wasn't better but a little different sounding. I like both. After I tried some Linn upgrades I stopped considering the ones and all the followings.
 
The Radikal2 is as big an upgrade as the Karousel. Its absolutely astonishing.

I'm sure it is, still sceptical about DC motors and the cost would never pass the finance department here... Have just ordered the Lingo 4.

The finance department is yet to see the upgrade from Dynavector XX2 MkII to XV1s yet so hope she doesn't till the Lingo 4 arrives. All the girls at her volunteer food group call her the Ninja (Knife Ninja) so I worry every night :D
 
I'm sure it is, still sceptical about DC motors and the cost would never pass the finance department here... Have just ordered the Lingo 4.

The finance department is yet to see the upgrade from Dynavector XX2 MkII to XV1s yet so hope she doesn't till the Lingo 4 arrives. All the girls at her volunteer food group call her the Ninja (Knife Ninja) so I worry every night :D

Hope that you can hide it behind the turntable, as it certainly aint wife friendly, with leads coming out each end (Yes, poor case design Linn!)
If you can't hide it, and you live with a female ninja, then I fear you'll wake up dead one morning!
 
Interesting that the Lingo 4 motor fastens to the top plate in a different way. Prior to the Lingo 4, the motor connected using metal screws and ball shaped washers where that was the sole contact of the motor to the top plate/plinth.
The Lingo 4 motor mounts flush with the top plate with a foam layer between the two.

The original (1970s) LP12 motor mounted the same way with a cork gasket between the motor and the top plate!
 
As effective as the Lingo 4 may be performance wise, aesthetically it's a bleeding disaster. If one hides it down the back of a rack it's placed amongst a lot of potential noise surely?

I wonder why Linn couldn't have built it using box section ally along the lines of Avondale's Graduation 1 pre amp, escapes me that. The Grad 1 is a real neat package. Lingo 4 an eyesore.
 


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