Can the Linn Trampolin 2 be detrimental in some circumstances or merely superfluous?

[per-Sony-fied]

Although no one is recommending the Tramp, I remember Linn saying at a show way back when that it is not an upgrade in the sense it will not improve the sound. So rather than have no base at all what would people recommend - I believe I've asked this question before in some previous thread.

 

[John]

If you can try one in isolation, that would be the way to go if it can be returned later. If you do it with other changes you won’t know for sure what it’s doing.

 

[Isobarik]

No baseboard on mine, I've had a couple of shocks in the past but still above ground!
I know it's not good practise but I'm not the only one who uses a LP12 with no baseboard.

 

[Joe]

So rather than have no base at all what would people recommend - I believe I've asked this question before in some previous thread.

Anything you put on will have the effect of turning the plinth into a bit of a drum. If you can live with that what's wrong with the Linn supplied baseboard?. I do believe that the later boards are of a different material to the earlier board but I don't have personal experience of the late boards.

The two Trampolin iterations are just variations on sprung feet and have their detractors . They are installation dependant* as has been intimated elsewhere.

* back in the day the most praise was for the LP12 to be sat on a very lightweight Sound Organisation stand ( or a tea trolley ! ) ... presumable to act as a sink for vibrations in both directions. I don't know what sprung feet ( al la Tramp ) with contribute or detract from that philosophy .

 

[retseldrib]

I apologize but several people told you that the Trapmolin was a waste of time and you still kept asking about it. Not sure what else to say.

Thankyou for the apology. I’m not overly sure that’s what happened though?

Reminder of thread question -

Can the Linn Trampolin 2 be detrimental in some circumstances or merely superfluous?​

There were two initial replies - yours and Sondeknz.

You didnt answer my question fully but you made the point that the trampolin was superfluous. The second reply was from Sondeknz saying that it COULD (can) be detrimental and introduced me to the concept of footfalls.

This was the more complete answer to the question I was asking.

I then genuinely sought to understand under what circumstance this could happen and to get some clarity on the concept of footfalls being a fact or an observation based upon experience.

What followed was an unfolding of increasingly unhelpful, confrontational and unfriendly comments.

If I want to exchange my 43 year old plinth/ baseboard and top plate for a newer shiny version - a facelift to match my majik sub-chassis, Karousel bearing and Lingo 4 then I expect to do this without less than kind comments.

In summary, what you are saying (correctly perhaps) is that Linn are not telling us the truth and that you and anybody that agrees with you is telling the truth. While you could be correct it seems that any genuine question to understand further deserves to be shut down with confrontational and personal comments.

Is that fair?

 

[SONDEKNZ]

Thankyou for the apology. I’m not overly sure that’s what happened though?

Reminder of thread question -

Can the Linn Trampolin 2 be detrimental in some circumstances or merely superfluous?​

There were two initial replies - yours and Sondeknz.

You didnt answer my question fully but you made the point that the trampolin was superfluous. The second reply was from Sondeknz saying that it COULD (can) be detrimental and introduced me to the concept of footfalls.

This was the more complete answer to the question I was asking.

I then genuinely sought to understand under what circumstance this could happen and to get some clarity on the concept of footfalls being a fact or an observation based upon experience...

Sincerely, I don't think anyone intends to shut anyone down... Sorry if it has come across that way.

You asked a very reasonable question and a good number of folk have shared their personal experiences.

We don't all agree on everything around here, but we all get our chance to share our opinions.

Some of this forum's most experienced LP12ers have chipped-in here, but in truth, nobody has your exact environment, so nobody can say for sure how the LINN Tramp will perform in your listening room.

I suggest just take the comments with a grain of sodium chloride - conduct your own experiments, cognizant of what you may have learned from this thread - and report back on what you preferred.

We all look forward to reading about YOUR findings!

 

[SONDEKNZ]

PS: Nice rig, BTW...

 

[SONDEKNZ]

Looking a bit closer at your rig, I would recommend you try the following...

Remove all compliant (rubbery, soft, flexible) feet from between your plinth and your spiked support panel. Squishy feet are the enemy of best LP12 sound, IMHO. The lighter, harder and more rigid the connection to ground, the better!

This will maintain 100% rigidity from the plinth to ground, and help evacuate all noise and vibration from your deck - thereby improving the sound.

Here's a glimpse at our hot-rod. You can see the rock-solid BLACK DIAMOND racing cones threaded into the plinth... No squidgy feet here!

We have a 5-year-old tearing around the listening room - and a robot vacuum cleaner that nudges OUR 100Kg+ rack during playback...

ALL WITH PRIMO SOUND AND NO FOOTFALLS!

 

[retseldrib]

Thankyou - this is something that can be done reasonably easy to try for myself.

 

[llatpoh]

This was Linn's room (not from a distributor or dealer, but their very own room) at Axpona 2024:

I asked the Linn rep and he mentioned "we get more out of the LP12-50 with these (Ansuz Darkz Feet)". The LP12-50 sat on a fairly expensive rack on a concrete floor, footfalls were not a concern. Bottom line is Linn themselves don't seem to be convinced the Trampolin is the 100% solution.

 

[SONDEKNZ]

Thankyou - this is something that can be done reasonably easy to try for myself.

Yep.

And bear in mind that you can easily bypass those little rubber feet on your plinth, simply by raising them off the "ground".

If and when you prove to yourself that compliant feet need to disappear forever - yet to be determined - it is always better to remove anything and everything compliant from the plinth - completely! This all helps the LP12 vibration "drain" design to perform optimally.

 

[SONDEKNZ]

@llatpoh
LP12 Heretic.

I'm still laughing...

 

[Joe]

Thankyou - this is something that can be done reasonably easy to try for myself.

IMO.. the best starting point is to mount your LP12 on a wall shelf ....isolate it from footfall all together.

 

[SONDEKNZ]

IMO.. the best starting point is to mount your LP12 on a wall shelf ....isolate it from footfall all together.

I agree, Joe. A wall-mount shelf - where possible - is best for the LP12, for footfall and just about everything else. I used to use one, myself.

But a wall-mount shelf still requires the LP12 vibration "drain" design to be working optimally - if best playback sound is to be achieved.

IMHO. this still means getting rid of compliant feet and compliant supports beneath the plinth.

 

[Luca]

Thankyou for the apology. I’m not overly sure that’s what happened though?

Reminder of thread question -

Can the Linn Trampolin 2 be detrimental in some circumstances or merely superfluous?​

There were two initial replies - yours and Sondeknz.

You didnt answer my question fully but you made the point that the trampolin was superfluous. The second reply was from Sondeknz saying that it COULD (can) be detrimental and introduced me to the concept of footfalls.

This was the more complete answer to the question I was asking.

I then genuinely sought to understand under what circumstance this could happen and to get some clarity on the concept of footfalls being a fact or an observation based upon experience.

What followed was an unfolding of increasingly unhelpful, confrontational and unfriendly comments.

If I want to exchange my 43 year old plinth/ baseboard and top plate for a newer shiny version - a facelift to match my majik sub-chassis, Karousel bearing and Lingo 4 then I expect to do this without less than kind comments.

In summary, what you are saying (correctly perhaps) is that Linn are not telling us the truth and that you and anybody that agrees with you is telling the truth. While you could be correct it seems that any genuine question to understand further deserves to be shut down with confrontational and personal comments.

Is that fair?

@retseldrib, thanks for your consideration.
Having a base attached to the Sondek is always detrimental and (for this reason) superfluous! Can you see my comment now?

 

[Jazzer]

I agree, Joe. A wall-mount shelf - where possible - is best for the LP12, for footfall and just about everything else. I used to use one, myself.

But a wall-mount shelf still requires the LP12 vibration "drain" design to be working optimally - if best playback sound is to be achieved.

IMHO. this still means getting rid of compliant feet and compliant supports beneath the plinth.

Are you sure about that?
The linn Klimax pic above appears to have a Trampolinn 2 between it and the Ansuz Darks feet?
Surely if they felt the same as you they would have done otherwise.

 

[guydarryl]

Looking a bit closer at your rig, I would recommend you try the following...

Remove all compliant (rubbery, soft, flexible) feet from between your plinth and your spiked support panel. Squishy feet are the enemy of best LP12 sound, IMHO. The lighter, harder and more rigid the connection to ground, the better!

This will maintain 100% rigidity from the plinth to ground, and help evacuate all noise and vibration from your deck - thereby improving the sound.

Here's a glimpse at our hot-rod. You can see the rock-solid BLACK DIAMOND racing cones threaded into the plinth... No squidgy feet here!

We have a 5-year-old tearing around the listening room - and a robot vacuum cleaner that nudges the rack during playback...

ALL WITH NO FOOTFALLS!

Shaving brush?

 

[Joe]

Are you sure about that?
The linn Klimax pic above appears to have a Trampolinn 2 between it and the Ansuz Darks feet?
Surely if they felt the same as you they would have done otherwise.

That is not a Linn Klimax though.

 

[NickofWimbledon]

One more opinion…all my ears only.

As mentioned above, a Tramp 1 is a big help if what is under the LP12 is not ‘light and rigid’. Iirc, they used to advertise them with pics of an LP12 on a sideboard - not recommended, with or without a Tramp.

If on a wall shelf or a lightweight table, no base is better than Tramp 1. I have not compared Tramp 1 and Tramp 2 on my shelf, but hearing LP12s with Tramps in shops or other people’s systems certainly supports the view that a Tramp 2 gets rid of much of what we were told was an inevitable trade-off when Tramp 1 came out, and adds back some brio. However, many who have opted for no baseboard (see the Naim site) have heard a Tramp 2 but not so many were persuaded to buy one.

I use a Target wall shelf. I experimented with removing the original early 90s baseboard - better.

I also tried the non-Linn baseboard and platform from SRM. Cheap and effective and definitely a bit better than no baseboard. I am told that the modern non-Tramp Linn baseboard is actually fine too, and some swear by the Stacks option.

In my case, I solved all baseboard and too-plate questions that I could have had when I got a full TA Stiletto. To me, it is NOT staggeringly better than the ‘real’ LP12 I had before, but it is better.

 

[Paul Mc]

I agree, Joe. A wall-mount shelf - where possible - is best for the LP12, for footfall and just about everything else. I used to use one, myself.

But a wall-mount shelf still requires the LP12 vibration "drain" design to be working optimally - if best playback sound is to be achieved.

IMHO. this still means getting rid of compliant feet and compliant supports beneath the plinth.

And secure the deck into all kind of vibrations travelling around the house?