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Early 70's Linn LP12

I am interested in that deck from a build perspective.

If it is all original then it should have a heavier outer platter probably with a felt strip (if it survived) around the underside of the rim. It should also have a "hammertone" style finish on the underside of the outer and inner platter. The sub platter spindle will be a bit longer than modern spindles. The sub chassis should have a dual rib and a cross rib rather than the later welded strengthening strap. The bearing should be the silver style with a black liner.

Based on what I have logged decks just below 3000 if original will have lost the hammertone finish. It may have a silver bearing with white liner rather than black liner. It should have a sub chassis with the dual ribs but probably no cross rib.
my very early one, sold about 10 years ago, had a platter painted in Hammerite and heavier than later ones.
 
Hello all. This is my first post on pfm, lurked many a time and found some great advice but somehow never signed up and joined in.

post edited again to add pictures back in

I ended up buying the vintage LP12 from @dsavitsk as a Christmas treat for myself. I guess I should preface this post by admitting I am a card carrying tinker and not a purist. I have no qualms in modifying for practical reasons. Having read this thread for the first time, I think my approach may not be for all.

The table as it arrived :

index.php




Serial number is 002682 which I think dates this to about 1973.

I really had no intention of buying another deck, but have always had an irrational desire to own an LP12. I have previously owned ( and refurbished) a Klout - great amp but ultimately preferred inefficient Class A beasties. As an abstract link, my wife's uncle worked or Linn but had no interest in HiFi - he was amused by my enthusiasm when I discovered this nugget about him. On to the real intent of this post - the transformation of a classic into a killer turntable which sounds absolutely top class.

The table was a little worse for wear when it arrived. Still felt solid but the lower portion of the plinth (the painted black part) had separated and as I intended to do a complete refresh, I completely dismantled it.





Glued up the sections that had lost their glue , added braces at the base of the corners - both for added stability and because I wanted to add more robust feet. Sanded it all down and then ... horrors, stained it a dark espresso ( I had considered doing it black but the wood grain would have been completely hidden and I wanted to retain some of that character )





I had expected a 1973 LP12 with little or no changes but made a few interesting discoveries in the tear down
- although this is an early series Table , it is a bit like "Trigger's broom"

The sub chassis was replaced around 1992 and the bearing likely around the same time - just pre-cirkus (black ring and liner). The arm-board had also replaced from original ply to the MDF laminate of the later series. (not the 4 layer thinner laminate but the (thin-mdf-thin version)

I bought new springs and ordered oil for the bearing. The belt looked decent and being in the US, it is less easy to find the original parts, so I kept that for the time being. I made up a phono cable with a veborg din plug I bought off ebay and cut up an RCA interconnect I had that was not being used.

I knew the power supply options had to be improved from plugging the motor directly into the wall and that left only an external supply or an integrated one. I had ideally wanted an integrated psu as I didn't want more clutter.
I was fortunate enough to get a Zeus aftermarket power supply. The power supply was initially developed by Steve Cobham on DIYA and called the Zeus power supply - it generates a clean wave form at both 60 and 81 Hz but has PID feedback from the sensor to accurately control the TT platter speed. I managed to snag the last assembled and tested kit available. It is really well done, it comes with a new printed switch that controls the unit , printed enclosure for the sensor which tucks in under the platter and a sensor display holder that I ended up attaching to the front of the plinth.

I drilled mounting holes for the Zeus and hooked it all up



After testing and some basic programming of the EEPROM to ensure correct speed and feedback control
I set the rest of the table up (something I could not have done without the superb guides from Peter Swain - thank you)

This is the final effort before I set up the cartridge



It took me a good 90 minutes to set up my cart ( an AQ404B - made for Audio Quest by Scan-Tech who also made the early Linn Arkiv cartridges and later became Lyra ). The Roksan Tabriz Zi is a finicky arm that required a lot of miniscule changes to get it all set up perfectly - tracking force, alignment, azimuth and VTA but luckily this is not my first TT and I had the ability to tweak it all into place. Oddly it didn't accept my normal cartridge screws, so I used what I had in my kit - looks a little obnoxious but perfectly functional. The arm lift was a relatively easy fix - it had been pushed beyond it's normal arc at some point, and opening it up and setting the little rocker correctly sorted it all out. I am not crazy about the dragging weight as it drags against the arm board when you lift the needle, but it works beautifully and sounds great.



It has all been thoroughly worth it.



Ricky Lee had never sounded so good ;) , The LP12 lived up to everything that I had elevated it to be. I may have destroyed the collectability of this particular LP12 but it will be treasured and loved for many years to come. Thanks for entrusting me with this treasure @dsavitsk

..dB

images added back in
 
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Nice one! But add the pictures back in :) From Flickr "share photo" then select BBCode, copy and paste here.
 
Nope - you must be doing it wrong - anyone can link to pictures, as you’re not loading anything up to PFM. There’s a FAQ here somewhere on pictures
 
You need to use img tags. Next to the 'Smilies" is a picture button, press that and it will produce tags. Post the link to your picture in between these like this, with no spaces:-

[i m g]link to image[/i m g]
 
let me have a go again

nope - in preview mode, I can see everything but when I post I get a message that states my post contains inappropriate content and needs to be edited

I will hang about and post a bit more and hopefully whatever it is will be sorted.

i am a bit of a dunce - my flickr account is linked to dufniall_dihardiyr - you can see all the images there

honestly, I am not inept at posting images - there is some sort of limit on my account. ( I couldn't link the flickr account either - same error message )

thanks..dB
 
Yes, sorry, it takes a few plain text posts to get through the spam-bot filter. I need to have URLs blocked for obvious reasons initially. Should be ok for future posts.
 
Thank you , I completely understand the need to block url's

Lets post a before and after and I can try and fix the rest

 
Thanks @Tony L , post corrected with the images .

I spent the better part of last night into the early morning listening to various albums, it is a pure joy, the detail retrieval and sense of space reminds me why I love vinyl so much

..dB
Nice one - I remember that feeling when I first listened to my LP12
 
Ok, those feet have twigged a visual memory here.

My maternal Gran (1893 - 1993) had these as door stops in her home (that she had been born in), likely installed just after WWII when she had the walls repainted post having billeted troops for the second time within the half century.
 
Very nice work !
To my big astonishment the espresso colour actually looks great with the flutes.
Never seen such and is a pleasure to watch.

You did pretty much what my idea about it was when I spotted the first post,
a decent improvement w/o going all out & making it something it is not.

A bit better power supply, I also would have kept the bearing as is,
a better MM system & refurb the existing arm.

I would possibly also have looked out for one of the cheaper but much better subchassis
that are available on the aftermaket or s/h today..no keel or kore ofc,
but there are better ones for very good vfm and it does make a substancial nice difference imo.
No criticism, just my spin.
And I'd add a corkmat, many don't like it, I absolutely love it & it's even more nice and organic to look at.
I think it dampens a tendency of the platter to ring or sing and I love the sound of it compared to the felt.
Also the added mass might bring something to the party, but that's plain guess..

Very nice deck..congrats & I'm sure you enjoy it ! :)

PS: Is your platter level ?
It looks like it's hanging down on the ta side and has a greater gap on the motor side...might be an optical illusion tho ..
 
Thanks @torstoi

I think the platter is level, at least the little bubble suggests it is. I found a cirkus bearing that I considered buying but as I wanted to see how it all worked out, I figured I would stick with what I had aside from some obvious maintenance and updated the power supply.

I will keep an eye out for a sub chassis but what I am hearing is plenty good.

Glad to trigger fond memories @Craig B. These are my attempt at additional damping. The base are a layer of dense closed cell foam, followed by standard power amp feet and then some rubber isolation feet from the hardware store.

I have ordered a ring mat as the felt was driving me nuts.

Still loving it but know I am in that early relationship time frame where nothing can be wrong

.. dB
 


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