Linn Keel - What's so special?

[Brennus]

ref#353
I am unclear what “TheAuthor” means by “ a pall of mine” Is it perhaps a cloud hanging over an underground excavation? And is this magical milling done on aluminium, tin or cake or perhaps this cloud makes cake tins? Will we ever really care?

 

[Big Tabs]

Interesting how that bearing appears to be attached to the sub-chassis on that Heybrook. Isn’t that kind of like how the Karousel is attached?

Can I extrapolate from that?

So my old Heybrook TT2 has (a version) Keel and Karousel features of later, very expensive Linn decks?

* who would have thunk it *

 

[david ellwood]

What must the TT2 be doing wrong?

Given it features these cutting edge advances you’d expect it to sound much better than an old steel sub chassis Linn with old bearing and original psu.

Sand in the bearing?

 

[Big Tabs]

What must the TT2 be doing wrong?

Given it features these cutting edge advances you’d expect it to sound much better than an old steel sub chassis Linn with old bearing and original psu.

Sand in the bearing?

I hear what it is doing right.

Quite happy to put it against the old Linn you describe.

Snob value is something the Heybrook doesn't have. All the better for it.

obviously, if someone has actually laid out the large sums of cash for Linn experience, one wouldn't want to put any noses out of joint. You probably get what you paid for.

(My deck cost me £6, 2nd-hand back in the early nineties.)

 

[John]

I heard the TT2 back in 1988 vs LP12 and Rega and couldn’t justify the cost.

It wasn’t as good as a base Sondek of that era.

 

[Big Tabs]

I heard the TT2 back in 1988 vs LP12 and Rega and couldn’t justify the cost.

It wasn’t as good as a base Sondek of that era.

It was a third/half the price of the Linn.

Great memory though from 1988, John.


Impressive.

 

[TheAuthor]

Sorry guys, I was just Googling Keel stuff and could not resist posting. But, come on, it is a big bloody rip off, can't be denied, considering I've just bought a used pristine condition Audi TT MK1 for less

 

[david ellwood]

Im happy that your cheap Audi will cost you considerably more to run than my keel over the next twelve months.

If Audi sold TT,s in the numbers that Keels sell in how much do you think they would be?

 

[wylton]

You'll never find a true answer about value for money, because it depends upon the individual and the depth of their pocket. We've had countless debates here on the cost of Linn and Naim upgrade paths particularly. My choice to an extent, has been to keep the money in the bank, but I would defend any companies right to offer such products if their customers want it (and if the customers don't want it then the product will be dropped). £2600 is a lot of money, and most people won't be able to justify that kind of expenditure on a record player. For my part, I bought a used Kore here on pfm; I believe I paid £500 for it.

Regarding the Heybrook TT2, this was a product of the Peter Comeau era at Heybrook; he was a reviewer and was extremely positive about the LP12, so you would have thought that when he got involved with developing a new turntable, the natural competitor would be the Linn, but as far as I recall, it was mostly judged as a decent mid-range turntable, which is fair enough, given the price difference between it and the LP12. I had a quick check in one of the early H-Fi Choice books (#30, one of the early A5 editions), by Martin Colloms. He gave it a reommended status, but said that it didn't make the top grade. He suspected that the thick gauge welded steel, box section chassis was responsible due to it acting as an energy store; presumably, this was later changed to the cast Aluminium chassis described in post #356, when it was upgraded to Mk2 status.