Okay, time to join this thread for realz.
Part 1: My LP12
I’ve got a modified pre-Cirkus LP12: Rosewood plinth; Stack Audio Tenor subchassis and top plate; stripped Rega RB300 tonearm (rewired by Johnnie @ Audio Origami) with tungsten counterweight and Rega Exact cart; arm board from circa 2013; lacquer-free platter with a grubby looking rim; ancient lid, bereft of bumpers; DIY Norton PSU; Audio Origami bearing oil.
The deck wasn’t thus when I bought it from Mr Pig in 2013. The specification then was: Rosewood plinth; Linn subchassis and top plate; stripped Rega RB300 tonearm (factory wired) with tungsten counterweight, no cart; arm board from circa 2013; lacquer-free platter with a shiny looking rim; ancient lid, bereft of bumpers; Avondale TAPS; Audio Origami bearing oil.
For reference, the deck I’d previously owned was a Project 6 Perspex, a £1,000+ turntable that was probably halfway up the Project turntable range; I’ve no idea where it would sit nowadays.
My vinyl playback system at the time was as follows: LP12 > Trichord Dino phono stage with Dino+ PSU > Naim Nait XS > Linn Kans (early mk2). I was still a frequent box swapper back then so it wasn’t long before that system changed, and then changed, and then changed again. I don’t think there’s any point in trying piece together each and every single system that came out of all the changes that took place between then and now, so instead, here’s a list of all the different equipment that’s been part of my ‘LP12 system’ at one point or another over the last nine years or so, however briefly (very briefly in some cases):
Amplification
- Marantz NR-1510 AVR (preamp) + Naim NAP100 (poweramp)
- Naim Nait XS
- Rega IO
- Teddy Pardo Pre1 + MB100 monoblocks
- Teddy Pardo i80a
Phono Stages
- Marantz NR-1510 AVR (on-board phono stage)
- Rega Aria (mk2)
- Rega IO (on-board phono stage)
- Teddy Pardo PHN1
- Trichord Dino phono stage with Dino+ PSU
Speakers
- Kralk Audio BC-30 bookshelf speakers
- Linn Kans (early mk1)
- Linn Kans (early mk2)
- Martin Logan Clarity ESL
- Naim IBL
- Tannoy Legacy Eaton
For reference, the most enduring system was as follows: LP12 > Trichord Dino phono stage with Dino+ PSU > Teddy Pardo i80a > Kralk Audio BC-30 bookshelf speakers (speakers which are very similar in size and sound to Linn Kans, except the earliest iteration of Kans which are uniquely squawky). I reckon that system was in place for around five years and for good reason: it was a setup that allowed me to enjoy pretty much my entire record collection, even if it fell down a bit when it came to playing classical records. Plus, it was extremely neighbour-friendly thanks to those high boogie bass-lite speakers.
I actually bettered this system towards the end of 2020, the year of covid, when I tried out replacing my Teddy Pardo amp with a preamp-poweramp combo: Marantz NR-1510 AVR (preamp) + Naim NAP100 (poweramp). I don’t know how or why but for some reason, this combo brought much more boogie out of the BC-30s than the TP amp did; my guess is that the NAP was more harmonious in some way than the power section of the TP amp. Like I say, I don’t know. Anyway, I reckon this vinyl playback system could easily have lasted for another five or six years had I not gone crazy and bought a pair of Tannoy Legacy Eatons around the start of 2021, the second year of covid.
Why was that crazy, you might ask? The Tannoys could put out far more bass than my room could naturally handle. And so it wasn’t long before I found myself playing the same well-mastered records over and over as most of the modern records in my collection sounded somewhere between less than average and decidedly unlistenable. In a nutshell: modern records + LP12 + Tannoys + living room = bad news for vinyl playback, unless we’re talking about records that sound great on any system. I can’t remember when I realised this about my LP12-Tannoy combo, but that was the outcome all the same.
If the Tannoys were the problem in this setup then a Technics 1210GR was the solution. I bought one earlier this year after falling down a pink fish rabbit hole where I ultimately pulled the trigger for no other reason than I’d fallen down a pink fish rabbit hole. You lot were talking lots and lots about Technics decks and so all of a sudden, I had to have one. In fairness, I was stuck in the house for ten days straight having finally caught covid and so I ended up reading just about every pink fish thread going at the time, including those about Technics decks where the promise of speed stability and whatnot was most alluring.
It turned out to be an inspired decision. Not only could the thing boogie, I could finally play all those modern records again. Just as the phat-bottomed LP12 was a perfect match for my BC-30s, so too was the Technics deck with the Tannoys. With no bloom in sight, my 1210GR + Tannoys are a match made in living room heaven. Suffice to say, it didn’t take long before my LP12 became surplus to requirements. And it’s not because my LP12 is a bad deck or that the Technics is a superior deck: it’s just that the Technics deck + modern records + Tannoys + room = great news for vinyl playback without caveat or question.
So what happened to my LP12? It’s currently in my bedroom where it boogies like phuk with a Rega IO amplifier (on-board phono stage in use) and a pair of wall-mounted Kralk Audio BC-30 bookshelf speakers; the same ones that were previously in my living room. As before, these Kan-like speakers partner extremely well with the phat-bottomed LP12. This system doesn’t sound great at all, I don’t think, but somehow, it just draws you in and gets you involved every time you play a record. It’s just really, really enjoyable.
Apart from the fact that my Technics deck was a better match for my Tannoys, the other reason my LP12 ended up in the bedroom is that I decided to install a proper system in there so that I could have somewhere cool to enjoy music during the hottest spells of summer: my living room faces south west or something like that and so once those bricks at the front of the tenement warm up, well my living becomes unbearably hot. I’m not kidding, it’s like an oven!
So that’s where I’m at with my LP12. Looking back, did I make the right decision in replacing my Project deck with an LP12? Yes! That was my first impression at the time and it remains my view now as well. The crazy thing is, I was going to offer it to mate on the cheap not long after I bought that Technics deck as I was sure I’d never need or want to use it again. But my decision to drop it into my bedroom system was just as inspired as was my decision to buy the Technics deck so no, it won’t be getting sold to a mate on the cheap. To be clear, it won’t be getting sold to anyone anytime soon, period!
Part 2: LP12 Opinions and stuff
What I would say about upgrades, both Linn and third-party, is that the LP12 is like a tree: the original deck is the trunk, major upgrades are the main branches, minor upgrades are the smaller branches and the finer upgrades are the leaves; I suppose you could say that the design, development and history of the deck are the roots, going all the way back to Ariston and, in a broader sense, to the days of the gramophone, and even going right back to the earliest point at which sound was first captured and reproduced, however crudely. And perhaps you could take this tree analogy further by saying that the seeds of that first tree have long since fallen and taken root and that there are now a number of trees out there belonging to the LP12 family, many rooted firmly in Eaglesham while others can be found dotted up and down across the country.
Moreover, although Linn and third-party upgrades may well have their own separate branches (or trees), as in real life however, the various branches of a tree (or trees) often overlap and so some third-party branches will be adjacent and quite similar to some Linn branches while others will naturally be farther away and correspondingly dissimilar; indeed, I think it’s safe to say there’s even be a fair bit of distance and dissimilarity between the various Linn branches.
All of which is to say that although there are now an almost infinite number of ways in which an LP12 can be cobbled together, with so many options for each of its constituent parts, official or otherwise, every LP12 in existence remains part of the LP12 tree (or family of trees) all the same. There is something about each one that identifies it as being an LP12, and I’m not talking about the label on the lid. Even an LP12 fully comprised of third-party parts belongs on the tree or, at the very least, conceptually speaking, that is, on a tree that once upon a time was a seed that fell from the original LP12 tree. Trees, branches, leaves and roots? They’re all connected!
So there we have it. That’s my take on why an LP12 is an LP12, even when it’s not an LP12. As for how upgrades work in reality, the best I can say there is that if it sounds good it is good.
Bearing in mind that relying on memory as a reference point as to whether a particular change turns out to be an upgrade is a mental proposition if ever there was, greater forces are always at work in determining whether that turns out to be the case. Remember: upgrades are only upgrades if they’re upgrades - some upgrades can turn out to be positively downgrading!
It seems to me that: a) you can’t isolate a single part of an LP12 and say this part will sound like this when that part doesn’t do anything until it’s part of an assembly of parts that work together as a totality, that is, an LP12; b) that LP12 is part of a system that works as a totality itself, and; c) that system operates within the confines of a room, by which I mean room geometry and physical dimensions, layout and furnishings, not to mention organic occupancy at any given time, etc. This complete ‘Total System’ will determine how you hear what you hear and whether a given change turns out to be an upgrade, despite what anyone else has to say about it with regards to opinion, prediction or experience. In other words, when you change one thing you change everything and so if you change even a single part on of LP12 you change how the whole thing works, the room, the system, the lot.
Indeed, when you accept that a system is not just the gear, it's the gear plus room, I think it's safe to say that arguments about LP12 versus this or that deck are utterly pointless and futile. Considering that each Total System (room + system) is about as unique as a snowflake, the only real thing one can say about this deck or that deck, or any piece of kit for that matter, is that this is how it works in a given Total System. There may well be similarities between what some people get from the same equipment, but you won't know for sure what you'll get until you plumb something in and give it a go.
It took me a long time to realise that how stuff sounds on demo in a dealer's showroom, or even in a demo room at a hi-fi show has little bearing on it will sound once I get it home. I can make or break a system simply by moving one of the speakers a little, or by moving the furniture around. Music + system + room + organic matter? It's all connected. And that's not even counting mood, time of day, state of hunger, and so on.
In conclusion, buy an LP12, don't buy an LP12. Keep your LP12, get rid of your LP12. Change your LP12, don't change your LP12. Replace your LP12, don't replace your LP12. Write about your LP12, don't write about your LP12. All of the above is okay. Just please don't say there's a right way and a wrong way. If it sounds good, it is good, and if that's the case then that's the right way for you at that time. If it doesn't sound good, or if it stops sounding good, then it's probably time to try a different way, whatever way that other way turns out to be. Either way, you decide!