advertisement


Linn Majik sub-chassis vs kore vs Keel

I seem to recall Arthur claimed a big improvement when he first tried bonding the Funk arm board to the sub-chassis. Obviously what works well with one combination of arm board and sub-chassis might not with another given different materials and design philosophy. However since one of the step changes in majik to kore is bonding the arm board you might be tempted to bond a majik arm board to its sub chassis and see ... easy for me to suggest you go "ruin" your majik ;)
 
Interesting site:

https://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.com/2021/03/scratching-that-itch-my-own-linn-sondek.html

I would say dare say that if the Keel is to be taken as reference as 100% in sound performance, then the Kore is 80% of the Keel, and the Majik is 80% of the Kore. The pre Majik sub chassis is probably less than 60% of the Majik. So of all the up grades to the Linn LP12, the Majik sub chassis makes the best bang for buck, followed by the Kore. The Keel is what I would only do if going for the Klimax spec performance. On a personal note, I do find the Linn LP12 Klimax spec sounding much closer to digital type of sound reproduction. There's very little analog feel to it. To retain more analog feel, I would only advise up grades along the Akurate spec only. My choice? The Kore!

As previously mentioned, I’ve heard this judgement from other sources so if its accurate then it begs the question do you get a better bang for the buck by upgrading the Ittok LVII to a black Ekos mk1 or 2 (circa £1100) or the Majik to Kore?

Just to be clear, I have very recently upgraded to the Lingo 4 from 3, changed my cartridge and from the original tonearm cable to the latest T-Kable so not looking to upgrade anytime soon .....but finding out what upgrades are available and people’s experience of the law of diminishing returns is really interesting.
 
retseldrib said:
...it begs the question do you get a better bang for the buck by upgrading the Ittok LVII to a black Ekos mk1 or 2 (circa £1100) or the Majik to Kore?
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the Linn subchassis but I know what sort of difference the Stack Tenor made over the Linn steel subchassis. And that's a cheap alloy one. I'd say the type of improvement is quite similar to upgrading the arm. The sound is cleaner, tighter and more detailed and it's quite a big difference.

I wouldn't go out of my way to get an old Ekos. These arms are forty years old now and more or less impossible to get fixed if they go wrong. If I had an Ittok and stick with it and upgrade the subchassis. And pray the arm doesn't break.
 
I had been thinking about changing/"upgrading" my old steel subchassis - mober or stack, but I am concerned about changing something that I am quite pleased with, particularly as I have seen a comment, somewhere on web, that the stack can accentuate the high frequencies.

Current deck: pre cirkus bearing, late/last version (recently cleaned, fresh oil and it looks to be in great condition). Glued steel sub. Ittok mk2 arm (black version).

I like what it does - any thoughts?
I am tending to think that I would be better saving my money for replacing the cartridge when it comes to the end of its life (DV 10X5 about five years old).
 
Mr Pig said:
I'm not familiar with the Linn subchassis but I know what sort of difference the Stack Tenor made over the Linn steel subchassis. And that's a cheap alloy one. I'd say the type of improvement is quite similar to upgrading the arm. The sound is cleaner, tighter and more detailed and it's quite a big difference.

I wouldn't go out of my way to get an old Ekos. These arms are forty years old now and more or less impossible to get fixed if they go wrong. If I had an Ittok and stick with it and upgrade the subchassis. And pray the arm doesn't break.
Click to expand...

I understand that Paul Bird is now undertaking Ittok servicing and refurbishment having been trained by Johnnie at Audio Origami. So even less reason for trading up to an Ekos.
 
Yes please too

i was concerned about the longevity of my Ittok but if it can be refurbished then I’m happy with it. Not sure the Kore is worth it unless I get a cheap used one pre drilled for the ittock
 
guydarryl said:
I had been thinking about changing/"upgrading" my old steel subchassis - mober or stack, but I am concerned about changing something that I am quite pleased with, particularly as I have seen a comment, somewhere on web, that the stack can accentuate the high frequencies.
Click to expand...

Na, that's rubbish. Ok, I only have experience on the Tenor but it cleans the top end, not accentuate it. Also, Stack subchassis use damping which if anything will tame ringing/noise in the high frequencies. The steel sub-chassis sounds brighter than the Stack one.

It's not an unreasonable concern though as changing anything can unbalance the sound. If you enjoy what you have I always think there is a strong argument for leaving it alone.
 
Mr Pig said:
I wouldn't go out of my way to get an old Ekos. These arms are forty years old now and more or less impossible to get fixed if they go wrong. If I had an Ittok and stick with it and upgrade the subchassis. And pray the arm doesn't break.
Click to expand...

Linn will still repair Ekos 1/2 at the factory.
 
Mr Pig said:
Really? I didn't know that. I know they stopped fixing the Ittok decades ago and I assumed the Ekos was similar. I thought they just offered to take it as a trade-in against a new arm.
Click to expand...
I guess the difference is the Ekos (SE) is still made whereas the Ittok isn't.
 
James said:
I guess the difference is the Ekos (SE) is still made whereas the Ittok isn't.
Click to expand...

But he's talking about the Ekos 1/2, not the SE. I would sincerely hope they service the SE! But Linn have a very poor record when it comes to long-term support for a lot of their products which is why I'm surprised to hear that they still fix the old Ekos'.
 
You're probably right, Mr Pig. It's another reason I'm pleased I moved on from an Ittok to the much simpler ARO over 20 years ago. If that is no longer serviceable, I'll jump ship to a Technics 1200G or something even lower maintenance.
 
Mr Pig said:
But he's talking about the Ekos 1/2, not the SE. I would sincerely hope they service the SE! But Linn have a very poor record when it comes to long-term support for a lot of their products which is why I'm surprised to hear that they still fix the old Ekos'.
Click to expand...
I wonder how closely engineered the Ekos 1/2 is to the SE. Perhaps the SE parts are a drop in replacement for the older 1/2? So maybe you get a close performance SE in return? Although when I had my Ekos 1 upgraded to 2 status many moons ago they replaced nearly the whole damn arm! And what fine vfm it was too.
 
per-Sony-fied said:
I wonder how closely engineered the Ekos 1/2 is to the SE.
Click to expand...

Hard to guess but I'd expect it to be a refinement of the same design. That's what most tonearms are. The RB3000 is just a standard Rega arm refined as far as Rega can take it. Just how different the arms are I don't know but I imagine there are plenty of people who've done the upgrade and can tell you.
 
I think Linn might still take care of the later Ekos. And visually the Ekos SE is completely different in the bearing area.
 
Mr Pig said:
Na, that's rubbish. Ok, I only have experience on the Tenor but it cleans the top end, not accentuate it. Also, Stack subchassis use damping which if anything will tame ringing/noise in the high frequencies. The steel sub-chassis sounds brighter than the Stack one.

It's not an unreasonable concern though as changing anything can unbalance the sound. If you enjoy what you have I always think there is a strong argument for leaving it alone.
Click to expand...

cheers, I think that you are right about "unbalancing the sound" - that is my fear, only trouble is that with this hobby there is always the thought of potential for finding a croc of gold at the end of the rainbow :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top