This was pretty much exactly my situation & reason for switching from my LP12 to an Orbe which I’m still using to this day some 15 years or so later. I used the Ekos from my LP12 & have a Lyra Kleos.
I disagree that you will lose out. I swapped my RP10 for an LP12/RB3000 and I don't regret it for a second. The addition of a Zeus PSU and lately an Ania Pro cartridge has only further confirmed how fundametally great this record player is.I currently use a Rega P9 (RB1000 & Exact) and it’s great, but, I’ve always had a secret hankering for a fluted plinth LP12 of some sort.
I honestly don’t remember all details that far back and in fairness I’m not sure any of them did. I think I moved the P77 over from the Pink Triangle to keep the costs down. As I came to think about cartridge upgrade my young enthusiastic self wrote a car off, got an insurance payout and instead of another ‘decent’ car I bought a £90 Austin Maxi and a new LP12/Ittok/Troika/LK1/LK2/Isobariks instead!
I’m lucky enough to have both LP12 and PTA… although have never compared them head to head… must sort that!
I compared a Hyperspace/Hadcock 242se /SME M2-10 with a Voyd Ref/ Helius Cyalene , Gyro SE/ Technoarm (all of which I owned) and the Notts was very much preferable IMHO.
Neither do I. Love my ARO and maybe it's just the types of music I listen to but I've yet to hear it sounding “Dull”.
@allthingsanalog what made you go back?!
Agree re. the ARO, that was where i was headed next from my Ekos until CD took over in my listening preferences. Every time I have heard one on an LP12 I have actually thought it the best deck/arm balance on the Linn, but I guess that comes down to personal preference.
Yes, it's been a refreshing thread from that perspective. FWIW I feel you are relatively happy with your turntable, just not the service that comes with it. Perhaps Mr. Pig is right and learning to set it up and maintain it yourself might be the best option... like he says it's really not that complicated, but the dealers over the decades have not helped with the mythical 'only several decades of tutelage from Ivor himself can bring full enlightenment' mantra. I owned mine for 25 years and it only ever went to the dealers twice, most of the time it just sat there playing records and once every 5 years I'd give it a fettle. They are pretty reliable when set up right ... I do think a lot of the nonsense about them needing constant re-setting etc. is because people haven't set them up right in the first place.Can I genuinely thank everyone for their constructive contributions. I was already a bit depressed by my Linn experiences (latest was no reply to an email after 10 days. Yes I could phone but I’m so cynical of the possible answer that I wanted something in writing). You could tell my frustration from the original post!
The attitude of the dealers makes me furious (I’ve used several around the country and the only ones that seemed honest were Billy Vee). ATC are absolutely brilliant - but they don’t make turntables
Getting demos would be my next challenge as I’m in west Wales. At least 2 hours to decent dealers of any sort - but I might see who sells what in the West Midlands and NW and perhaps take my fruit box on a mystery tour.
TBH I like the deck. The dealers absolutely suck and it winds me up.….. I guess there’s no harm having a listen to say an NA , SME or others but I’d have to be careful that I don’t just like the ‘change’. I have to live with it!
Thanks again for your constructive comments. When I saw how many posts had been made last night I was dreading a tirade of anti-Linn and decided to brave the feedback this morning! Better than I’d feared!
My guess is at that price point with decks designed to be neutral they all sound pretty much the same, as they should. The slightly irritating thing is LP12 owners say it sound better rather than saying they like how it sounds.
I don’t know. Presuming a neutral, get what is in the groove out approach to design. I guess the challenge is to overcome the limitations of bearings, materials, isolation and stuff. The WT arm does that in a cheap and clever way, everybody’s new favourite the Blackbird does the same. I haven’t compared the Blackbird to the Amadeus GTa arm, it aught to be better and probably is. Could I reliably guess which was playing on the same deck with the same cartridge blind? I doubt it.
