advertisement


Should I? (Get an LP12/Kore/Mober)

Bob Edwards

Bob Edwards

pfm Member
All -

I've just received a second chance offer on a LP12. It has the Kore subchassis, Cirkus bearing, and the Mober DC power supply. No arm/cartridge. Price would be $1,850 USD.

That would give me 2 LP12s; I'd plan on selling one on. My question is if the Kore/Mober LP12 will be that much better than a Cirkus/Mose Hercules2 table. I don't know much yet about the Kore.

Thanks all in advance - offer expires tomorrow, about 22 hours from time of this post.
 
Hi Bob,

I know the Mober products only by reputation, but yes, I think the Kore deck should be better. Note that the Kore's armboard is specific to certain types of tonearms: there are models for Linn arms, the Naim ARO, and Rega arms, as well. Basically, the Kore locks you into a particular brand of arm, so I'd encourage you to find out which type of Kore it is and consider whether you can live with that setup for the long term.

Good luck!
Joe
 
Joe -

Thanks - I bought it. The Kore is $1200 USD and the Mober $880 USD, so everything else is "free." Sort of. ;)

It's for a Rega arm, which should be pretty OK to live with.

Should be here next week - LP12 #1 just got here today.

Next week will be busy - camping this weekend with my daughter.
 
The Rega Kore will take a Roksan Nima, if you can find one, and the wobbliness of a uni pivot doesn’t alarm you, I’d get one on there... you got a bit of a bargain I reckon!
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
The Rega Kore will take a Roksan Nima, if you can find one, and the wobbliness of a uni pivot doesn’t alarm you, I’d get one on there... you got a bit of a bargain I reckon!
Click to expand...

Thanks - there's a Nima at Analogue Seductions for about $850 USD - a bit much after the orgy of record player buying! Unipivot would be fine - I had an Aro at one point. I've offered to buy a RB300 for 150 pounds sterling; I just hope he's willing to post it to the US!
 
Bob Edwards said:
Thanks - there's a Nima at Analogue Seductions for about $850 USD - a bit much after the orgy of record player buying! Unipivot would be fine - I had an Aro at one point. I've offered to buy a RB300 for 150 pounds sterling; I just hope he's willing to post it to the US!
Click to expand...

If your LP12 plinth has corner braces, you will have to cut the corner brace near the tonearm in order to accommodate a RB300. Not a big fan of RB300 on an LP12.
 
Bob Edwards said:
Thanks - there's a Nima at Analogue Seductions for about $850 USD - a bit much after the orgy of record player buying! Unipivot would be fine - I had an Aro at one point. I've offered to buy a RB300 for 150 pounds sterling; I just hope he's willing to post it to the US!
Click to expand...
That does seem a lot, they’re £650 brand new here!
 
I went all the way gradually from a late 70's LP12 to an LP12SE where no part of original remained through many iterations. There is definitely a sweet spot on price/performance and I'm thinking reading your post the owner of that Kore/Cirkus/Mober has found it. Yes Keel and Radikal are better than Kore and Mober but the former gets you 85% of the improvement over Valhalla and the circus sub chassis for 25% of the cost roughly of Keel/Radikal. Mober especially I was impressed with but biggest upgrade I found to be the Linn Keel sub chassis which was like placing an extra block under two blocks above as it transformed or more like created several tuneful octaves in the lower frequencies ... the LP12 started playing tunes all the way down.
 
runforfree69 said:
I went all the way gradually from a late 70's LP12 to an LP12SE where no part of original remained through many iterations. There is definitely a sweet spot on price/performance and I'm thinking reading your post the owner of that Kore/Cirkus/Mober has found it. Yes Keel and Radikal are better than Kore and Mober but the former gets you 85% of the improvement over Valhalla and the circus sub chassis for 25% of the cost roughly of Keel/Radikal. Mober especially I was impressed with but biggest upgrade I found to be the Linn Keel sub chassis which was like placing an extra block under two blocks above as it transformed or more like created several tuneful octaves in the lower frequencies ... the LP12 started playing tunes all the way down.
Click to expand...

I can see myself upgrading the Cirkus bearing to a Karousel down the road - the people I trust say it's a significant improvement. Changing the Mober supply to anything else I don't see - it'd be expensive and fiddly, as I understand I'd have to replace the motor. And the Kore being drilled for a single pillar Rega arm puts an upper limit on how good an arm can fit. I'm working with @Jag Audio on a RB300, which should be terrific, and I already have a new AT VM95ML cartridge to install. So hopefully that will put me in the sweet spot, before upgrading it gets silly expensive (to me, at least). A Keel in the US is $3250, which is more than I have invested in the 2 LP12s I have (!).

Looking forward to building them and listening to music with them!
 
Bob Edwards said:
And the Kore being drilled for a single pillar Rega arm puts an upper limit on how good an arm can fit.
Click to expand...

You just need to drill the three extra holes and you can fit any modern Rega arm. Alternatively, you can modify an older one. I used an RB300 on my LP12 which was rewired and the paint stripped off. Both mods were worth doing, especially the paint, and that arm was better than an Ittok.
 
A Keel in the UK is 40% more expensive than in the US. Karousel could be a better investment given fundamental importance of a bearing however cheaper could be TP Tranquility which improves Cirkus and the reason in part that Linn's own Karousel arrived, never heard Karousel myself as I don't have LP12 now. You can buy better arms up the Rega range or from Original Live and Audio Origami - Johnnie is especially adept at maximising performance of Rega arms for reasonable cost. RB300 and AT is a great start, Rega's work just fine despite what the designers at Linn say.
 
Bob Edwards said:
... and I already have a new AT VM95ML cartridge to install...
Click to expand...

All this and you will front it with AT VM95ML. I think some reconsideration would see you achieve a lot more bang for the buck. A minimum of VM540 but ideally a move into the MC world, even if it needs to be high output, will offer so much more.

best of luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top