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Stack Audio LP12 Sub-chassis

So I've been running this deck for four days now. I'm sure there's still more to get out of it but I think it's settled down well enough to give an opinion on it. First I'd like to explain why I feel this is a reasonable assessment of the sub-chassis.

The deck is a new build so it would be easy to suggest other factors are contributing here but I really wanted to avoid that. The plinth is current spec but my last plinth was the same except for the metal angle brackets, which I doubt make any difference. Top plate, springs, grommets, arm-board and motor are all the same. It's a Majik PSU which is basically the same as the old capacitor PSU the deck started life with in the seventies so nothing exotic there. I was using a Norton before but I've used decks with the capacitor PSU, Valhalla and Avondale supplies as well.

The arm is the RB3000 wich is going to close to identical to the RB2000 I had on the RP10 and have a similar family sound to the stripped and rewired RB300 I had in the last LP12. Cart is the Exact I had on the RP10 and almost all of the carts I tried on the RP10 were ones I've used on the LP12 before that. Everything else in the system is the same and I've ran the deck through the pre-amp and the Aria as I didn't have the Aria when I last had an LP12. So I reckon I have a decent feel for what the sub-chassis is doing.

And it's pretty good! The RP10 dug out levels of detail I'd not heard from any of my LP12s. That's no longer true. This deck is at least as detailed as the Rega, maybe more so, but it has the natural LP12 tonality the Rega lacked. It has the sway and tunefulness that's characteristic of a good LP12 but with a level of clarity and purity I've not had out of a Linn before. It's beautiful! Just gorgeous. Surface noise seems lower and the deck feels like it's moved up a whole level in performance.

I had thought the Majik PSU would be a stop gap to something like a Lingo 4, maybe it will be, but right now not hearing any need for it. Maybe my mains is decent, I do have a separate spur, but then the lights dim when the shower gets switched on! Whatever, the Speed stability sounds good. Can't see how the sub-chassis could help that but no complaints.

I read a review of alloy LP12 sub-chassis the other day by a guy who'd fitted loads of different ones. The Stack ones didn't feature as they weren't around at the time but his takeaway was that, while there are differences between them, it doesn't really matter that much as they are all miles better than the steel Linn ones. To me that makes the Tenor a bargain as it gets you into a machined alloy sub-chassis for only £200. How much better are the more expensive ones? I don't know but Stack do say that the Tenor is the best value sub-chassis they make.

I think this is easily the best value upgrade I've ever done. It radically shifts the performance of the LP12 while seeming to retain what we love about the deck. Delighted.

And to the people who say Rega arms don't work on the LP12, absolute garbage. You can't get a wonderful sound like this from a bad arm. So yeah, big thumbs up for the Tenor sub-chassis and the RB3000. Both are staying, although I might seriously enquirer about the better Stack Audio sub-chassis but no hurry as pretty happy with where I am right now. Maybe upgrade the cartridge and a better mat. We'll see after that.
 
Of course linn used damping, what do you think the floppy arm board attachment was for? Same with the glued sub chassis.

Now they've moved on from that noisy ac motor they don't have so much need for it....
 
I suppose there is a difference between rega arms not working and considering them sub optimal or compromised.

Personally i consider them at odds with what Linn intend the LP12 to do, but not necessarily with what Mr Pig is trying to get his LP12 to do.

If he is happy with the sound then he is winning.

Similary I consider the stock LP12 mat to be the best available , some of the available alternatives are amazingly bad, In particular the Achromat and Collaro.

That said, Mr Pig might consider them the best thing since sliced bread!
 
Just a thought, as Orginlive found the Rega arm sounds best with the clamping nut just nipped up. Doing it up tightly kills the sound, makes it flatter and less dynamic. Given that Linnies like doing everything up so tight almost to the point of failure it is not inconceivable that a lot of Regas have been tried on Linns with less than favourable results. Just saying like.
 
Neiro said:
Just a thought, as Orginlive found the Rega arm sounds best with the clamping nut just nipped up. Doing it up tightly kills the sound, makes it flatter and less dynamic. Given that Linnies like doing everything up so tight almost to the point of failure it is not inconceivable that a lot of Regas have been tried on Linns with less than favourable results. Just saying like.
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Rega have always said the nut should not be over tightened. In fact if you did you could crack the plastic collar on the RB250.

To be fair, the stock RB250/300 could sound a bit too grey and dull on an already warm older LP12. It's not a disaster and they were still much better than the equivalently priced Basik arms but you needed the right cart etc to balance them out a bit. It's also harder to get the cable dressing right and that matters.

But a lot of it was just politics. Linn and their dealers did not want you to put a Rega arm on your deck as they knew how good they were.
 
Linn are infinitely more open to the possibility of 3rd party arms on their decks than Rega are to anyone else’s arm fitted to their decks.
 
JezmondTutu said:
I wonder how the Tenor stacks up against a Majik sub chassis?
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The Majik sub-chassis extends under the arm fixing point so you are effectively bolting the arm directly to the sub-chassis with the arm board like a big washer in between them. I expect that to be good but different, possibly better? Depending on what you want. As you progress up the sub-chassis ladder they all stiffen up that joint.

The Majik is a box made of thin aluminium where as the stack is a machined thicker single piece. I'm inclined to think they are different rather than one being massively better than the other. I did consider the Majik but did not want to commit to a Linn arm.
 
Bob Edwards said:
Having just had the Karousel installed on a Cirkus subchassis, I'm interested in a cost-effective subchassis even if the table sounds amazing as it is.
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I'll stick my neck out and say an alloy sub-chassis is almost certainly a much bigger upgrade than the pre-Cirkus to Cirkus bearing. I've done that one.
 
The equivalent Stack sun chassis to the Kore is circa £500 so still a substantial saving; my worry is whether it is truly compatible with the Karousel.
 
Mr Pig said:
Rega have always said the nut should not be over tightened. In fact if you did you could crack the plastic collar on the RB250.

To be fair, the stock RB250/300 could sound a bit too grey and dull on an already warm older LP12. It's not a disaster and they were still much better than the equivalently priced Basik arms but you needed the right cart etc to balance them out a bit. It's also harder to get the cable dressing right and that matters.

But a lot of it was just politics. Linn and their dealers did not want you to put a Rega arm on your deck as they knew how good they were.
Click to expand...

I agree with what you say. It is amazing how many Linn myths are still out there
 
Surely applying damping uses the material properties of the damping materials used? There's no difference between slack screws and a CLD interface, except one let's you perpetuate a lie...
 
Mr Pig said:
The Majik sub-chassis extends under the arm fixing point so you are effectively bolting the arm directly to the sub-chassis with the arm board like a big washer in between them. I expect that to be good but different, possibly better? Depending on what you want. As you progress up the sub-chassis ladder they all stiffen up that joint.

The Majik is a box made of thin aluminium where as the stack is a machined thicker single piece. I'm inclined to think they are different rather than one being massively better than the other. I did consider the Majik but did not want to commit to a Linn arm.
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Thanks. I have an Aro on a just Pre-Cirkus deck. So tempted to do Karousel and Majik subchassis but open to other suggestions. Have no intention of changing arms as have owned it since new and still love it.
 
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