advertisement


The Linn LV V, when was it introduced?

There was a review of the LV-X in one of the Haymarket mags in 1983. It was a comparison between the ADC ALT-1, Rega R200, Linn LV-X and SME SIII, all mounted on LP12s. IIRC the Linn came first, closely followed by the Rega. I remember it well because the review made the end of year round-up (Which Hi-Fi 84) but the SME had been mysteriously expurgated from the re-print
 
Reviewed at the height of the time when Tiefenbrum had the press in his pocket, I'm not surprised the Linn won. Linn could have sent in a clothes hanger with an AT95 gaffer taped on the end and it would have won. Oh, hang on.

Any reviews involving Linn weren't worth a punch up the Aris' back then. The press of course now have new darlings.
 
That's not how I remember it. If I recall correctly IT seemed pretty contemptuous of the press. When you say he had the press in his pocket it implies he paid them. I'd be careful there...

And it seemed that all the journos were determined to find and champion a deck that would topple the LP12. Most grudgingly accepted that while some came close, very close, in in some cases even exceeded the Sondek in certain ways, the old fruitbox remained a favourite and also a kind of default reference within the UK market.

FWIW, I doubt very much that Linn needed to have the "press in their pocket", they'd already won them over with a great product in the Sondek, the Ittok et al.. Same for Naim with their amps - I know that JV of Naim was famous (infamous) for breaking the old "press freebie" game and it mean't Naim hardly got a look in with the mags during the '70s until a couple of journos liked what they heard so much they went and bought with their own money and it grew from there. To say otherwise is not just revisionist, it's plain wrong, and smacks of sour grapes.
 
From memory the Ittok was about 1979/80 closely followed by the Basik LV V in about 1980/81.

The Basik LV X followed in 1983, and the Basik Plus (a Basik LV X with a fixed headshell) followed in late 85 / early 86.
 
rhgbristol said:
From memory the Ittok was about 1979/80 closely followed by the Basik LV V in about 1980/81.
Click to expand...

That's certainly about right date-wise for the LVV as I bought a new Ariston RD80 fitted with one somewhere around 81. I didn't rate the LVV at all, mine had rattly bearings and hopelessly incorrect azimuth - I took it back and swapped it for one that was slightly better, but not by much. The thing really had the quality of something one would find fitted to a 1970s music centre. I swapped it out for good out as soon as I could afford a better made arm: a second hand Audio Technica AT1120. That was rather good with an Ortofon M20FL and the damper as I recall.
 
rhgbristol said:
Just found the receipt for my Basic plus tonearm bought new in september 1986.
It was £ 111.50 inc vat!
Click to expand...

that sounds about how I remember the price to be.

I think the current version is the Akito 2/B, £1500 value new,
to think they were £150 when they were released, one tenth of the current price!
And the LV X bearings turned out to be more reliable.
 
Agreed.

It's a pity that Linn removed themselves from the sensible price market.
 
Pinky said:
Yes, much safer to buy a s/h LVX or Basik Plus than a Mk1 Akito.

Pity there is no Linn arm selling for a sensible price anymore.
Click to expand...

Thing is, if you can find one, there are some Akitos out there with really good bearings. Find one of those and it's a really great sounding arm. A friend was after an Akito and after some patience, making some calls around various dealers, one of them came up trumps with probably the best Akito Mk1 I've ever seen. The bearings are absolutely spot-on and on audition I'd say it would likely outperform your average 2nd hand Ittok. Good enough that following an upgrade, I snaffled it up to use on another deck.
 
I owned a great sounding Akito Mk1 myself.

The problem is how do you know when the bearings are going to give up the ghost? They all seem to do it sooner or later. I sold mine before it did!
 
An Ittok sold tonight on the well known auction site for £590.

Considering they were £253 new in 1981, and the current ekos se is circa £ 3,700 puts it all in perspective!
 
Pinky said:
Akito 2's are nice arms but there seems to be divided opinion when comparing to an Ittok. I'd have the Ittok myself.
Click to expand...

I went for a Ittok too, I think Linn should have renamed the Akito 2, as it still gets confused with the earlier Akito's and if memory serves me well I paid about £124 for a new one around 1990 ish, now a Akito 2 is around £1500.
 
Hmm..this is an interesting thread.

I bought my '84 (S/N 52xxx) Sondek in 1991 and it came with a Basik Plus. I'd always assumed that the arm had been with the deck from new (I think I recall the vendor even saying as much). However, according to this timeline, an '84 deck would have come with a Basik LVX, which the original owner must have upgraded at some point.

Does that sound plausible though? Surely the sonic differences between an LVX and a Basik Plus are pretty small and it'd be pretty daft to bother 'upgrading' just to have the latest version of the budget Linn arm? Is it possible that an deck with an '84 serial number might have left the factory in '85 and maybe with an early Basik Plus?

Most puzzling.

Cheers

Adrian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top