In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
In article , Jim Lesurf
wrote:
In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
To cut a long story short I eventually got a Linn LP12, Ittok and
Asak.
Now you can say what you like but the dynamics, imaging and tone of
that thing was/is glorious to my ears. I still have it and still
hugely prefer it to anything I've heard since. That's not to say
that it's not coloration that I like, it may well be but I love it.
OK, thanks for the kind permission, I'll say what I like. :-)
Funny.
Sorry for my schoolboy sense-of-humour, but it was the fact that you'd said
"you can say what you like" that tipped me over into deciding to have some
fun with a reply. :-)
For me the most annoying defect of the LP12/Ittok/Asak was the obvious
mistracking distortion of the Asak. Made things like massed strings
during climaxes at the end-of-side on classical music LPs sound like
sandpaper over rough wood.
I've never noticed any mistaking except on test discs which I was happy
to sacrifice for the sound.
But IIRC you have tended not to listen to kinds of classical music where I
found this annoying. OTOH listening to something like "Mango Crazy" it
wasn't a problem. 8-]
Another guy purchased a Linn (after playing his discs on mine) purely
for the much lower surface noise which baffled him (and me) but was very
noticeable.
A combination of factors like large diameter spherical stylus, low
compliance and high mass can reduce surface noise. Plus things like a
change in signal level or source impedance, depending on the amp, etc.
The same mistracking and high HF distortion probably also gave things
like guitar and other 'impulsive' instruments more 'attack'. Maybe
that's why people who mainly listened to rock/pop liked it.
Possible but it does seem to have better attack it may be a distortion,
don't care, love it.
Fine with me. I'm sure others did/do as well. But I've noticed over the
years that they tended *not* to be people who played classical LPs and
listened to radio 3 and went to classical concerts a lot.
and the way the belt-drive speed wobbled when the sound changed level,
No, not seen/heard that. The turntable is very high mass I would have
thought it was most unlikely to change speed obviously as it has so much
inertia. In fact, that was the claimed reason for the apparently better
dynamics.
Yes. Ivor would say anything. :-)
However the 'high mass' simply means that the rate of change in speed is
lower for a given change in stylus drag. In effect you have a big mass on
an elastic band (the belt). Classic simple harmonic oscillator.
you can end up with a mechanical version of 'smiley eq'
?
to make the sound more attractive to some.
To many, many, many people (all morons of course) I would say. Almost
everyone I knew who was interested in audio got one around 1980 ish.
Can't recall saying any of them were "morons". That may be your opinion,
not mine. :-)
TBH most of the people I knew in audio *didn't* use an LP12. But I am
talking about people involved in manufacture at various companies, not
writers or what KK calls rather oddly 'civilians' - i.e. the people who pay
the wages when they buy things.
I also disliked the various clumsy 'features' of the LP12. Like the
way the lid bumpers tended to keep falling off,
A tiny square of double sided sticky tape.
or the mat stuck to the LP and came away with it when you took off the
LP.
Anti static gun.
Yes. Curious that Linn couldn't arrange for neither to be needed at the
time. Odd advert for superior engineering, I thought. But I also wonder if
such things make nice 'mystic passes' for the 'believers' to learn and use
as part of being 'involved' with the items they have bought rather than the
music. :-)
And the declared 'need' to keep messing about with the deck to keep it
'on song' as the acolytes might have put it.
It did sag a little (over years) and needed a corresponding tightening
of the spring bolts making sure the TT remained level and the P clip was
still free. A half hour job every 3 years or so.
I did oil my Technics deck once. Apart from that it has just worked OK
since I got it. I did go though checking it when I did the 'V15/III versus
newcomers' for HFN a year or two ago and made a load of cartridge
measurements, Seemed fine.
Maybe they improved later, but the early Linn systems I had to use all
seemed to me to be made out of orange boxes, rubber bands, etc. Not
exactly construction I'd have expected for the price.
That I cannot agree with at all. Mine is beautifully made.
They may well have got better in that way.
For me it made the Technics combo sound lifeless, flat and
uninvolving.
I found the Technics and a V15/IIIHE simply lets me enjoy the music on
the LP and not keep hearing obvious added distortions/colourations
from things like the Asak.
After I heard my first moving coil cartridge I couldn't listen to shure
any more. Too dull and too bright at the same time. Seduced by
distortion no doubt but I still enjoyed it more.
No idea if the difference is distortion. The main factors I've noticed is
that the early MCs tended to have poor tracking compared with the V15 and
applied more force to the LP. They would also inject more vibration into
the arm due to the low compliance, etc. And of course with any cart you may
need to take care with the frequency response. The Shures are quite fussy
about the loading impedance used.
I had an Entre, Ortofon MC?? and an Asak. The Ortofon had a fabulous
image beyond anything I've ever heard.
FWIW of the modern carts I tried I liked the Ortofom M2 Black best. Gave
good results. But had a stylus tip with far more mass than the V15 made
decades earlier. Alas, no-one seems to think of tip mass or compliance
these days.
Slainte,
Jim
--
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