I'm going to agree with this number but with a slightly different approach.
Several years back my wife expressed interest in have a TT in the house (I've got a dedicated listening space in a loft above our detached garage). And I'm reasonably capable in the shop so I can go heavily on the DIY side.
I sourced a clean Denon DP-3000 from a seller in Japan for ~$300. Not quite the cool factor of a euro idler drive, but plenty of torque and speed stability.
I found a nice Fidelity Research FR-54 arm on my local Craig's list, again for around $300 or a bit more.
I splurged on some real Brazilian rosewood veneer and made a heavy plinth from solid Baltic birch ply. This was before the latest inflation so the Baltic birch was under $100 but the Brazilian rosewood cost a bit although I can't really say exactly how much anymore.
I completed the set up with an Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge and a repurposed the nice dust cover from my old SOTA Star Sapphire that I had already cannibalized for a major upgrade.
All in I was about $1200, but this is a great deck, and upgrading to an MC cartridge would gain even a bit more.
Don't waste time or money on cheap stuff to get back into trendy vinyl. To really get the good results you need some quality in the deck and phono stage.
eso
Michel are based in North London. The ‘Gyrodec’ is about £2000 here and 30 yrs after its launch, still a high end bargain. There’s also Nottingham Analog but I’ve not heard their stuff but it’s supposed to be good. I understand Rega, based in Essex, are the largest T/T manufacture in the world selling 4000 units a month globally.
Yep, I'm aware of the "english" turntables... but you gotta give the Scots their due. The Linn LP12 is the goto "used" table... because it's supported.
Did you know that they keep a tally of every LP12 that ever left the factory? They keep a list based on serial numbers. When we got the Radikal they knew which washers to send.
Good luck doing that with ANY other turntable.. of for that matter for just about any other product on the World.
Oh, Rega gets their tables built in the Czech Republic, huh?
Mind you, that's not a problem with quality, but keeping things in house works better. You ought to see the videos of how Linn builds the components for the LP12 in house. It's amazing, they've kept the work in house. I was amazed at the quality of the work that went into the Radikal... for $1200 USD.
Oh, it sounds.... awesome. ;-)
Did you know that they keep a tally of every LP12 that ever left the factory? They keep a list based on serial numbers. When we got the Radikal they knew which washers to send.
Good luck doing that with ANY other turntable.. of for that matter for just about any other product on the World.
Oh, Rega gets their tables built in the Czech Republic, huh?
Mind you, that's not a problem with quality, but keeping things in house works better. You ought to see the videos of how Linn builds the components for the LP12 in house. It's amazing, they've kept the work in house. I was amazed at the quality of the work that went into the Radikal... for $1200 USD.
Oh, it sounds.... awesome. ;-)
The one doesn't follow the other. Linn isn't even on the radar of many people who buy a used turntable. So it's not "the goto". It's just one turntable that people might like to consider - and of those who do, that many pass over, for perfectly valid reasons.
Thorens get their lower end units made by Dual, in a factory in the Czech Republic. Or at least Eastern Europe.
I think that factory may be selling a lot of units through different brands.
I think that factory may be selling a lot of units through different brands.
"Many people"... that's a logical fallacy... "appeal to the majority".
I don't follow the ignorant crowd.... I know better, I've spent 49 years following audio equipment... my first "audiophile" system was in '74 when I was a sophomore in High School.
As far as audiophiles in the know go... well, they got knowledge the ignorant crowd does not. They can make their own informed opinions.
There.
Whatever. That 'Linn LP12 is the goto "used" table' is objectively false.
Yes that could be a challenge, and perhaps not the place to start. It sort of depends how much you're "up for" a learning experience at the outset. Interestingly, one part of that sort of setup that might be within reach, in Sri Lanka at least, is getting a carpenter to build you a plinth. You'd have to provide some plans - pretty exact ones, which you can probably work out with some help from people on audio forums - but the labour could be more affordable there than many of us have to pay in countries with a higher cost of living.
Once again... you fail to provide facts to support your claim. Do that or stop it.
You watered down your phrase "the goto used table" - which can be taken as an implication that this is the one that people either consider first and foremost, or buy if they have the funds, (and so, is obviously false: people look at all kinds of turntables, with the Linn figuring probably, possibly, or not at all in their consideration) - to a definition built on something considerably weaker: "because you can maintain it and get parts for it" and "upgrade it as you see fit" Precisely why I said that one thing being true doesn't make the other true.
Despite that much weaker (and conspicuously personal rather than widely shared) definition, in the highly diverse secondhand market it still isn't "the goto used table", not even in its price or quality bracket, so while it is no doubt true that you can maintain the Linn and get parts and upgrade it as you see fit, you can also maintain other turntables, get parts for them, and in many cases, upgrade them as you see fit. Which apparently you believe is unique to Linn turntables.
The only way that could become true is by twisting fairly simple definitions until "maintain", "parts", and "upgrade" no longer mean what most people would understand them to mean.
Despite that much weaker (and conspicuously personal rather than widely shared) definition, in the highly diverse secondhand market it still isn't "the goto used table", not even in its price or quality bracket, so while it is no doubt true that you can maintain the Linn and get parts and upgrade it as you see fit, you can also maintain other turntables, get parts for them, and in many cases, upgrade them as you see fit. Which apparently you believe is unique to Linn turntables.
The only way that could become true is by twisting fairly simple definitions until "maintain", "parts", and "upgrade" no longer mean what most people would understand them to mean.
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Give it up.... stop re-interpreting my statements. I have NOT changed my claim and I supported it.
You, OTOH, are not bothering to support your statements except through a logically fallacious ad hominem attack.
Look,
(1) I made a statement about the Linn LP12.
(2) You challenged my statement.
(3) I provided facts to support my statement: "The Linn LP12 is the goto "used" table... because it's supported."
(4) Now you claim I changed (watered down) my statement.
How about if...
(2a) You made an assumption about my statement
(3a) My statement was based on facts different from (2a) above
(4a) Now you cover your *** because you can not accept the fact that (2a) above was wrong.
Forget it. I'm gonna ignore you.
BTW, I bought my Linn LP12 used back in '89 and I have been upgrading it with factory parts ever since. Some of those parts were used because there are lots of LP12s around. Good luck doing that with ANY other turntable.
Do you even own a turntable? An Optimus with a Radio Shack cartridge?
You, OTOH, are not bothering to support your statements except through a logically fallacious ad hominem attack.
Look,
(1) I made a statement about the Linn LP12.
(2) You challenged my statement.
(3) I provided facts to support my statement: "The Linn LP12 is the goto "used" table... because it's supported."
(4) Now you claim I changed (watered down) my statement.
How about if...
(2a) You made an assumption about my statement
(3a) My statement was based on facts different from (2a) above
(4a) Now you cover your *** because you can not accept the fact that (2a) above was wrong.
Forget it. I'm gonna ignore you.
BTW, I bought my Linn LP12 used back in '89 and I have been upgrading it with factory parts ever since. Some of those parts were used because there are lots of LP12s around. Good luck doing that with ANY other turntable.
Do you even own a turntable? An Optimus with a Radio Shack cartridge?
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The Linn LP12 is one of the best looking, in my opinion, classic good looks.
There is this opinion, there are quite a few recommended used turntables out there.
There is this opinion, there are quite a few recommended used turntables out there.
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The problem with using non Linn parts on a used Linn LP12 is the resale value tanks.
If you get such a table, make sure you get a deep discount.
If you own an LP12 and are considering using such parts realize your resale value will actually take a hit.
You are better off getting a used LP12 with factory parts and upgrade it with used parts. Every time Linn releases a new upgrade people will sell their old parts.
This works for stuff like the Ekos ( I'm looking for an Ekos 2.. which is a PITA to find... I've been looking for four years now... the 'Ekos 2"... that is). I got my Lingo and a couple of motors that way.
Some parts, however, you should buy new.... the Trampolin 2 and Karousel were brand new. So was the suspension and stuff for the dust cover hinges, springs, various oils and factory incantation songbooks that must be invoked at least every six months at mid summer to ensure that German Dual Gremlins are kept away from your proper Scottish suspension.
I suppose I ought to sell the Valhalla and old Cirkus bearing.
If you get such a table, make sure you get a deep discount.
If you own an LP12 and are considering using such parts realize your resale value will actually take a hit.
You are better off getting a used LP12 with factory parts and upgrade it with used parts. Every time Linn releases a new upgrade people will sell their old parts.
This works for stuff like the Ekos ( I'm looking for an Ekos 2.. which is a PITA to find... I've been looking for four years now... the 'Ekos 2"... that is). I got my Lingo and a couple of motors that way.
Some parts, however, you should buy new.... the Trampolin 2 and Karousel were brand new. So was the suspension and stuff for the dust cover hinges, springs, various oils and factory incantation songbooks that must be invoked at least every six months at mid summer to ensure that German Dual Gremlins are kept away from your proper Scottish suspension.
I suppose I ought to sell the Valhalla and old Cirkus bearing.
Doing what? Keeping a turntable of that age running? Replacing parts? Upgrading? Finding that for a particular turntable, there are lots of them around?
How is it that people are managing to use, and upgrade, their secondhand non-Linn turntables that are the same age, or far older, than your LP12? As I said, to make this phenomenon, for want of a better word, special to Linn, you'd need to completely redefine basic words like parts and upgrade. So it's either that, which would be illogical, or a spurious insistence that everyone else's maintenance, parts replacement, and upgrades, don't count because they're not Linn. That would cross the line from the expected enthusiasm many of us have for our own chosen brands or models, and which we sometimes push on others a little harder than we should, to something more akin to a cult mentality.
An LP12 is just one choice among many. Like, really many. In spite of your indignation and, er, the other stuff, I haven't even suggested it's a bad choice. But there are certainly alternatives. Linn is a barely visible presence in some countries, and among the very many vintage models that (in person) I see in use, it would be a long time before I encounter a single Linn. I have no memory of when I saw my last one.
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Let's all move the conversation along. If not we'd be happy to assist.
Templates for mounting the deck and the arm are available in the Vinyl Engine data base:
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable-database.php
If a person can use a drill and a jigsaw they can assemble a quality turntable. Go cheap and use a Bamboo cutting board from Ikea and add some spikes from Parts Express; it doesn't have to be a high mass finely veneered deck like I prefer.
The point is that there is no voodoo involved and it is not beyond most people to do. There's a tendency to mystify audio when much of it is really pretty mundane.
eso
