New Turntable Gromit?

[Paul]

Here's one for Gromit:

Linn launches £25,000 Sondek turntable, made from old Whisky casks



Full story here.

[Blackal]

Traditionally made - from Afromosia.

I've had mine since the '80s...........

Made in Scotland

Al

[Gromit]

£25k for the old fruitbox (as it's known) the world's going mad I tells ye!!

Sold mine on back in 1991, think it was approx 400 quid for the basic turntable back then.

[Twinspark]

We have an Ariston made copy of a Linn design here.

Richer Sounds were having them made back in the early 90s - not cheap, either - at around 250-300 quid. (ie. a lot of cash in 1990)... but it was worth every penny, especially as a real Linn would have been an order of magnitude more expensive.

[Blackal]

I think I bought my Sondek in 1982-1983, and when fitted with the "Basik" arm - was £486?

Other serious turntables of the day were: Dunlop Systemdek and the Pink Triangle.

Al

[dave the german]

I had a Musical Fidelity A1 amp and a Rega Planer III - I paid £209 for the amp and about £350 for the turntable - my sister got my Hi fi system when I went to uni - she's just recently part ex'd the amp for the new A1. She got £400 for the old amp and had to pay an extra £600 for the new

[Gromit]

We have an Ariston made copy of a Linn design here.

And the irony is that Linn copied an Ariston design (the RD11) with the LP12, and the Ariston itself was a copy of the Thorens TD150, built much earlier in the mid 60's.

A sad time the 70's/80's, where Linn basically ran what could almost be described as a cartel to push out superior designs - the PT (for example) was a superior turntable, as was the Logic DM101, and of course the high end Japanese direct drive stuff.

I recently had the chance to compare my Pioneer PL-71 (1974 vintage direct drive) with a well-spec'd LP12; the Pioneer was demonstrably superior. Only now, over 30 years later, are people waking up to the fact that whilst the Linn was a good turntable, it was nowhere near to being the 'best'.

[Twinspark]

I have no idea what model this one is. But we recently upgraded the pre-amp to a NAD unit with additional USB output, so we can easily get vinyl into iTunes.

Also bought a glass fronted G plan cabinet for it all. 70s-tactic opulence!

[f90x]

Linn was always about marketing, and they were extremely good at it. Having worked within the domestic HiFi market throughout the eighties and most of the nineties it was a well known fact that there were better (and cheaper) turntables out there but the consumer was won over by the marketing hype and advertising. Also, Linn were the company that swore they would never make a CD player (but they made them for nearly 20yrs until recently) as it could never sound as good as a turntable and would regularly try and trash the reputation of various expensive CD players. In 1990 at the London HiFi show they had purchased our most expensive (at the time) Denon DCD3560 at £1000 and had listening comparisons in their demo room. They would first play a track from a CD on the Denon and then play the same track on the Sondek. Well, one will always hear more of any piece of music when played the second time but Linn would claim it was because of more detail from their turntable. A moot point but when we requested they did the demo the other way around they declined. Linn still make the Sondek as it is a huge seller for them and it's what made the company even though (as Richard stated) it is basically a Thorens TD150 in it's original incarnation, but they are not really a Hifi company now as most of their products are geared towards Multi room systems loved by wealthy footballers. (albeit very expensive ones)
For the record, (no pun intended) I am a vinyl fan and will always prefer to listen to my records over my CD's and did actually run a Sondek in the early nineties that was on permanent loan to me. It wasn't a bad deck; almost as good as my Garrard 401.

Personally if I were going to drop £25k on a turntable I'd have an SME30/12 with a series V/12 arm and that would still leave me with £5k to choose a cartridge.

Once a HIFI anorak always a HIFI anorak

Oh and as for the booze, Tesco's are doing Jack Daniels at 20 quid a bottle at the moment. sorted.

[f90x]

A sad time the 70's/80's, where Linn basically ran what could almost be described as a cartel to push out superior designs - the PT (for example) was a superior turntable, as was the Logic DM101, and of course the high end Japanese direct drive stuff.

Very much so, In the late eighties/early nineties Linn actively forced dealers who wanted to stock the Sondek into 'not' holding stock of any other brand or they would lose the Linn concession. A lot of upset in the HIFI world back then.

[Gromit]

Once a HIFI anorak always a HIFI anorak

Ain't that the truth.

I remember very well a hifi show that was run by the then University Audio shop in Cambridge - this was 1979 and I was a spotty 14 yr old and had just got my first 'proper' hifi system.

At the show, the plan was to put the LP12 up against a JBE Slate direct drive turntable. It was a fairly high end system which was built up around it, and it did sound very good indeed. A rumour had gone around (later confirmed) that on the thurs evening, during the setting up of the show, the turntables were put through their paces with the JBE showing the Linn up as a poor 2nd place. The JBE never turned another revolution all weekend, being claimed as 'faulty' despite punters' repeated requests to have it playing. When asked to get the JBE playing, the show organisers became very defensive.

Whilst there is so much controversy surrounding the Ariston vs Linn debate the bottom line is that both turntables were hard to not be seen as copies - well engineered ones admittedly - of the TD150. Even down to the springs in the suspension system which were in identical places and following the exact same principles of acoustic isolation (a Linn subchassis will drop straight in to a TD150's for example).

A couple of years ago I was invited along to an unofficial turntable comparison test by the owner of Nene Valley Audio. Turntables on test were...

1. Technics SP10 Mk3/SME 312 (12" Series V)
2. Garrard 401/heavily modded Rega RB300
3. Pioneer PL-71
4. Linn LP12/Ekos SE

Out of these, my favourite was the Garrard by a nose over the Pioneer which came second. Third was the SP10 and last was the LP12.

Having owned a couple of good direct drive turntables, and a Garrard 401, I find it extremely hard to listen to belt drive now - it always sounds wayward, lacking focus. The sheer drive, punch and stability of a DD's/ID's sound is a major eye-opener - it's nearer to listening to master tape.

One more bit of irony - Ivor T of Linn said recently that if he had the chance to start all over again with the LP12, he would have made it a direct drive. Very cruel when you consider he was one of the main reasons why direct drive never got the recognition it deserved in the 70's/80's. Easy to say now that it poses no threat any more.

[Blackal]

Linn was always about marketing, and they were extremely good at it. Having worked within the domestic HiFi market throughout the eighties and most of the nineties it was a well known fact that there were better (and cheaper) turntables out there but the consumer was won over by the marketing hype and advertising. Also, Linn were the company that swore they would never make a CD player (but they made them for nearly 20yrs until recently) as it could never sound as good as a turntable and would regularly try and trash the reputation of various expensive CD players. In 1990 at the London HiFi show they had purchased our most expensive (at the time) Denon DCD3560 at £1000 and had listening comparisons in their demo room. They would first play a track from a CD on the Denon and then play the same track on the Sondek. Well, one will always hear more of any piece of music when played the second time but Linn would claim it was because of more detail from their turntable. A moot point but when we requested they did the demo the other way around they declined. Linn still make the Sondek as it is a huge seller for them and it's what made the company even though (as Richard stated) it is basically a Thorens TD150 in it's original incarnation, but they are not really a Hifi company now as most of their products are geared towards Multi room systems loved by wealthy footballers. (albeit very expensive ones)
For the record, (no pun intended) I am a vinyl fan and will always prefer to listen to my records over my CD's and did actually run a Sondek in the early nineties that was on permanent loan to me. It wasn't a bad deck; almost as good as my Garrard 401.

Personally if I were going to drop £25k on a turntable I'd have an SME30/12 with a series V/12 arm and that would still leave me with £5k to choose a cartridge.

Once a HIFI anorak always a HIFI anorak

Oh and as for the booze, Tesco's are doing Jack Daniels at 20 quid a bottle at the moment. sorted.

You displayed real credibility.......................


Right up until you mentioned Jack Daniels............. Mass-produced American crap.

(I still rate my Linn, though )

Al

[Gromit]

(I still rate my Linn, though )

Al

It's still one of the world's great turntables Al - I had mine for 6 years and it kept me very happy. The reason there's been such a backlash over the last few years is simply down to what Linn did to the British audio industry in the 80's and the almost religous, blinkered following the thing received. All down to marketing.

You wanna get a listen to one of these...

[Blackal]

When I think of the money - invested in HiFi over the decades.......

Linn Sondek
Mission Cyrus 7 CD player with separate power supply
Audiolab 8000c/8000P amps
Quad 405 tuner
Audiolab DAC
Mission Cyrus Speakers

2nd system in bedroom
Micromega CD player
Audiolab 8000c pre-amp
LFD Power Amp
Mission Cyrus Speakers

And now - the CD players are obsolete by the purchase of a Logitech squeezebox and all my CDs ripped to hard-disks.

Hardly use the Linn now - I resent having to change the LP after 20mins play

Al

[f90x]

Hardly use the Linn now - I resent having to change the LP after 20mins play

Al

I'll give you £100 for that bit of old unused antique