LP12 Maintenance and Mods

[ArtnShit]

Hi All,

I am looking at a used LP12 from around 1978. It is in both great cosmetic and working condition.

The only mod from the owner (not the first owner) is the tonearm. It is an "Audiomods Classic" which looks to be a modified Rega arm of sorts. Outside of that and a grounded plug it is original from 1978. No idea on service or when it was last looked at outside of the tonearm installation by a pro.

My question to anyone who may be more experienced: Are these incredibly finicky tables? I like how high the ceiling is regarding upgrades, but will I need to be doing regular maintenance on it? I know it has a spring suspension system which means it needs to be adjusted every now and then, right? My worry is that this will be an affair that requires my attention more than once every few years. Am I right to expect that?

On the other hand, I like that I can essentially modernize this TT over time if I wanted to.

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is too specific.

 

[Larpy]

When you say it's in great working condition, does that mean it's been recently serviced?  Make sure its springs and grommets have been replaced, hopefully during this century.  And make sure the original bearing is in good shape.

I'm not familiar with an Audiomods Classic tonearm.  Maybe someone else can chime in.

As you know, if you're open to the idea of upgrades, you can use a 1978 LP12 as a platform and upgrade it into a dizzying array of later iterations.  Linn has used the same LP12 base for all of its upgrades since the table was introduced in 1974.  The money for Linn's latest upgrades is ridiculously high, but you should be able to find on the used market, say, a Linn Ittok tonearm, a Cirkus subplatter, and a Lingo outboard power supply, and then you'd have a quite nice turntable.  I don't know current prices for these upgrades, but if you bought the 1978 turntable for, I don't know, $1000 and got all the upgrades for, again, I don't know, $2000, that would money well spent, IMO.  Spending more than that might not make sense, given how many good turntables there are these days for $3000-$5000.

I have a 1981 LP12 will the Cirkus upgrade, an Ekos tonearm and the Lingo (version 2).  It's all the turntable I need.  I've had it since 1996 and it's not fiddly at all.  The legend of the finicky LP12 is, at least in my experience, blown way out of proportion.  Mine is on a shelf mounted to a wall, and that takes care of the bouncy suspension getting out of hand.  I had the springs and grommets replaced when I got the Cirkus mod 20 or so years ago, and I've yet to need to fiddle with them.

 

[VoltSecond]

Is there a web site you recommend that gives maintenance instructions? (Where to get belt, springs / what oil to use where / etc?)

-Volt

 

[Larpy]

Excellent (and exhaustive) set up guide here:  https://hifikabin.me.uk/viewtopic.php?t=15&sid=f96c134c45a8257f87be3467299027f8

As for where to buy parts, that's more complicated.  There used to be U.S. based websites that sold Linn parts, but they have either stopped or disappeared in the last 10 years or so.  Linn changed its U.S. importer around the same time and it would appear that Linn's new business model is to ignore the North American market. 

There are still some very knowledgeable Linn dealers in the U.S., though many of them are now retired.  I can vouch for Rick Duplisea (Audio Alternative in Fort Collins, CO).  He serviced my Linn LP12 earlier this year and I was mightily impressed with his skill and knowledge.  Rick is what I'd call semi-retired, but he seems to have a deep inventory of Linn parts.  Thomas O'Keefe, now retired from Overture Audio in Ann Arbor, MI, also knows Linn really well, but I don't know that he sells parts anymore (and Linn terminated its relationship with Overture).

The parts are out there, but they're not easy to find unless you visit a website of a U.K. dealer.

The good news is that the set up guide linked above is so thorough that you can get by without a dealer as long as you're patient.  But the guide makes set up seem more complicated than need be, I think.