As others have said, a good Linn dealer will be happy to do what is needed when you change cartridge for little (or even no) cost. Few of us can get through a decade without a cartridge change, so that looks easy.
If you take a more DIY approach to changing cartridges (or any other bits), then I suggest aiming at checking bearing oil and adjusting suspension about once a decade, or after it gets a lot of jiggling (house move?). The Cymbiosis website gives an outstanding and free guide to everything you could possibly want to know about this.
All this looks easy if you DIY or live in the UK. The main reason that I have not shipped my old LP12 to Tasmania is that I donāt want to fiddle with it in any way myself, and ālocalā dealers donāt exist, and it is a long way to ask Peter Swain to travel.
As others have said, the bigger cost impact of LP12 ownership arise because you CAN upgrade almost any LP12 in myriad ways. Before being put off by talk of an upgrade treadmill, it is worth remembering that none of that is mandatory.
Your LP12 wonāt sound worse that it did yesterday because today you read about a new bit that someone else says is very good, or even because this morning you heard Ā£30k of LP12 source and noticed it sounding a bit better than yours. In much the same way, your house/ flat doesnāt get worse in any sense just because you looked at some pictures in Hello magazine.
True; Nothing changed with our systems when the new bit came along. But, in the case of the LP12, we now knew that what we had was not the best. Or, put a nicer way, we knew our LP12 was not providing its full potential. This type of thinking was supported by the āsource firstā principle. The market has changed so much over the years; everything back then was much more straightforward (at least in the UK).
Hi again ā¦
If you strive for the best possible sound quality,.what I described earlier is required.
Everyone I know in Sweden has the service interval I described earlier.
To our ears,.there is a big difference in the musical message between a correctly performed service (according to the above interval) and one that has not been serviced for many yearsā¦ A Huge Differenceā¦!!
I bought my first LP12 in 1983,.and have been āAttention To Detailā regarding service intervals ever since.
We simply have to state that we have different experiences and opinions regarding this.
BUT,.I note that many UK dealers recommend two year intervals for LP12 with steel sub-chassis, and four year intervals for LP12 with Keel sub-chassis.
I donāt have an LP12 but I understand there are great SQ gains to be had from letting the turntable run with no vinyl on it for between 5 and 10 minutes once a week. Opinions vary on which day of the week this should be. Obviously anyone wishing to have the best performance from their investment should test each day of the week in turn, or maybe randomly.
I am with you on this. I have done a fair amount of comparing, though my ears are old and my analytical capabilities limited, and I would not expect to hear a difference between (say) a 3-year-old LP12 that had never been serviced and the same one after any amount of servicing and fettling.
I have also asked dealers what they had to do to get my LP12 right, and the answer is usually that they did X or Y as routine but actually everything appeared A1 beforehand.
Otoh, the comments here about LP12s with either old sub-chassis or springs being much less robust in this respect make sense. That may explain why I seem to remember people in the 80s and early 90s fiddling with their suspension more often than they cleaned their Troika, and perhaps the range of views here.
You didnāt really describe anything, you are just tossing around the term āserviceā, can you elaborate on what needs to be serviced and why would it make such an absolute improvement in sound quality?
When I owned a earlier version of āmyā LP12, back in the early 1980ās, more regular resets were definitely āa thingā. I am quite sure that I was told the Black Springs were introduced to give more long term āstabilityā - which makes sense. My notes say Black Springs in '83 and glued Sub-Chassis in '85.
Those Black Springs are still in my LP12, but the glued Sub-Chassis had to go when I got the Cirkus bearing (which was not until 2018).
When my LP12 has been āapartā recently, it has been at @Cymbiosis . And like @NickofWimbledon , it has always been pretty OK, as received - prior to being āadjustedā. There has been nothing which has been ābadā . All my resent resets or services have been for changes/upgrades. The Cirkus bearing (and associated steel/standard Sub-Chassis) in 2018. The Kore Sub-Chassis in 2022.
Its fine if the naysayers want to insist its a faff or troublesome. But I doubt most Linn owners would agreeā¦
Ooops,.I thought everyone who had an LP12 knew that, at least everyone in Sweden knows this.
I learned the importance of this from my dealer when I bought my first LP12 in 1983.
With all due respect,.there is so much to write about this that it would take me several evenings.
I refer instead to Peter Swainās (Cymbiosis) eminent and detailed description in three parts.
Iām not allowed to post a link about this (I think),.but google āLP12 setupā and youāll find it.
Every little detail matters on an LP12,. even the screw you use for the tonearm plate unless youāre using a Keel sub-chassis.
Think āAttention To Detailā as soon as you have to do something on an LP12
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Set-up guides written by Peter Swain are listed here. The first download is the LP12 Set-up - a brief overview;
Iāve been very fortunate to be in and around this trade since mid seventies and hadnāt reached LP12 until 1987.
It seemed set up well from the off and with a couple of light upgrades but wasnāt until there were no dealers near me that could be trusted in my opinion to my very OCD trait about setup would entertain.
I seeked out after a very good friends recommendation and was delighted that Cymbiosis could come to me as was very far away.
The deck has been extensively upgraded over this last ten or so years but all dealers do not have the same expertise or ā the right touch ā to what is correct
If the deck is setup and not messed with it can be many years without being touched usually for an upgrade than anything else.
Itās all very well saying do this or that but itās the way itās done and the right attention to detail that makes all the difference.
Just like other craftsmen some are much better than others but the description title is the same.
Be lucky or honestly recommended.
ā¦I know a lot/most about LP12, I was also the one who wrote here about the big āLP12 problemā a few years ago.
BUT,.Iām not going to spend several evenings writing about everything that matters regarding LP12.
The most important thing should your dealer have taught you when you bought your first LP12ā¦
Then itās up to you to be responsive and learn more.
An LP12 doesnāt sound better than how the owner takes care of itā¦ Everything Mattersā¦!!
Iām sure setup matters, but initial setup isnāt necessarily the same as continued maintenance. Whilst not formal advice, and I have zero wish to represent any knowledge about LP12s here, this post from cymbiosis, on the general topic of things going out of tune, suggests that service intervals might not be set in stone?
A final point. My Linn dealer is definitely one of the finest in the U.K, possibly the world. Ex Linn employee absolutely steeped in Linn. When I left with my new Karousel bearing he didnāt say heād see me in X months for a service. Why? Because itās not necessary. Was an absolute pleasure to watch him install the new bearing, fettle whatever needed fettling and send me on my way. Itās vitally important I think to ensure folk who just want to play music know that Linn & Naim kit does exactly that and keeps on doing it without interference. Thereās no need to frighten folk. Good dealer. Right kit. Pretty much plug and play and play and play ā¦.
I thought every LP12 owner knew the optimum time is Wednesday, 11.15 to 11.25am.
If this is inconvenient due to work commitments, Thursday, 2.05 to 2.15am is almost as good but any other time should be avoided as results are clearly audible & noticeably inferior to the Wednesday & Thursday times.
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A Huge Differenceā¦!!
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ā¦I know a lot/most about LP12, I was also the one who wrote here about the big āLP12 problemā a few years ago.
Everything Mattersā¦!!