LP12 shootout at Cymbiosis

Yes, the Tangerine Stiletto is a beautiful product. A single machined piece of aluminium.

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I won’t ever hear them all side by side through the same system Rooster but if pushed I’d say that the Tangerine LP12 is the best of the three and by that I mean against the Solstice with SC/ SL and 300 P/S. The package Solstice was no where near as good. The SME was very good but
lacks that quality that has me wanting to keep playing music for hours on end. Plus the company were pants when it came to customer service.

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and I’d probably go Ekos SE with Tangerine rather than ARO with a basic Linn plinth, top plate and base board. That’s coming from a big ARO fan boy.

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Nice to see that Tangerine is also available in flutes.

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] I’ve ordered the fluted version :+1:

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Nice @Cohen1263 ! :+1:t3::+1:t3::+1:t3:

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Superline should work just fine spec-wise with DV XV-1t. I have XV-1s (0.30 mV) with nearly same spec as XV-1t (0.35 mV) and it plays very well with standard Superline.

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I use an LP12 with an Ekos SE arm and Kandid cartridge.
It’s rewarding to experiment. I have a Tangerine Karmen top plate. Karmen is great for installing the vertical rod bolts of the suspension springs. The original sonic balance of LP12 became different with Karmen, I was satisfied but not fascinated. 1 year later I went back to the original Top plate, I found again the listening pleasure that Karmen had subtracted. I had the same experience with the Skale counterweight, and the music was beautifully presented. However, with Skale the music was less involving. With the return of the Linn counterweight, the music became more present and engaging. That’s my opinion.

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With respect (as your opinion is no less credible than mine) I feel that I would tie myself in knots if I based my purchases on forum opinion. They are so diverse that finding a consensus on anything here is virtually impossible! What I heard was a clear improvement to the sound with the Stiletto/Scorpion over the stock Linn version. Not a close thing or an apples and oranges type difference like ARO to Ekos, just all round better and worth the expense IMO. I based my purchase decision on that.

Regarding the sKale I’ve taken on board what you and a few others have stated. I use a DVXV1t. As Cymbiosis don’t have any heavy ARO counterweights in stock I’ve rolled the dice and bought it at £150 on Peter’s advise and recommendation. I do gravitate to a similar type of sound to him based on our conversations. But if I ever get hold of a heavy ARO counterweight I will buy it and do the comparison. The sKale wouldn’t be a “break the bank” type mistake.

One product that does seem to have gained almost universal praise on the forum is the KRad2. After hearing it I get that and it does sort of prove that when this level of consensus exists the product shouldn’t be overlooked.

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No unauthorised commercial links in the Hifi Corner please. Thanks.

It’s probably been discussed many times and it’s of no real consequence in the scheme of things but when does an LP12 stop being an LP12 I always ask myself when reading these threads?

The other thing I always wonder, if the after market parts improve the Linn why doesn’t Linn make them. I’m guessing they could make Bamboo/Alu plinths etc?

As long as everyone’s happy that’s all that matters of course but I can’t stop wondering all the same.

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I’ve used Peter and Cymbiosis for many years for my kit, they have always looked after me well.

I too, have bought kit on his recommendation and it has always been worthwhile.

I have a lot of time and respect for Peter, Phil and Wayne at Cymbiosis.

DG…

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Just the sKale Diggy. The rest determined through listening. But thanks for that.

One of the recent posts got me thinking. I have to admit that I didn’t want to hear the LP12 50 that Cymbiosis have on dem. Not because I’ve closed my mind to how it looks/ plinth material used but rather because I simply can’t afford it and I didn’t want anything to detract from the experience of buying a deck that I can financially stretch to. All pretty normal I guess!

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And once heard it is never unheard again.

The LP12 50 looks like it uses quite different parts. I wonder how much better it is!

Obviously plinth and button is different. I wonder what is the same?

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I asked Peter if the Tangerine LP12 is more or less a half way house between the Klimax and the LP12 50. He said “yes”. Must be good then Dan. A highly compressed Beech plinth to create high density I think I read . I have to say that I didn’t see £25k worth of extra kit there though. Let’s just tell ourselves that it can’t be as good as an 80’s LP12 with Ittok and Troika. :joy:. Mind you they
were b……y good decks :+1:

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Thanks for writing up your experiences @Cohen1263. So glad that you’ve ended up with such a great deck. I’m particularly interested to hear your Urika1 vs SL/SC conclusions. I bought the Urika1 unheard on Peter’s advice in order to qualify for the free Karousel offer a few years back. I never heard the Superline and it’s always nagged a bit in the back of my mind that I should have tried it before choosing Urika. I had no desire or space for another 2 boxes and the Urika has never given me a moment’s cause to doubt it, but you know how the ‘what if’ thing can irk. It’s reassuring to me that you liked it so much that you switched from an existing SL/SC to own the Urika. :+1:

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It’s like saying if RUF can tweak your Porsche and better even the top one, why Porsche itself doesn’t do it ?

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The LP 12 50 is on the same price level as SME 60. I won’t tell which one I would buy if money.

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Thanks KLC.

This is just my opinion of course and I understand why you question what you’ve bought if you haven’t done the dem. Let’s face it the majority of folks state a preference for SL.

Ok so It wasn’t like the Stiletto dem where one version was just clearly better than the other. The SC/SL was definitely more airy. That bigger soundstage will mean SL trumps the Urika on certain tracks for sure and it is a great phono stage. But the Urika was just calmer and had more meat on the bones without slowing anything down. A bit like a little less but with a little more :thinking: Have a listen to the Peter Green track ‘Fool No More”. When Green sings his first line he appears to get a smidge too close to the mic. With the SL he defo had a shouty character. Not with the Urika. But all the organic characteristic was still there. The kick drum on the track was punchier with the Urika and bass player and drummer just sounded more in the pocket. So PRAT seemed better. My wife heard it. We looked at Peter and he just nodded. I was still in denial for a while but what could I do? The heart made the decision. Geddon came and went in a heart beat as the Rad is needed. The rest I think that I’ve covered.

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Yes but you’d be signing up to being an SME customer Rooster :crossed_fingers: