Moving on from Troika

Speaking from my own experience, I don’t think you’ll hear much of an improvement in upgrading the sub-chassis to Majik or Kore (I’ve done both) but the Karousel is streets ahead over the Cirkus bearing. That would be where I’d throw my money and wait until I had enough to go Keel on the sub. Other members have mentioned the Lingo 4 which I had before I became Radikalised and they’re available s/h for around £750-£1000 as a dealer fit and I’d do that before the sub as well. It’s way better than any of its predecessors.
Both cartridges you mention are good performers and well- regarded, probably worth a blind listen at your dealer’s gaff perhaps with Ortofon and Audio Technica equivalents whilst you’re at it?

Agree, for roughly half the price of the Kore you can get StackAudio Alto sub-chassis and armboard, these are fully machined aluminum in a honeycomb pattern, closer to the Keel than the Kore.

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once it settled I’ll see if I can get it back - its being offloaded to the third party so not sure what they will do with it, I think its more about validating the claim

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Yeah, I want to keep my existing sub-chassis if it’s compatible as it’s a pretty decent carbon/alloy sandwich, but I’m not sure if it will work with the Cirkus being designed around the pre cirkus geometry. The same dealer has offered me a pretty sharp price on a Krystal, so I’m going to head around tomorrow for a listen and a looksee…

Yes, I have a Stack Audio Sub-Chassis and Armboard, it is excellent.

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That’s interesting, given that a Kore is basically a Majik with an attached armboard (?!) I would expect the Steel > Majik upgrade would be greater than the Majik to Kore!

Well… Thats what @Cymbiosis advised me. Forget Majik, go for the Kore… :thinking:

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Great advice the Kore with its DNA provenance is nothing short of a bargain.
I had one then later got Keel but the biggest difference was going to Kore.
Keel was the icing on the cake.

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Oh… I almost ‘forgot’… :thinking:

My Kore was pre-loved and only cost about half of the Linn new price… :astonished:

So… Linn Lovers… Buy those Keels - and trade in or sell your Kores…
Scrap Ally, worthless really…

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Likewise- got a pre loved Kore and new karousel fitted at the same time- biggest improvement in sq for my system than any other upgrade.
How much was bearing ( the majority I suspect) and how much sub-chassis I couldn’t say.

Well I’m off to see our friendly neighbourhood Linn dealer today to discuss options…

Ideally will be either a circus or karousel into the existing sub chassis and then depending on what that option is a cart to the balance of funds.

If the cetech sub chassis doesn’t work wit the newer bearings (I’ve read conflicting reports on this) then it will likely rule out the Karousel as an option in favour of a cirkus/kore/DV20x2l combo…

But who knows - you know how it goes once you get into the store :joy:

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So much to my surprise I’ve ended up with no structural changes to the deck… added a Krystal cart and in comparison to an akurat deck in the store it was really quite close… close enough for me to not want to invest any further in the margins anyway…

The Krystal was a great match for the older deck which again was surprising based on my prior research.

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and input yo this discussion ‘m looking forward to getting back to some vinyl now

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Good on you KiwiMarra

Happy that’s it’s turned out well for you :+1:

Normal service is resumed!

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Love the flutes
Love the Krystal
Happy days!

If it’s not compatible with the Karousel the Cirkus wouldn’t work either.

When I moved to Cirkus, I had to change from my existing 90’s steel sub-chassis, to a newer, steel sub-chassis. When I went from that to Kore, there was no problem.

I believe that the Cirkus and Karousel are interchangeable, in recent or current Linn sub-chassis. Cannot coment on other makers… :thinking:

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Why are there screw heads showing on the armboard.? :thinking:

Yes keep the Pre Cirkus,it has better boogie factor and works better with Naim amplifiers than the stiffer sound from newer bearings,I think.

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The Subchassis is a carbon and aluminium sandwich and the armboard is bolted through it rather than screwed like the older Linn ones.