I have one of the 40th anniversary LP12’s Blackstar
Wonderful product - the plinth is amazing, couple of little knotty bits in it from the barrel, very solid piece of wood, a very impressive sounding deck
And the 40 year old bottle of Highland Park whisky that came with was rather special I must say
Nice one. Yes I would’ve preferred my small bottle in the gift set to have been filled with that!
You must agree though, cueing up with the mild smell of whisky would’ve been cool
Its an Ekos SE (just magnify the photos) very nice arm indeed. I don’t know how to tell the difference between SE 1 and 2, but @Toon will confirm, I’m sure. It certainly is a beautiful plinth.
You are correct. The thread I was hoping to pick up on was the Solstice one & I got confused because the last couple of posts I remembered mentioned the LP12. Embarrassingly, I even wrote one of them!
Its fairly average in spec but does sound nice… Valhalla (upgraded by VP) SME iii and currently an old A&R cartridge whilst Im waiting for Jico stylus to arrive for my Shure. Anyway, hope you like?
No pictures, but just back from an extended demo at my dealer with a Magik, Akurate, Klimax (Radikal1 and Kandid), Klimax (Radikal2 and Exstatic) and Solstice.
Pretty clear cut to my ears that the new Radikal2 and Exstatic are a significant improvement (at a significant cost!) and take the LP12 to new heights.
The way in which the (new) top end Linn reveals detail is stunning. Sadly the Solstice cannot compete - its very different to the LP12 generally and a fun listen, but I know I won’t be even slightly tempted to deviate from the Linn upgrade path.
A very fun few hours and can’t wait for a home demo very soon!
In the interest of information there is only the Ekos SE and the Ekos SE/1
The first one has a short headshell and longer armtube and the second one has got a longer headshell with curved side a shorter armtube and no black paint on the platform and preloaded bias.
There is no SE/2 at all.
The SE/1 now comes with a silver cuing lever instead of the black one.
Phew!