Show us your Sondek

Last I read was about 1350 but more tops were made than complete units.
:thinking:

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that makes sense for an easy cartridge swap.
I bought an extra wand for it. So now I have two compete sets and an extra wand.

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And I thought that I was being greedy having two AROs!

Incidentally, I am intrigued that the Troika has five fixing points - four at the front, with one much further back. Would an Ittok or Ekos use all five fixing points? Otherwise, what would be the point?

Yes I see that now from your photo Graham

Not sure why the extra 2 fixing points , maybe if it’s set back somehow for whatever reason

Ekos SE has the usual 3

I will ask Mr Swain next time we speak.

Peter Swain reckons there were about 1,350 Aros built.

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Thank you, Clive, that saves my asking.

Looks like they aren’t fixing holes. The three fixing holes are slightly raised, the other holes look to be plain drilled, with no thread?

I assumed the mounting holes are threaded though. Looking at pictures from below, the two extra holes aren’t drilled through, so unless the extra holes are threaded (I’ve never seen one close to) then a bolt and nut won’t work either. Just guessing too, I’m sure someone in this thread knows for sure :slight_smile:

I’m rather foxed, but I’m not going to take the Troika off the ARO in a bid to find out!

They must be there to hold/fix something inside the cartridge.

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What is this Troika exactly? Is it worth getting one?

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It is a twenty/thirty year old cartridge, the internals of which were made by a Japanese company (I have seen both Koetsu and Supex mentioned) assembled and incorporated inside a metal body shell by Linn Products in Glasgow. It produces a beautifully rounded sound across the spectrum with a sweet treble, great midband presence and deep bass.

Production ceased many years ago, but you can buy remakes by Goldring (which I have) and, I believe, ESCO.

I believe that Guy Lamotte used a Troika cartridge when he was designing the ARO.

I would say that it’s very well worth getting one, as it produces such wonderful music. What I found most difficult was getting my hands on an old one in the first place to send to Goldring for restoration.

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I’ve got one Aro arm wand but two bases, bearing pillars, and arm rests. That way I can easily swap the arm wand between two different decks.

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This is the first time I’ve looked at this thread in a month and it’s nice to see there is lots of activity. Yes, just for clarity about 1350 Aros were made. Plus an unspecified number of tops plus an unspecified number of staff builds.
Nice to hear some good news on the BBC this morning: vinyl sales this year are up 11.7% against last year, and this is the biggest volume (around 6 million vinyl sales in the UK) there has been since 1990!

It’s great to hear you guys are enjoying your LP12s so much :blush::sunglasses:.

KR, Peter

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It was launch in '87 replacing the Karma and it was eventually superseded by Arkiv in '90/91.
I remember a demo in April '87 at Audiotech Hq in Pisa along with Lp12/Ittok Nac 42.5/HC/250/Kan. I 've been so mesmerized by that system that i ordered a Troika for my recently acquired Lp12/Ittok/Asaka
P.s. I’ve just discussed with my Linn dealer in Cremona for the final spec. of the Sondek i’ll have in a few weeks.

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I’ve been making this deck work hard since the upgrades I had done this year. It sounds superb and entertains me in a way that streaming and CD’s can’t. It is now my favourite among my sources.

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Lovely deck and great pic :+1:

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Playing a live Doors double album (Bakersfield on 21 Aug 1970) on orange vinyl.IMG_0087|375x500

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Matches that plinth!

Fortunately the plinth won’t change colour if I put on a green or even purple LP!

Phew :grin: