I like the effect & look of a raw, unpainted head shell on my Ekos 2, not sure how I managed to strip off the paint myself 25 years ago!
But why? If you dont mind me asking
Not the greatest of images , so humble apologies
LP12 Klimax 40th Anniversary
Plinth is made from Highland Park 40 year old whisky barrel , solid as a rock , very dense
I’ve never had this LP12 and my LP12 ARO ( with Simon Price birds eye maple plinth ) in a side by side shoot out
Not sure I want to - love ‘em both
Lovely deck I remember them at the factory.
Did you change the arm for an SE/1 I remember them all being the previous SE unless they still supply.
Thought they were all sold out a long time ago.
I’m pretty sure it is the latest up to date SE Skeptikal
Must check with my dealer
It’s a beautiful product with what I would call a very incivise direct sound with tons of detail coming through
The LP12 ARO might potentially have a more relaxing floaty sound to it which I love but would love to have them side by side for comparison
Next year is the 50th anniversary for Sondek
If my maths is right
With all these upgrades over last year or so maybe the only one left to do is a new super duper SE
I’d love to hear your thoughts comparing both decks side by side, if you do and post your findings here would you be so kind to list the 'specs? What’s the cart on that SE Bevo? Lovely looking deck BTW…does popping it on top of the glass have a positive effect? It’s something I’ve been pondering is all…
@Bevo
Hi yes it is the latest SE /1 I thought they were all done with the older straight line short headshell unless you can still buy one.
I remember them sitting on barrels at the factory.
Hello Jenner’s
Need to pop it on the Naim Fraim ( glass with balls !) or equivalent , a very positive effect on SQ
LP12 Klimax comes fully loaded so to speak ( have a look on Linn website) , I have their Kandid cartridge which to me is an absolute cracker
Also have the Kandid on the LP12 ARO
If I get around to a side by side comparison I will definitely post my findings here
Thanks for asking Jenners
Cheers Bevo, appreciated. My deck is on a wallmounted shelf and over time the MDF board on top of the spikes has begun to bow, possibly because the feet from the Trampolin are nearer to the centre than the original baseboard was so glass could be a solution if it has no detrimental effect. I’ve got Naim cups and balls under a piece of glass beneath my CDX2 for my Quadraspire rack and the effect on the sound was immediate and impressive.
Out of interest, are you tempted to change the Linn stock felt mat for a Collaro? They do them in black now and pound for pound, one of the cheapest upgrades available.
Good point Jenners I should try the different mat, I’ll definitely investigate that
Thanks for the tip
If you do, you should discover the noisefloor reduces so you’ll have “blacker blacks” in the same way as upgrades to the bearing and going off-board with a PSU like a Lingo or Radikal does. The biggest benefit is the Collaro mat is significantly less static-prone than Linn’s so perfect for those awful 180g records!
FWIW, I use the Collaro mat too.
My ancient Target wall shelf had an MDF board that was developing holes from the spikes. I tried lots of things to see if I could improve sound (see other threads) - a marginal improvement was possible (though it broke the ‘anything light and rigid’ rules, and sometimes involved rubbery feet, lumps pf granite or both), but most options including glass and cups-and-balls from a Fraim made things materially worse.
Beating the simplest ‘light and rigid’ option in most rooms is really hard, and in many room it is probably impossible.
The best I found was to add the acrylic SRM base and isolation platform, resting all that on glass instead of the MDF in the Target shelf. The result has far less compliance than the feet on a Tramp 2. Firms like Stack also make well-regarded products in this area.
What works for some hi-fi boxes in one room may well not work at all in a different situation, so investigating some of this in your own room is a good idea if you can be bothered. A sheet of laminated or Fraim-style tempered glass is cheap and a replacement MDF board without the dents is even cheaper.
Assuming that you don’t want to fiddle with your Tramp 2, why not buy a couple of sheets of suitable materials, get a couple of friends round to help listening (ideally without knowing what you just spend 3 minutes changing), and spend an evening trying a few things?
If you want to try Naim cups and balls as part of that, just let me know - I have a set I got for this purpose and definitely have no use for them anywhere on my hi-fi, however well they work in the context of a full Fraim.
Thanks for sharing NickofWimbledon (and for the offer of cups n’ balls).
I’ll have a ponder and a play which ought to keep me amused for a while until I find the next thing to obsess over LOL!
I am hoping that the ‘awful 180g records’ comment was in jest.
Our new PM could endear herself to a tiny minority of the electorate’ if she were to make 180g mandatory for all LP pressings.
“I am hoping that the ‘awful 180g records’ comment was in jest”…
Sort of (ish) graham55. In general I’m not a fan, at least of re-issues as I find them to be static-prone and (at least in my system) to sound “flatter” than the originals and they come at a high price if bought as new. Having said that, I do like the Abbey Road Remaster series but splitting an album across 4 sides is a bit of a pain in the changing sides department.
Gone.
Since when did 180gm become a signifier for good sound? Don’t recall any of my 1960/1970s even 80s records coming with that badge.
I never weighed my albums in 68, it’s true…but I still tend to think this grammes thing is a bit of a gimmick.
It’s the mastering and source that makes the difference…not particularly thickness of the vinyl imho.
PS Second/ third etc the Collaro mat!
25 years ago, I was doing my LP12 a self-service because the Linn LP12 experts were few and far in the la-la-land, so I decided to take a look and clean up my Ekos 2, as it happened I stripped off the head shell paint work on an impulse, but I liked it and so the tone arm was a keeper.
I think personally I would prefer to use the time to play records…come to think of it Ive got an angle grinder in the shed…mmmmm I wonder😉
Joking aside, if I may ask how did you do it?