I suppose that we all just need to accept that we’re on a treadmill which it’s particularly difficult to get off! (Not that any of us really want to, if we’re honest with ourselves.)
I think that having the Keel fitted (in my case, the Keel/A) was the biggest single improvement that I’ve ever made to my LP12 in some 40 years. Everything seemed to be in better focus all of a sudden, but - oddly - quieter too.
I have yet to hear what the new Te Kaitora Rua will do that the XX-2 MkII didn’t do.
Linn’s LP12 has been undergoing ‘improvements’ pretty much since it first came out, but I think that the Keel is the biggest leap forward that Linn ever made to it (both in theory and in execution).
If ever they came out with an anniversary edition of the Troika, I’d barge my way to the head of the queue. I should never have passed on that when it came out.
I’ll admit that I never heard one when it was around, but it must be the sexiest looking cartridge ever made. Would it be better than the TKR? I have no idea, but I’d try to find a new ‘wand’ for the ARO, and then I could go through my entire LP collection deciding which cartridge I preferred for each LP!
The problem that I foresee is that I have been away from home for over nine months now, and I haven’t heard any music in that time other than what comes out of the TV in my various rooms.
Still, it won’t be easy to budge me from my music room when I do get home, which should be quite soon now.
Better is always available for almost every LP12 as you know. IMV there’s not a lot wrong with what you have. Nicely balanced and very similar to my first LP12 (which I thought was the dogs wotsits and loved to bits) except that yours has a better cartridge and a much better bearing. Bet it sounds lovely.
It must be 20 years since we did the trip up there. The Highland Park visit was an add on by the cruise ship company. HP is almost a well known brand in a lot of supermarkets.
Scapa is a new one to me. An approriate name with the areas history.
Kirkwall was/is tiny and pretty sleeply when we visited. I wonder if that has changed.
Having auditioned a TKR against a XX2, the difference was immediate to my ears - an easy if expensive decision on a high-spec LP12. It was a few years ago now and I hate to think what a TKR now costs I’m not a fan of Linn’s cartridges, with my ears regarding them as ‘thin’ (obviously YMMV), and the XX2/TKR were said by the highly respected dealer involved to be better for rock/my taste in music.
My intuition is that’s as far as I’d go on a wooden/bamboo-plinthed LP12, as the Tangerine Stiletto (very expensive) brings a material increase in performance and it was a close-run thing for me to go this route with a XX2.
Thanks for your input. I’m committed now, as the TKR is fitted to the ARO on my LP12, and it’s just a case of getting home to hear it.
I bought it unheard, having been very happy with my previous Dynavectors (DV17D and XX2MkII), so I trust that I’ll enjoy it when I eventually get home.
Fortunately, perhaps, I’ve forgotten what it cost, but I did trade in my old XX2 against the new one which Grahams will be fitting to the LP12 they’re putting together for my son, lucky chap that he is.
Well, of course we’re lucky that there are so many clever chaps and chapesses out there designing these lovely cartridges for us. I’ve always thought that cartridges are the most miraculous part of the audio replay system.*
How can something so small do so much?
*(To be fair, the laser scanner thingy inside the CD player is pretty remarkable too.)
“I am a bit mystified by this. Surely, a brand new Sondek comes with a Motor - and Sub Chassis…?
So why the used Motor and Sub Chassis…?”
I think I can answer this IanRobertM based on what Peter did for me. He started with a bare plinth, he’s got several to choose from either from customers who have swapped their original Linn’s out for a Simon Price number or a “second”. I chose a black ask “second” as my starting point and Peter built it up from there using a mixture of new and trade-in/ex-demo components to get within budget.