Couldn’t agree more @FrankF , absolutely love mine, sounds sublime!
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The use of Krane as an example wasn’t a slur on performance it was just that isn’t made by Linn. 
The debate was about top of the range SE/1 what next.
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Just out of interest, is the Arko outsourced (do you know)? It looks really nice but I’ve never seen a review from an actual user. It actually looks similar to a Rega arm to me.
Yes the only arms in house sort of are later Akito Ekos 1/2 and SE and SE/1
I think Arko might be according to claims but not sure.
Akito early and Ittok and Basik were Japanese.
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My Linn LP12 arm history is quite short…
- Rega R200 (4 months)
- Linn Ittok (1982 onwards - 42 years so far)
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They’re good aren’t they? My Ittok bearings were still great after 41 years. Incredible engineering
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Thanks 
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Glad to help.
I assume mine is fine, as its been off & on my deck, several times, with Peter @Cymbiosis …
Not Broken.
No one in my family or my circle of friends has spent the price of an Ekos on their whole system let alone a single item so I have no idea what anyone thinks other than what I read. Folk I know are more likely to say ‘you spent how much ….’ rather than, you really should have bought an Aro 
.
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The Aro was brought out to compete with the Ittok and give a makers choice and type of arm at the time.
Evolutions of the Ekos have come a long way but it’s a personal choice your ears to compare if you can the Aro is still a cult following item.
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A cult item partly because it was, in effect, a limited edition?
It wasn’t a Ltd edition release but it faded away.
I think the guy that made them at the factory moved on.
I’ve seen that but it strikes me as odd, unless Naim was simply humouring a trusted employee & allowing them to run a cottage industry? With such an amazing product you’d think Naim would ensure a team was trained to replace their Fletcher? I’m wondering if the cost of the bits became prohibitive making the arm uncompetitive (£ for £)?
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Almost worthy of Morgan Cars ! Sir John Harvey-Jones of ‘Troubleshooter’ fame would have had a field day analysing the Aro production line and its ‘craft’ approach.
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Linn indeed makes a big point about Arko being their first new own tonearm in a long time. Not many reviews here about it, surely a member should have heard it, maybe as part of a Selekt level buy?
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I’ll dig deep and find out but saying it’s a new arm from them might just mean it’s a new arm.
Edit
Arko seems indeed to be a new Linn version and it seems to incorporate the Akito bias control.
Krane is from Clearaudio
Both Kendo and Exstatik carts are from EMT.
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Just thought that I would share an update on my first visit to my local Linn dealer today to listen to an LP12 Majik in it’s rawest form.
Overall it was a lovely experience, a friendly knowledgeable chat, excellent coffee and some good tunes.
It was great to get an unbiased view of my plan to upgrade my system, thoughts and suggestions on which direction to go, what kit I may want to audition, alternatives that I should consider, what are my thoughts on ex-demo or pre-loved kit.
Very interested to see LP12’s in different configurations, and plinth colours, watching whilst a Klimax was being built up prior to being installed in its new owners house was pretty cool, way above my budget though.
When we sat down and listened to some music the LP12 Majik was run through the MM Phono Stage of Naim’s Supernait 3 to a pair of Kudos Super 20A floor standers, played a mix of LP’s which allowed the set-up to show what it can do, and I have to say it did that rather well.
The store is more than happy to work with my time frame, they agree that walking through the process of upgrading is the best way forward.
My thoughts are; LP12 Majik + Lingo 4 (unless they get a Lingo 1, 2 or 3 come in as part of an upgrade), then sit back and enjoy some music for a while before upgrading the amplification (I did like the SN3), speakers will be last upgrade if I think that my ATC’s could be improved upon (I think that they can).
For me the biggest lesson I had was just how effortlessly the music came from those Kudos speakers, yes the 20A’s are considerably bigger and a good chunk of money more than my ATC’s but the difference was huge, scarily huge. I was just amazed at how the music just flowed over me whilst we sat there, even at low volumes, this is something that I just do not get from my system at the moment but very definitely a goal to aim for.
A great few hours, very enlightening.
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Glad you enjoyed.
I have a Klimax LP12 Supernait 3 and Kudos X3 speakers.
I’m very happy and need no more.
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