Or life’s hard workers …
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People who work in factories and restaurants work harder than me, so no.
Luck. Talent. Balls. It’s things other than hard work.
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SL-1000R will be quite a bit more than the Solstice, you’d need a headshell, cartridge and phono pre. You’re likely to end up well over 20K. But if I win the lottery, it’s the table that will be top of my list.
Would love to hear the Solstice, but not sure I could live with its aesthetics. The phono pre otoh, would certainly be auditioned if sold separately.
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Well I was meanings seems only 500 units available you will need to be lucky to score one.
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Sure there are certainly hard workers making a lot of money, but most hard workers don’t make enough to spend 16000£ on a TT.
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In what way was it fiddly and unreliable? 
Other than the usual vinyl “fiddly-ness” of course. 
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You know, I just wonder if LP12 owners are really the Solstice’s target market. It is, as it were, pitched against the Klimax but just how many of those do Linn sell in a year? Thing is, the LP12 is one of the very few decks on the market designed to be forward compatible. A few minutes reading of the LP12 owners group on FB will reveal that many members have had their decks for donkeys’ years, starting out with a competent, reasonably priced deck and then upgrading it with a mixture of new and secondhand Linn or 3rd party products. It’s part of the joy of Linn ownership and a hobby, well it certainly is in my case! I think it will be those customers who but expensive “closed-box” products the Solstice will appeal to more so we’re talking Mcintosh, Clearaudio, Technics, Vertere here really, not Linn IMHO
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Suspension leading to placement neediness, back to base every year for a upgrade and a fine tune, the general feeling that there were too many variables leading to a lack of confidence in it providing optimal performance.
That sort of stuff!
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It’s this “Triggers Broom” argument that I find so hard to reconcile. Yes it’s forward compatible, but it’s basically a rebuild every year when a new but comes out leaving little or nothing original (save the plinth - and SURELY Linn are looking at a Stiletto type plinth they can charge £8K for in the next 12 months) so is it REALLY forward compatible? …or is it just a bag of bits…
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The LP12 in its early days used to have a problem with the springs coming out of alignment, sometimes as soon as you got it home from set-up by the dealer Very frustrating. Those days are long gone. Mine only gets disturbed if I want an upgrade. Otherwise it just keeps going-which is what you want. The acid test: bounce. If its totally vertical, no worries.
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…and given the likely costs of swapping from a high-spec LP12 to say Solstice/a.n.other (e.g. SME 15/perhaps 20) at this level, one might consider simply getting (say) the Stiletto plinth which, to my ears, is quite a leap forward.
I’m also intrigued by the what nowadays constitutes the ‘Naim sound’ (or somesuch), as Naim’s amp presentation has changed over the years. Yes, the fundamentals of PRaT remain but things have changed.
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“It’s this “Triggers Broom” argument that I find so hard to reconcile. Yes it’s forward compatible, but it’s basically a rebuild every year when a new but comes out leaving little or nothing original (save the plinth - and SURELY Linn are looking at a Stiletto type plinth they can charge £8K for in the next 12 months) so is it REALLY forward compatible? …or is it just a bag of bits…”
Well, Linn make it possible to take either option. Customers can buy an out-of-the-box and ready to go Majik for about £2500 or spend £18k on a Klimax. There is no need to tweak or upgrade it as either a top performers in their price category. The point is though, let’s say you buy an alternative product at either price point, like a Rega or Thorens, or a Mcintosh or Vertere and then something like the Solstice comes on the market which outperforms your deck. What do you do? Your deck can’t be upgraded so there’s little option but to trade it in or sell it on eBay for a mega loss. The after-market for upgrades ensure the LP12 can remain performant, that’s the beauty of the brand - customers remain loyal for life. It’s genius!
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I think the real achievement here is someone coming up with something that sounds really good and doesn’t cost as much as a Tesla to own.
The frustration is that, as with any hobby or passion/obsession, that only a very minor section of the owner base find themselves in a position to invest the time and money to get the “best” setup.
I sat and listened to a full Naim Statement system again last night (not mine btw) with a full fat ND555 feeding it. Did various A-B playback between 552/500 to same Focal Scala’s, sounds lovely of course, but then I’d expect nothing less than the “band in the room” having spent not much shy of £1/4m on a thing that steams stereo audio.
Marmite as the LP12 is, you can still build a working one from parts older than I am, you’ll probably not be able to say the same for the NVS in 10-15 years time. Look at the original Aro tonearm, it’s just a collection of machined metal parts but somehow it wasn’t possible to just build another couple 1000 of them?
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I await with baited breath the conclusion for which of course there couldn’t possibly be.
I get to have a sit and listen in a few weeks courtesy of my dealer and their sofa/coffee machine.
My impression is Naim are going to be very cautious about saying it’s “better” than anything it’s likely to be compared to, hence the safe response being it’s got a “Naim sound” which given it’s only a source and depends on the amp, cabling, speakers, room and your ears, is open to interpretation as always.
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I really don’t get this Matt. I have had an LP12 for 34 years, slowly upgrading over time to the point where it’s just above Akurate level (late Ittok instead of an Akito). I have never found it fiddly or unreliable. In fact, apart from the odd upgrade and a service every five years or so, it’s pretty much fit and forget. A joy to use, an even bigger joy to listen to.
As for it looking its age… well for me, that’s part of its appeal. But then again I am a fluted afro fundamentalist…
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I guess Clive must have been a one-off/irreplaceable ?
My old Aro is still going strong - other than repairing the filament wire/weight and the occasional rebalance, never had an issue with it. The only thing to watch out for is cueing after a couple of pints…
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I am with you here: the early Linn was perhaps never as good as the hype, but it is to my mind nowhere near as “bad” in its’current iteration as is sometimes made out to be (I have not heard a Klimax lp12, indeed have heard very little gear other than my own).
The only “failure” I have had in more than 35 years’ ownership was a blown Valhalla board.
When I put my stereo into storage preparatory to putting my house up for sale, my mate carried the Linn to his van, and out the other end at 90degrees the wrong angle. When, more than a year later I set the deck back up and switched it on, everything was fine.
I am also reminded of a guy I worked with asking me "what about the Pink Triangle " when I mentioned I was looking to get a Linn. This was in 1984. Last year, it was updated with Karousel, Kore, Lingo 4 etc etc etc.
It is a design that has stood the test of time, has proven reliable, and has had manufacturer support (albeit at a cost) 4 decades later.
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I remember when I got my LP12 all those years ago, I auditioned a Pink Triangle as well. I loved the sound of both – they were different, but equally as good. When I told the dealer I couldn’t quite decide, he told me bluntly (and he was a PT stockist) that the Pink, while a great TT, was notoriously unreliable and not that well built. Get the Linn, he said. Linn aren’t going anywhere, the Sondek is fantastically well made and will last forever – and if you want to upgrade it in the future, you can (at the time, IIRC, that meant getting a better arm or cart).
I have never regretted the decision to go for the fruitbox.
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I am certainly going to compare the Solstice with my LP12. I would also like, if possible, to compare with my Superline/SupercapDR in the Solstice config.
Richard
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