Overnight trip then if going by rail?
Graham’s moved to Barnet I think or somewhere near there. Can’t say I fancy taking my Linn by train!
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I have the great pleasure of Peter coming to visit me.
If I did travel to him it would be by car.
Thanks…. Oh yeah, I saw that last year. I just thought that there might be some more recent news like a Superline+… well, I can dream!
Richard
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Well I’ve gone and bought a Troika which I’ll send to Goldring for assessment and probable rebuild. The number is in the 7000’s, but there seems to be no record of year etc unlike Naim. It looks pretty good on the whole from photographs, and is complete, but looking is obviously not the same as hearing. If it all comes off, I figure total cost should be one helluva lot less than a new Kandid or, gulp, Ekstatic.
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Hope it works out. The only way to really know if something is for you is to try it out.
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@steviebee….Hi Steve this post is a bit of serendipity.
I have been considering trying to find a Troika and a Goldring rebuild as my next cartridge but am little hesitant of the process and result.
You could be my canary in the mine !! Please keep posting your progress & good luck hope it works out.
ATB Graham
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Will do Graham!
Yeah @Murmur, it’s an itch I’ve long wanted to scratch - just to see. I haven’t heard a Supex Troika in years so I’ve nothing really to compare the rebuild to…apart from my Kandid.
A new sound presentation, then.
Worth a shot.
I made the jump from a tired Krystal to a Goldring rebuilt Troika earlier this year. I gather the rebuilds do not sound like an original Supex cart- but as they are impossible to get hold of, it is a good second best.
It suits my LP12 and Ittok perfectly- love the sound- a bit less clinical than the Krystal which I never completely warmed to. Looking forward to hearing how you get on
ATB
Jonathan
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Should be here in about 3 days, Graham… I’ll post pics once I have it, then get onto Goldring to book assessment.
Here’s one of the seller pics in the meantime, hard to make out the tip:
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I had my old Troika rebuild by David at Goldring with their optional “upgrade” of a boron cantilever and micro ridge diamond. It took a few hours to “run in”, but i think it sounds brilliant now. Well worth it. I also have a low hours ESC rebuilt troika that i used while mine was away being rebuilt, which also sounds pretty good, but the upgraded Goldring rebuild is convincingly better.
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Thanks @kwhitmarsh! I’d been pondering Goldring vs Expert so your post is very welcome!
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I may be wrong, but I think ESC is generally a re-tipping service whereas Goldring is actually a rebuild.
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Correct.
Goldring service is a rebuild.
Hope this is interesting and helpful…
My sincere thanks ( again) to David Giffin for sharing images.
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Glad you like it, but it’s not a Troika any more.
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Hi this is interesting how much does such a rebuild cost???
First, guess it depends on the cost of a used Troika, ( if you don’t already have one ).
From memory, think the rebuild was about £400, back in 2020.
But, total expense, maybe less than cost of other MC options - Dynavector DV 20X2 - Rega Ania Pro - Hana SL.
IMHO, worth it for the SQ delivered by this most beautiful MC cartridge. Particularly in our case, with Ittok + LP12, etc.
Best wishes
R
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I’m always happy with my Karma (Ittok and valhalla), but a recent change from latest, to an older Linn belt, tho resulted in a fuller and easier sound with the Kan, it sounds a bit too loose and laidback (ie too old skool) for my taste with little bit of ‘dirt’.
Interestingly I wasn’t a fan of Troika before when I had the latest belt – dried, unnatural and lean.
Not until now I found Troika is the Karma got perfected – more solid imaging and soundstage, no more ‘glares’ and occasional brighter balance (depends on records).
Troika (with original cantilever) was certainly voiced with older Linn belt – not dried or lean anymore, it just sounds right.
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Interesting. When you say older Linn belt - how old are we talking?
Just that several years ago Linn changed the belt for a short period only before going back to the normal one cos most people didn’t like it. Do wasn’t sure if you had that one or were talking vintage belts from the 80s.
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Right just like you said, any iterations before 2019, should be a tad looser than the latest.
Sorry but just trying to get this straight in my head. So we have:
- Pre-2019 original thin belt which Linn held stock of for decades but it was fast running out
- 2019 newly developed thicker belt which many people didn’t like as much
- Post-2019 thin belt which I assume was newly manufactured
@juliushui Are you saying that you’ve compared both thin belts (1 and 3) and prefer option 1?
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