Linn Sondek LP12

I'm going to drop myself in it BIG TIME again if I'm not careful, but I do want to share some thoughts please - forgive the excess here...

I do own a Rega (RP3 24V minus arm used as a mule deck and currently with an ill-matched R200), I sold Regas for nearly thirty years and still listen to and play with the range now (Planar 10/Apheta 3 on Thursday evening for a few hours) and I still set up LP12's of all ages and vintages professionally fairly regularly (in other words I'm paid to do it)... The Planar 10 is a very serious product and as I said in another post I think, the 'sound' changed with the pressing played, so the deck itself couldn't really be pinned down sonically as it just did nothing of its own especially.

I honestly feel you do Rega a huge disservice today. The detail engineering under the skin is world class, although the external finish, as it's not blinged up, doesn't show it very well. So the Planar 10 and predecessors has a white platter, the mnore advanced main bearing is hidden and they've done a lot of research on materials for the little cord belts driving it. The 'white' platter for better or not, is very expensive to manufacture and machine? but it doesn't 'look' posh or even sexy-black as some delrin type platters do (Orbe anyone?) or thick-n-heavy as per the NAS Hyperspace... A Planar 3 can sound funky with careful cartridge choice - we used to sell Goldring 2042's with previous ones as the matching seemed excellent and today, a 2M bronze is superb imo with the current '3.'

The LP12 is still a 'blue printed' TD150 and if you take a TD150, re-plinth it (it fits an LP12 plinth nicely) and deal with the tonearm cable dressing like an LP12 and so on, you get an excellent 'sounding' record spinner that's not quite as stable sounding or 'grounded sounding' as a current LP12, but it's huge fun for a lot less money. The Thorens arm with balls for counterweights (TP13A?) should also work well with modern 1.8 - 2g trackers if the arm bearings are clean and not binding. I'm currently heavily steered down the Lenco route with a 75 and 78 to fettle (nowt wrong with the arms either that people chuck away foolishly imo), but would love to own a TD150ABmk2 one day if a nice one came up and I had the dosh spare.

Mind you, have any of you taken a look at a new spec LP12 under the top plate. Superficially it looks the same, but they've changed almost everything since the 80's. The plinths are stronger than ever, the sub-chassis' have changed again and are now aluminium I think, even the cheapest one (it's a business, to make money out of upgrades), the top-plate gained an extra motor area fixing years ago and the motors are now either low voltage or even DC heavily encased types with very smooth running (Radikal supply).

Something else, the Tiger Paw and Tangerine Audio upgrades are very interesting, making the LP12 roots even harder to hear. No direct comparison and prices are totally mad really, but a Tiger Paw 'LP12' is more like the Planar 10 I reckon and actually, more like master tape in miniature as far as the record cutting engineer will let you hear - and that's the final issue really..

P.S. Do we expect too much from our sources? After what I heard last Thursday, I'm wondering if so many ills that we put down to sources couldn't be helped hugely by a more powerful amp and larger more efficient speakers? Last Thursday, I heard the expensive PMC Fact 12's in a space too large for them (in my opinion) and I thought they struggled a bit sometimes where they 'fill' a sitting-room size room effortlessly. I rather wish they'd taken the gamble and bought some JBL L100 Classics, but apparently I was the only one interested - and I'm not buying.....