Linn Asak / VdH - good buy / bad buy?

[jandl100]

Quite a few hours put on the wee beastie last night, very varied fare - CDs didn't get a look in, and nor did a couple of new power cables collected at the Brizzle Show! - the VdH-Asak didn't miss a beat - I reckon it's AOK and my initial instinct to go for it was a good one.
Phew!

Excellent transparency and detail, and a huge sense of musical enthusiasm - perhaps something like a grown up DL-103?

Hmm ... I wonder what the carts further up the Linn range sound like? .. although I think these are really Supex 1000?

[Barry]

Quite a few hours put on the wee beastie last night, very varied fare - CDs didn't get a look in, and nor did a couple of new power cables collected at the Brizzle Show! - the VdH-Asak didn't miss a beat - I reckon it's AOK and my initial instinct to go for it was a good one.
Phew!

Excellent transparency and detail, and a huge sense of musical enthusiasm - perhaps something like a grown up DL-103?

Hmm ... I wonder what the carts further up the Linn range sound like? .. although I think these are really Supex 1000?

The origin of the Linn Asak is a bit of a mystery. It was designed by Supex against a specification supplied by Linn, but it is not at all clear the design was manufactured by Supex. (Linn imported the Supex SD900 for use in the Grace 707 arm - so Supex would have been their first port of call.)

I spent a fair amount of time surfing the web trying to find who made the Linn Asak, but got nowhere. Not even members of the Linn user's own web site have any idea. To some extent it is academic since Supex, like Grace, are no longer in business.

As for the sound - well it looks as though you have landed a "good 'un" Jerry, though it must be remembered the Van den Hul stylus profile could have made a substantial difference to the sound over the original Ogura profile tip.

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? For my part I'm enjoying the Ashkenazy Beethoven piano concertos you sold me - fabulous!

Cheers

[walpurgis]

My recollection is hazy, but isn't the Asak basically a rebodied Osawa OS series MC?

Osawa and Supex MCs had much in common if I'm correct.

[Barry]

My recollection is hazy, but isn't the Asak basically a rebodied Osawa OS series MC?

Osawa and Supex MCs had much in common if I'm correct.

I heard that speculation - but could find no information about the Osawa OS series, to either confirm or dismiss the claim.

[walpurgis]

I owned a Supex SD-900 and an Osawa OS-60L and they certainly sounded rather similar.

[Marco]

Nice acquisition, Jerry

Back in the early 80s, I had a Linn Trak (on my then Ariston RD-11S/Linn LV V), which was housed in the same style body-shell as your Asak, although blue, and had a very similar sound to what you describe - and it could boogie, too!

The results of re-tips can often be a bit of a lottery, but it seems that the one performed on your cartridge has been successful. I guess that to hear the Asak at its best, the use a decent SUT or head amp, into the MM setting of your phono stage would be very beneficial. That would certainly sort out any issues you have with gain.

If you decide that the Asak is a keeper (well, at least for a while ), then see if you can source a Lentek head amp (usually obtainable secondhand for around £80), which works wonderfully well with all Supex-made Linn MCs, such as the Asak, as well as the DL-103 - and you’ll be stunned at the results you’ll get!

Enjoy

Marco.

[DSJR]

if I can remember, Supex did a model called the SDX2000, upon which the Asak looks to have been based. The plastic body was slightly different and the Asak had a Vital tip, but I understand there were many similarities and to my knowledge, the Asak WAS made by Supex. Linn wanted to take the design a little further and by removing the metal can and adding an amount of araldite type adhesive between the magnets and top, to act as damping (and then replacing the can), the Asak T was born. All the best measuring Asaks became the 'T' and the ones just out of spec became the 'Trak.'

A friend of mine had an Asak which he sent to VDH in the early 80's to be re-tipped. On return, the sound was pretty awful through his Naim/'Brik system I remember (bear with me for a minute). The sound as fitted was harsh, gritty and rather tuneless and I think Koetsu Red went in instead for a while before a Troika eventually. had we given the VDH more time to bed in, things might have been different, but these initial impressions just served to magnify the Asak's failings - a shallow soundstage and occasional one-note treble on good jazz recordings. The Asak could never play choral or close-miked piano very well in a LP12/Ittok combination, as mistracking was a big problem at the time.

Jerry, your example is over thirty years old and things may well have changed inside over this time. It's not in a mid 80's LP12 either, so I suspect the results you're getting may well be totally opposite to mine, when the thing had just been done. I wonder if it's the same sample, as my pal sold it quite quickly after getting it back?

[hifi_dave]

Osawa had a range of 3 MCs, all with a similar layout to the Asak which appeared sometime later. The Osawa cartridges had a more substantial construction with their entry level being similar in spec to the Asak, which was more expensive. We used to sell the Osawa cartridges and Nagaoka which were distributed in the UK by the same company.

[jandl100]

Interesting comments all, thanks folks.

Yup, Marco, the gain issue has been sorted by using the active device previously hinted at ... in fact it's an ancient A&R Cambridge HA10 mc stepup. Belay the scoff ... I've had it head to head with a couple of lower cost SUTs including a Denon something-or-other and it beat 'em!
But I'll look out for a Lentek, thanks for the tip.

Using the A&R HA10 into the mm input on my Jasmine phonostage and a very dynamic and clear sound results. Nice. & no hum. I'm really enjoying it .... I'll carry on for a few days and then swap back to my Orty MC25FL .... I have a feeling the Orty will come out of the comparison a little worse for wear, but we'll see.

[jandl100]

... For my part I'm enjoying the Ashkenazy Beethoven piano concertos you sold me - fabulous!

Cheers

Thanks for that, Barry. Good to hear you are enjoying it.

If I didn't have an identical set in my own collection already, I'd have kept the one you bought!