But if you want to avoid heavily DJ used gear, then why go for a tt meant for DJ use

[Batty]

Yes, I know, I love it. Best TT I have owned. Then again I have only owned 3, Amstrad TP12D and a Garrard DD130.

[DSJR]

I don't know how some of the products we sold got in "under the Linn/Naim radar" back then, but the Rock comfortably out-performed the LP12 in the mid to late eighties. I believe our then sales director promoted the ARO tonearm as the way forward for Linnies, but imo it wasn't until the Cirkus came along that arms other than Linn ones could really be used to better advantage,

[anthonyTD]

That's very kind of you both. I'll bear it in mind when I'm mobile again.

hi welder,
i am frequently over the bridge so if ever you fancy a cuppa on neutral ground!
anthony,TD...

[chris@panteg]

Yes, I know, I love it. Best TT I have owned. Then again I have only owned 3, Amstrad TP12D and a Garrard DD130.

I will never forget ' Penta show 1988 ' when i heard Max's Rock Reference and my oh my ' did it sound utterly breathtaking .

Next day i had a sesh with my LP12 , and just thought well this is crap in comparison , when i spoke to my local Linn dealer about it ' he just dismissed it as not playing music yeah right i thought , carried on upgrading the LP12 but it never got near that Rock Ref sound .

[Techno Commander]

I was fortunate enough to hear a non reference Rock many yearts ago. From what I remember it had an SME IV, but I dont remember the cartridge. Never before have I listened to a record with such a silly grin and my jaw so near to the carpet. Epic would be an understatement.

The chap in question, also had a Garrard 401 with an SME 312. The Garrard probably had the edge in openness, but the speed and dynamics of the Rock were unquestionable.

[Techno Commander]

when i spoke to my local Linn dealer about it ' he just dismissed it as not playing music

I agree, Linns do not play music.

They just play records. Which isnt necessarily the same thing.

[MartinT]

he just dismissed it as not playing music yeah right i thought

Linn dealers were a pain in the arse in those days. I never forget a salesman at Graham's Hi-Fi in London, when I asked why the Fons appeared to sound better, said 'I have every faith in Linn'. And that pretty well summed it up: it was a religion so all sense of proportion and clear thinking were gone.

[chris@panteg]

I don't want to start a Linn Bashing thing ' but at that time one of Linn sales pitches was if it sounds better it is better .

At Penta 1988 i listened to Roksan's ' LP12's a few Voyds and Oxford ref,
but without a doubt the Rock reference was for me the outstanding record player at that show , and it was a great show with Vinyl still dominant ' new turntables everywhere it seemed , halcyon days indeed.

[DSJR]

Linn dealers were a pain in the arse in those days. I never forget a salesman at Graham's Hi-Fi in London, when I asked why the Fons appeared to sound better, said 'I have every faith in Linn'. And that pretty well summed it up: it was a religion so all sense of proportion and clear thinking were gone.

"...we...at...Grahams...will...tell...you...how... to...choose...your...audio...system!" "You...will...obey...as...we...know...what...is... best...for...you..."

An influential and very "controlling" dealer I found at the time. the competitor I worked at was outwardly friendlier, but the Linn/Naim mantra was still there in the background.

[Epicurus]

Probably not in this country - and most of them would've been crap. Some of the truly awful 'cheap 'n' cheerful' D/D turntables which flooded the UK market in the 70s and 80s, often as part of 'midi systems', and the like, did the reputation of direct-drive no favours whatsoever!

I would like to add here that a great deal of "El Cheapo" turntables that were part of a huge number of horrendous "midi systems" were belt-driven; I'll give you two prime examples: an all-in-one radio/tape recorder/turntable stereo system (complete with two craptastic "speakers" that pretended to be full range and had no sound deadening inside AT ALL) that my father had bought at the dawn of 1980 or so. It was made by an Asian company named "Silver" (its badge looked a bit like a crown) and it was constructed out of a space-age material named... polystyrene. It had a floppy polystyrene platter, an even floppier subchassis (oh yes, it was a "suspended subchassis" affair, à la Dual CS-505), a tonearm with a polystyrene headshell and a chrome-plated wand of an unknown metal... That thing ruined many of my favourite records - literally. Would you like me to tell you more about its "performance"? Or the Sony midi system that was its successor to my parents' audio throne in the mid-'90s... Plastic everything... Yes, these were suspended, belt-driven turntables, as were many other such units; given the relatively low cost of developing a belt-driven turntable, I'd be inclined to expect the number of crappy "El Cheapo" belt-driven turntables that were destined to be part of "midi systems" to be greater than the number of direct-drive ones. Yet, despite this, it is only direct drive that gets a bad rap. Perhaps this is one of the cases when common "wisdom" is actually common myth.