My 1210 is in hospital again . . .

[Macca]

I thought the Linn was a design they had nicked from Ariston, itself a copy of the Thorens TD150, which in turn was based on Acoustic Research's belt drive design.

That sort of thing was what they ended up going with although I think the whole 'They stole the design' thing is a bit sketchy.

[Barry]

That sort of thing was what they ended up going with although I think the whole 'They stole the design' thing is a bit sketchy.

Hamish Roberson had no manufacturing base for his design of the Ariston RD11 turntable, so he subcontracted manufacture to Castle Precision, a company owned by Ivor Tiefenbrun's father. Ivor Tiefenbrun saw the design and thought he could improve on it. A legal battle over patents followed but Roberson died before the situation could be resolved.

Certainly the original belt drive design was made, and promoted by Edgar Villchur of Acoustic Research.

[bob orbell]

And the rest is history, and its good history, long live the LP12. Bob

[Marco]

So I'm all cocked and loaded to do it. I'm going to do some testing first, but either way it'll be an improvement, as my current transformer was starting to hum a bit, so I'll try it in and outside the deck before decided if I want the extra box. The guy who made it said he plans to do a ready made external one, which judging from his work should be good. I'll update here on that if he ever does?

Hi Tim,

From considerable experience, I'd highly recommend externalising the PSU, as it keeps a pretty strong magnetic field away from the cartridge. The results from doing so are significant.

It's one of the first things I did to my Techy

Marco.

[Marco]

I think the concept of stripping kit down dates back to the 1970s when the Jap decks couldn't be any good because of all the 'trinkets' and what you wanted was a British deck built for sound quality alone. Whereas the reality was the British deck was a bit of plywood or MDF with a rubber belt and a cheap motor made in a shed for five bob. It's simplicity was just a side effect of a lack of engineering skills and investment in equipment.

The Sondek was originally going to be a direct drive until Linn realised it would be too hard for them to do that.

Wot he said

However... There were a lot of shite direct-drives around, too. Some you could play the drums on, just by tapping on the plinth! So you had to know how to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

Wot he said

However... There were a lot of shite direct-drives around, too. Some you could play the drums on, just by tapping on the plinth! So you had to know how to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Marco.

Price was always a good guide in this respect. You did get what you paid for. Technics, Sony and Denon all had some quality decks, but they came at a cost. I 'inherited' a cheapy cheap Sansui deck a couple of years ago, it was dreadful. Be ok for headphone listening I suppose.

[Macca]

I bought a cheapo Sony direct drive, the ones with the hollow plastic plinth. It was okay, provided you didn't drum on it, not really far off an SL1200 as you'd worry that much. I was going to tinker with it by adding blu tak to the inside of the plinth and whatever else came to mind, but then someone needed a deck so I gave it away.

Also had a Sanyo DD in faux rosewood plinth that came as part of a job lot. Mint, not a mark on it, or the lid, looked brand new. That was also pretty decent, good enough for anyone not taking vinyl very seriously. Gave that to the bloke who fitted my FM ariel. Probably sell for £200 on ebay now.

This was the Sanyo - TP1012

[Pigmy Pony]

I bought a cheapo Sony direct drive, the ones with the hollow plastic plinth. It was okay, provided you didn't drum on it, not really far off an SL1200 as you'd worry that much. I was going to tinker with it by adding blu tak to the inside of the plinth and whatever else came to mind, but then someone needed a deck so I gave it away.

Also had a Sanyo DD in faux rosewood plinth that came as part of a job lot. Mint, not a mark on it, or the lid, looked brand new. That was also pretty decent, good enough for anyone not taking vinyl very seriously. Gave that to the bloke who fitted my FM ariel. Probably sell for £200 on ebay now.

This was the Sanyo - TP1012

Your generosity is matched only by your capacity for filling your house with stuff you haven't given away yet

[Macca]

well they didn't owe me much, twenty quid each or so. This is 25 years ago I'm talking. No-one wanted turntables.

I'd take that Sanyo over a Rega 3. But not over an SL1200 or the old LP12 Valhalla. Or a Systemdek IIX which is what I ended up with for a long time.

[Pigmy Pony]

I sometimes wish I'd held onto my old Valhalla Linn with its Grace G707 and MP11 Boron, but I got a decent deal part ex-ing against the Monarch. But then what would I do with it? Just be cluttering up the place. I've seen tee shirts that say "It's not hoarding if it's vinyl", but that's meaning records, not record players.