REPRODUCEDFROMTHEEAR
BYCHRISKELLY TURNTABLE,ARM&CARTRIDGE LINNKLIMAXLP12
Ihave been involved in reviewing Hi-Fi equipmentforsometimenow,butonly ocasionalyhaveIbeengenuinelyexcited butalsonervousaboutreceivingapieceof equipmenttoaudition.Whentheeditortold methathisrequesttoLinnAudiofora reviewsampleoftheirrange-toppingLP12 had been approved, I actualy got goosebumps.Forthoseofusofacertain vintage,theLP12hasbeenanobjectof desireforseveraldecades.Firstintroduced intheearly‘70s,itisalmosthalfacentury sinceitfirstarivedandalthoughatime travelerfromthosedayswouldrecognisea 2022 LP12,itwould in factbe avery diferentmachinefromitsforbears.Ibought myfirstLP12backinthesummerof2018.It wasapre-ownedmodelfromtheearly‘0s, butIwasabletohaveitbroughtprety muchuptodatewithawholelotofnew parts.InfactalthatremainedoftheoneI boughtwastheItoktonearmandthedust cover.Thisabilitytoupgradeandmodernise anLP12isoneofthekeystoitslongevity.
Unlikemanymoremodernturntables,theLP12needsa specialisttobuildit,toinstalitandtomaintainit.Thus LinnaskedAlexScot-Simons,themanagingdirectorof StoneAudioinPooleandanLP12specialist,tobuild andthendeliverandinstalthereviewmodelontheir behalf,andhekindlytookonthetask.Inthefirstweek ofDecemberhe arived and unloaded the partly asembleddevicealongwiththepiecesheneededtofit in situ,and then went through the meticulous instalationofthedeckonthetopshelfofmysystem rack.TheKlimaxisthetopofthecurentLP12lineup. TheKlimaxhasaUrikaIphonostagebuiltintothe flutedwalnutplinthandanEkstatikMCcartridgefited totheEkosSEtonearm.TheexternalDCpowersupply isthenew Radikal,asurprisinglyheavydeviceina machinedaluminium case,whichinthereviewsample wasanodisedinsilver(anodisedblackisalsoavailable). BecausethepowerinletontheRadikalisrecesed underthecasing,itprovedimposibletouseanymains cable except the one supplied, so no hefty Furutech-pluggedaftermarketoptionscanbeused.As theLinnsuppliedoneworkedsowelthiswasnotan isue,butImentionitforthoseofyouwhohave investedinexpensivemainscables.
34 MUSICATHOME+
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