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You are looking at an sale for a used Linn Sondek LP-12 Turntable that has been upgraded with a full Funk-Firm Vector kit which includes: The Clarity carbon fiber top-plate, the Charm carbon fiber/end-grain balsa composite sub-chassis and armboard, the K-Drive DC motor and motor controller, and the Achromat platter mat.
The table itself is from 1990. Serial Number 84777. It includes a Cirkus bearing and inner-platter (see pic. 9), and a corner braced black ash plinth. The table is in good cosmetic condition, but has some minor scratches, and scuffs. See pictures. The lid is in good condition for 25 year oldPlexiglas, with many small scratches from years of dusting, etc. It looks quite good from a few feet away, but close-up in strong light, one will noticemyriadlights scratches. The unit comes with a pair of brand new hinges, and a fresh bottle of Linn black oil.
The Funk upgrades are a refinement on the Pink Triangle Pink-Link Upgrades for the LP-12, and use many of the same technologies that went into the famous Pink Triangle AnniversaryTurntable. The Anniversary has a cult-like following, check the internet if you don\'t already know what I am talking about.
Brief explanation of the Vector Upgrades:The Vector pulley system maintains equal belt pressure all the way around the inner platter keeping the platter up-right and perfectly steady--rather than constantly being tugged to one side as in the normal drive-beltarrangement. This provides many of the advantages of direct-drive with none of its drawbacks. The use of a quiet, smooth DC motor and K-Drive allows the motor to be mounted directly to the sub-chassis, thus eliminating the tendency of the LP-12\'s suspended sub-chassis to gyrate with the fluctuations in motor torque. This also minimizes the effect of the infamous P-Clip. As you can see from the pictures, I took advantage of this by wiring to the tonearm via small flexible wires, allowing a much more free bounce in the suspension, proving for less set-up fuss and much better bass response. The Charm, in addition to holding the Vector pulleys and DC motor, is also a bonded armboard/sub-chassis combo with a very rigid connection between the two. In many ways this was the precursor to the Linn Keel (just as the K-drive is the precursor to the Linn Radikal DC motor drive), and has many of the same sonic advantages. The Clarity carbon-fiber top-plate improves on the control of unwanted resonances travelling through the table. Carbon fiber has a much more controlled resonance response than the stainless steal of the original, which helps clean-up the mid range on the LP-12 (thus the name \"Clarity\"). Finally the Achromat (famous on its own) provides a much better impedance match for the vinyl record than felt, and does a much better job sinking away energy from the record that are generated by the needle.
Taken as a whole system, the music sounds much more open, clear and natural than a stock LP-12. I think the reviewer Malcolm Steward got it right when he described the Funked LP12 as sounding more LP12-like than a regular LP-12. See that review here:
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The K-Drive is currently set up for 120V use. It uses a dual voltage transformer and I am happy to change this over to 240V before shipping. It is an easy procedure requiring an small amount of soldering. If you live in a 240V country, just let me know.
This table comes with a tonearm and cartridge. This will take some explaining. The tonearm is my own D.I.Y. unipivot based on the famous Naim Aro. As you can see it bears a striking resemblance. The arm works well, and sounds great, especially on this table. It does not sound as good as a real Naim Aro, but it is far better than something like the Rega RB-300 which I also own. Please just keep in mind, this is something I built in my garage over several Sundays. You should think of it as a free gift when you are offerding. This goes for the cartridge, too. It is a Rega Super-Bias. This is the cartridge that Naim used to use when testing the new Aro tonearms before they went out the door. It is a good sounding cartridge on this arm generally, but this unit has many, many hours on it and I would highly recommend upgrading it. (A Denon DL-103 has great synergy with the Aro, that is what I used primarily.) Again, think of it as a free gift and a convenience for taking the photos--I needed something to balance the arm while I was taking pictures. The Tonearm is terminated with Mogami 2534 Neglex cable and very high quality Amphenol RCA connectors.
This is a great sounding table in nice used condition. It will be shipped in a genuine Linn LP-12 Box, with all the proper foam inserts. (see last picture). The K-drive controller will ship separately, as it doesn\'t fit in the Linn box.
Thanks for looking!
On Jul-28-16 at 17:29:11 PDT, seller added the following information:
I forgot to mention that the springs and grommets are less than a year old, and are of the latest generation. Just thought I should mention that.
