Linn Sondek LP12 Klinik, At Perfect Hi-Fi Bangsar Showroom.

David Williamson of Linn Hifi.

It's been a busy week on my hifi calender. David Williamson is Senior Product Design Engineer at Glasgow based Linn Hifi. In the last five years or so David has been given the mission to further extract more performance out of the venerable Linn Sondek LP12 turn table, which has been in production since 1972, in various guises.

Perfect Hi-Fi Bangsar hosted the Linn Klinik yesterday to all of us Linn Sondek fanatics. First and foremost, David touched about the new, interesting bits that he had engineered in to the LP12 in the last few years.
David pointing out the key design features that make the Keel a worth while upgrade.

The new bits started out with the new Keel sub chassis, which is a one piece integrated with arm board design, compared the older design that's separated as two individual parts. The new one piece design improved rigidity, with equal weight distribution to ensure the center of gravity stays constant during play back. The whole Keel piece is milled down from a solid aluminium ingot, and weights exactly the same as the old sub chassis/sandwiched arm board board combo, thanks to the use of latest CAD(Computer Aided Design) software.
Linn Sondek LP12 supporters out in full force.

David also touched on the latest Ekos SE tone arm and it's improved construction in detail. Next he spoke about the new Lingo 3 power supply unit for older AC motor based LP12s and the benefits of a new Radikal DC motor system. Apparently, Ivor(the original LP12 designer) almost had a fit when he knew about the DC motor development(Ivor was adamant that AC motors is best as most DC motors put out lots of EMI/RFI which could be picked up by the cartridge!). However, a comparison test proved to Ivor that the latest DC motor design is significantly better than the previous AC motor. Ivor relented and David got his way.
The latest entry level Linn Majik LP12.

The Linn Majik LP12 comes mated with a simple Pro-Ject 9cc tone arm.

David also touched on aspects of the new Eurika phono stage, which was incredibly noise free and had ample gain, with excellent refinement, despite being designed to fit inside the LP12. The demo Linn Sondek LP12 was fitted with a Klyde MC cartridge. The rest of the demo system consist the full suite of Linn Klimax electronics and speakers.

The beauty of the Linn turntable's modular design is that should one have an older, or Majik version of the LP12, all the parts mentioned above can be retrofitted/up graded at cost anytime by your local dealer, in this case Perfect Hi-Fi. Please contact Andy Tan at 03-58821693 for further enquiries.
The latest Linn Sondek LP12, with the full works now cost more than RM$60k!!! No wonder the prices of vintage LP12s keeps reaching for the skies.

The Klyde MC cartridge is an excellent performer when mated to the Urika phono stage.

Top shelf, power supply unit for the new Radikal DC motor. Bottom shelf, Linn Klimax pre amp.

David also took some time to introduce the new Akurate line from Linn, designed to fit in between the Majik and the top of the range Klimax products. As usual, light snacks and beverages were served post Klinik session. I took the opportunity to grab 10 Qs out of David.

Watch this space!