What is it about the LP12?

Posted by: Kevin-W on 09 July 2003

I have noticed that, apart from Naim equipment, there are more posts on this forum about the venerable Scottish transcription turntable than any other bit of hardware; and that, apart from the thorny subject of supports (let's not go there) said LP12 seems to divide opinion more than anything else.

As a Sondek owner of 15+ years, I have to say that in my (perhaps limited) experience, no other source has come close to giving as much musical pleasure as Ye Olde LP12. I've heard various TTs - Basis, Michells Orbe/Gyrodecs, SME, Roksan, Pink Triangle, WB, Clearaudio, Rega P3/9/25, Townshend Rock etc - and none of them measure up. They all make music sound boring compared to the LP12; despite the latter's faults, to me it's still the ultimate source, analogue or digital. Does anyone have any thoughts as to why a turntable first produced 31 years ago still has the power to move people in the way that it does, or, conversely, piss them off? Why does it elicit such passionate resonses?

Kevin
Posted on: 28 July 2003 by Chris Morton
Put a spirit level on the turntable support. Grab diagonally opposing corners of the table and try to rock back and forth (try both ways). Do you see any movement on the bubble of the spirit level? Be very quiet when doing this and listen--do you hear anything that would indicate the table is moving? If so, adjust one of the spikes and repeat. Remember, to get the table to sit perfectly on top of the floor without wobble will require quite small adjustments to one of the spikes of the table (assuming table has 4 feet).

To acheive this level of stability, you may need to burrow holes in the carpet (even if the pile is not particularly thick which it usually is).

The LP12 suspension will not work properly if the table is not stable. The difference between almost stable and perfectly stable is quite significant, from a sonic point of view.

Chris.
Posted on: 30 July 2003 by Rico
quote:
I still haven't quite decided to sell my LP12 & buy a P9. The criterea is a TT that requires zero maintenance,


Come on, Tom! You've already got a CD Player! Cool

The interesting thing is that the CDS3 starts to assemble all of the human elements of the music like the LP12 does. Clever stuff.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio
Posted on: 30 July 2003 by Dev B
No turntable is "set and forget". I owned a Well Tempered for a couple of years and it is possible to adjust everything on that one. A Linn is easier, but there is this paranoia that has been created that it needs a tune-up - maybe a new belt every year and a set of springs and an oil change once every five but that should be it. I think it's worth saying that there is a fair bit of sample inconsistency with Linns though. I have had two with Aros, etc and the second one is much more stable than the first - maybe the first was assembed poorly.

Actually one of the least fussy decks I have owned was the Phonosophie P3 that had leaf spriing suspension. Like Vik though I would like to hear the Platine Verdier which is meant to be pretty good. I remeber seeing a show pic in Stereophile of the Frankfurt show with a Verdier, prefix and Aro.

I'll tel you what though, if money was no object I woudl go for either a Simon Yorke, or the baby Rockport - I have also heard the VPI TNT HRX AT A SHOW and it knocked me out playing Jazzanova the remixes
Posted on: 30 July 2003 by Top Cat
The Clearaudio tables, once setup, don't need any adjustments - and if you get one with a parallel tracker you'll also get permanent, perfect tracking. Though I've moved from my Clearaudio deck back to the LP12, I know that I'll be very lucky if I can reach the Clearaudio's musicality, PRaT and detail from my LP12, even with Armageddon, Aro, Helikon/?? and expert setup.

Such is the compromise one has to make when one obtains a wife... :|

John

PS. Clearaudio still for sale - do a search on hififorsale.com if you're remotely interested - and I can supply a cd to anyone interested in hearing it - obviously it sounds better 'in the flesh' but the cd gives a useful flavour of what the deck can do...

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."