Lingo 2 ressurected

A couple of months ago it became clear that my system was not all that it should be. With hindsight there had been a gradual going downhill up to the point where it fell off a cliff. First indications were a “meh” performance and then a significant increase in surface noise. Initial thoughts were to assume the cartridge (approx. 28 months old) was giving up the ghost but something nagged away in the back of my head (well something in addition to the crap that is normally going on in thereJ) so I borrowed my brother’s Lingo. Did an old fashioned A/B comparison of the older (unserviced) Lingo 1 against my Lingo 2. My son was the victim of the test and in his words the first one (my Lingo 2) sounded “not right”.

Called Darran at Class A and the next day shipped it off. (Darran’s view was that whilst Lingo 1 would likely benefit from a recap he wasn’t unsure of the benefits on a Lingo 2 being SMT and younger). The process was drawn out as Darran was fully loaded with work, then on holidays and then I was on holidays and then he had a few more days off but got it back a few weeks ago.

Installed, fired up and even from the off I reckon the turntable got up to speed faster than previously. First record was Applewood Road, one that was purchased a few months ago and likely during the downhill phase. When I first got the record I’d been impressed, it’s excellent music and very easily to engage with ….but despite the simple one mike to stereo tape recording I’d felt the recording wasn’t all that it could be. The vocalists had seemed less distinct than I felt they should be but not any more! The muddle of the vocalists is now separated into three distinct singers, the backing instruments are clearly defined and more detailed, all this extra with no loss of the integration between the vocalists and musicians. So clearly the issues had been resolved by a Recap.

Next up I tried Freddie White - Do You Do, a record I’d rediscovered in my collection at the start of the year. Hadn’t played this in maybe a decade and when I did I was somewhat underwhelmed. It dates from a time of my life when I was listening to 6+ hours of music a day, attending live concerts weekly and it should have been charged with remembered emotions. However was again rather “Meh”. Had thought I was looking back with rose tinted spectacles until I played it again last week. Suddenly I was back in the eighties, remembering events, places, faces and thoroughly enjoying it all. This is what its all about.

Got me thinking as to when had the issue first manifested? Picked out Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties, the Simply Vinyl  pressing I got Christmas 2014. Last time I’d played it I remember it being a bit flat, but as with Applewood Road it was bursting with life, detailed, dynamic, rhythmic thoroughly engaging, just like I remember it being when I first got it, if not better*. Clearly the issue had developed sometime in the past 18 months. Won’t even attempt to try and tie it down any more than that. Too busy playing records (up now J.S.Bach Cello Suites – Paul Tortelier).

Over the few weeks since powering up the performance has continued to improve, with the seemingly obligatory ups and downs. The music emanating from my SL2s is so solid you could reach out and touch it. Now very happy and neglecting the garden, dog, wife etc.

So now the $64k question, if you have a Lingo 2 is it worth getting it recapped? I would be loathed to say yes definitively as what I experienced seems to be outside the normal bounds of capacitor degradation (for example my brother’s older un-recapped Lingo 1 still sounded passable). However, if you aren’t sufficiently paranoid already then there’s now something else to keep you awake at night. If I had an older Lingo 2 I’d certainly be trying to compare with a newer one. Just in case.

* In January we had a planned outage from Northern Ireland Electricity for some “Routine Maintenance” Have no idea what they did but it certainly improved the performance of my system and of course somewhat muddied the waters for any longer term comparisons of relative performance. That said I’m happy to stand by the comparisons that I made above as the short term ones (all listening after the maintenance) reflect the same improvement experienced on the longer term comparisons that spanned the maintenance.

Willy.