LP12 - what to expect ...

For the sake of clarity of an earlier post, you'll know you're "engaged with the music" when you notice your foot is tapping to the rythm of the music without you ever telling it to.

Note: I live in a very simple world.

Rich - great - simple, effective and easily measured.

I like this,

Allan

Is there a gannt chart to help you all with these Linn upgrades?

Allan Milne posted:

 

Clive - I thought my Linto would be up to scratch in that area ... are you going to tell me differently and get me itching again

 

Allan

Sorry! Something to look forward to?

Clive

Strat - my wife bought me some Gant trunks - do they count?

Allan - I suspect your wife found selecting your trunks a whole simpler than this turntable malarkey!   

Hi Allan,

... I am now considering just going for the lot - Radikal + Keel + Ekos

If this is were you ends up the path might not matter that much, you could just as well start with the arm. If you would prefer the journey to stop at an earlier stage and if you plan to spend Ekos SE type of money, the advices to "start in the power end" I believe at least is worth exploring.

By the way, when you mention Ekos I have assumed Ekos SE, correct?
Considering that you already started your upgrade path in the cartridge end upgrading the arm is probably not a bad idea. But I would definitely try to demo eg a used Ekos (1 or 2) + radical before committing to Ekos SE (probably similar money).

When upgrading an arm (when better) my impression is that tones are better controlled, letting more detail through and indirectly also the musical impression is improved.
When improving the power supply my impression is more a feeling of a less constrained sound (if that makes any sense) with improved timing and connection to the music, more details here as well but more as a bonus. What is more important for our own musical experience I believe we all need to figure out on our own. (Personally, I went from lingo1/ekos1 to lingo2 to radikal/urika to keel/ekos se/klyde)

When demoing equipment I try to bring music that I like in the following categories:
Familiar, stuff I listened to for many years (in my case eg Pink Floyd or Springsteen)
Vocals, preferably with a lot of rhythm and not to complex
Complex, preferably with some high energy instruments (eg Miles Davis trumpet)

Hope this make some sense...

Spent a cracking 2 hours today. The system was a 252/250 into Focal Sopra so a fair way below mine, but the phono stage matched mine (Superline + Supercap).

We started with the RP8 to provide the baseline of what I currently have. I used two tracks: first track from Royal Blood's debut album, and Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island.

We then played the RP10 followed by the LP12 (Akurate spec) both using a Dynavector 20x2. As you would expect, the RP10 is a decent improvement on the RP8 - cleaner, lower noise floor, tighter bass, more natural voicing, and an improvement in timing. On both tracks, it gave a really enjoyable listen.

First track on the LP12 was Royal Blood (fairly heavy rock track for those unfamiliar). This gave a more musical presentation than the RP10 with an overall sense of presence. Bass lines were particularly good. However, switching over to the jazz track, this didn't come through so much. In fact, going back to the RP10 again, I preferred this - for me, the cleaner presentation gave greater insight into the music.

So for these two, no firm conclusion, although if you take price into account, then the RP10 offers considerably better value for money.

As a grande finale, we played both tracks on a top-flight LP12 with a Tangerine Stiletto plinth. Wow - unbelievable. Tight, musical, thunderous bass, beautiful phrasing, laugh-out-loud good. Given it was the 5th time I'd heard these tracks in a close succession, both gave me goosebumps! This is easily the best front end I'd ever heard, but then at > £20k it should be impressive!

Plenty to mull over. Sorry for the thread highjack, but thought it might be of interest.

Great posts ...

Joppe - yes it is an Ekos SE arm I'm looking at; your post makes perfect sense, thanks.

Heihei - sounds like you had fun! No way is this a thread hijack, all your observations are perfectly relevant ... I hope I get a laugh out loud moment too

Allan