artaudio Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) After talking with Simon from Hi-Fi Guru he suggested I try one of their new laminated top plate on my modified LP-12 that has already been fitted with one of their Oak plinths and a Corian sub chassis (not hifi guru). The new laminated top plate arrived last Thursday and install on Friday, but a few LP spun before the installation just to provide a reference point before the upgrade. The top plate was provided with all new mounting hardware required so only issue was moving the motor from the old Linn top plate to the new one. Once all setup with the suspension all bouncing nicely and the speed checked and set correctly using the 3150Hz test signal with FFT meter it was time to spin a few reference discs. First was the latest Eagles live from the forum MMXVIII album, the first thing noticed was the noise floor was amazingly lower than with the standard Linn top plate the Linn LP-12 bass hump was gone and replaced with the same grove with more defined bass separation and a fuller mid-bass and better top to bottom balance. Next was the David Bowie live at Glastonbury 2000, on this album the sound stage depth and size was amazing when compared to the original top plate. The Under Pressure track on side 5 just has amazing bass drive and you can follow everything in the bass with great separation. I must say the improvements changing to the Hi-Fi Guru plinth was a great step up from the original Linn plinth, but the new laminated top plate has pushed thing to a new level. Current LP-12 Plinth: Hi-Fi Guru Top Plate: Hi-Fi Guru Sub Chassis: WTPaudio Corian Sub Chassis Arm board: Standard Linn Arm: Linn Ittok LV-2 Cartridge: Dynavector XX2mkII New Top Plate underside Plinth stripped in Jig Sub Chassis and Arm board Kinky Tool to align the arm mount. After install Before with Linn Top Plate Edited February 25, 2021 by artaudio 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 Is it still a Linn LP12? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Batty said: Is it still a Linn LP12? Absoloootely! The way I see it ... the underlying basis for the 'Linn sound' is that: it's a sprung TT it has belt drive, and the Linn bearing - which in increasing SQ goes: original / Cirkus / and now Karousel. All the other things (plinth, top-plate, sub-platter, motor & motor controller) are just tweaks. Andy Edited February 25, 2021 by andyr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JARVIS Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 That plinth looks very solid as well. What's the story with that? I have an LP12 that I think sounds pretty decent - does the top plate make that much difference it's hard to fathom it could do anything better than the original design...? Cheers, Jar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artaudio Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 (edited) withdrawn Edited February 27, 2021 by artaudio withdrawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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