Bill et al.
I AM buying more music as quick as I can. Why is it insane to get the most out of your system ? This thread was ment to start a conversion on the relative merits of the Ekos upgrade (which I thought for £450 was reasonable).
I am fully aware it may seam odd to only have a few LP's and spending what seams a large sum of money on the deck. but unhappy with CD playback I needed to do something and this is that something. I have upgraded in the last few years from marrantz to nad to naim (CD5 - Cdx - XPS and so on) to arrive at aplce I am still unhappy with. I should have gone straight to a cds3 from the outset. So I plan not to make the small upgrades to the lp12 and go for broke from the start. While of course buying as many LPs as I can.
I have only a few cd I play consistantly many I bought some time ago and just gone out of favour, undoubtly they will return when I get fed up with the ones I have on my playlist currently.
I can see your point on getting more music and that is a given, but I still want the best from my system as possible. Cant see anything wrong with that ?
Phil

Phil,

Once again, what is it specifically that you are looking for, sonically speaking, from any vinyl playback upgrades?

All the best,

Bill

Bill
Its propably best decribed in what I dont like about my current CD playback. I like female vocals along with lots of other music styles but female vocals tend to display this most of all and that is a tendancy to be either to brittle or sharp to much Tsch and sharp sssss(call it siblance if you like, but its not the natural siblance more of a Hash type sound) now I now the set up is key and I have listened to many cd players and they all present this in a typical digital way which I have begun to find annoying (even warm sounding CD player's I find this with). I thought I was happy with the CD player playback on bass and mid range (untill I had the LP12 ) and I love the detail CD gives.
So what am I looking for in Vinyl playback ?
1. Deep bass with tunefull extensions.
2. Detail and and again tunefull midrange.
3. Detailed and SMOOTH highs.
What I have with my current LP12/Ekos/Klye/Lingo set up is 1 and 2 in abundance but it lacks the sparkle of 3 ie it HAS smoothed out the high frequencies but maybe I have lost the detail and to a certain extent the emotion !
I know the deck needs some magic to set up the springs etc and I will get that done ASAP but while its at the shop I didnt know weather to do the EKOS upgrade and cartridge (should I need it) at the same time.
Phil

Hello again fled,

I can appreciate how much you want to reach the hardware zenith but honestly, the best part of an upgrade is re-discovering your record collection.
Buy the hardware first and you'll never get that buzz you feel when you hear something on a familiar record that you had never previously heard.
Having a full spec TT and only 20 LP's is like buying an Aston Martin and driving around in first gear.
At the end of the day it's all about the music. The hardware is a means to an end.
Your money, your choice.
But just one final word on the subject. Don't forget the "Law of diminishing returns", which means the higher up the ladder you go, the less bang you get for your buck.

Regards,
Steve O.

Fled

Your thoughts are correct. It seems to me that you have developed your music and sound preferences to a high level.

Three months ago I did not have a turntable and I had only 5 LPs. Now I have a new LP12 and more than 200 LPs. For me the CD is a format with limitations.

Emil

I emailed Linn...

My email..


Sent: 24 January 2005 09:33
To: HelplineLinn
Subject: EKOS II



Hi,

I wonder if you could detail the features of your Ekos I to Ekos II upgrade.

I have been told it costs around 450 GBP, but was hoping you could clarify what 'one gets for that'? For instance is the existing arm worked on or is it an all new arm?



Many thanks in advance,....



Their reply

"Dear Julian

Thank you for your email to the helpline and for giving me the opportunity to advise you.

I can confirm that the cost of an Ekos upgrade is approximately 450 GBP (this would include carriage, however, your retailer will confirm with our Sales/Service department). With an upgrade, the tonearm is completely rebuilt to current specification, including lateral and vertical bearings, resulting in an improvement in sonic performance.

I hope that this is of interest to you and that you will consider this upgrade.


Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.

Best wishes..."


No mention of arm cable but I am pretty sure that that has improved over the years. It is silver now or something?

It seems similar value to the Circus upgrade, where much of the LP12 is replaced for a lot less than the cost of a new one?

Cheerio

Julian,

Well done for getting that confirmed. That's made my mind up and I'll be going for the upgrade in the near future (I've already got the silver 'T' cable so that's not an issue for me).

Dan

I sent them a second email and Linn confirmed that the cable in the arm tube is changed.

fled,

I've done the Ekos upgrade, however I also upgraded the cartridge and Prefix cable at the same time and it's impossible to separate the effects of each change.

I sense in you the audiophile affliction, that you might obssess about the Ekos upgrade until you get it, and deep down you hope that people on the forum will approve so that you can have justification to do it. By audiophile standards, it's not a great expense, so if it is within your budget, I would say why not just do it so you can get it off your mind.

Alternatively, I might also suggest however to slow down and relax. There is no hurry and you can do the upgrade later. First spend time to determine that you are truly committed to the path of the LP12 after you buy and listen to more LPs. Are you able to sit back and enjoy the music instead of listening for deficiencies? The answer to that question may indicate whether an upgrade will be satisfying or if you will always feel frustrated.

- Richard

Richard.
Thanks for the advise.
I took my LP12 to Martin Kleiser (Colin Macey) last week to have it checked over.
The outcome was as I expected, worn cartridge (which I hope is the reason for a little distortion I have been hearing ?
All else was fine even the Ekos bearings (given that its one of the first that Linn produced early 1000 ser num) so the Ekos upgrade will wait.
Whilst there thou I had the opertunity to listen to an fully set up LP12 with Cirkus bearings this certainly tightened things up and gave a hell of a lot of detail. So I have decided to go for the Cirkus and new Klyde and get Colin to set the deck up for me, and live with this for a while.
I think a Lp12/cirkus/ekos/klyde/lingo is a reasonable starting set up for Vinyl
Phil

That is exactly my lp12 set-up, & I can tell you that it is bloomin' marvellous. Good choice,
cheers, matt.

I also had exactly the same set-up for years, and enjoyed it very much. I got the urge to upgrade when my fiancee (now my wife) was going to move in with me, and I felt it was my last chance to be financially irresponsible.