Can you help someone who has been on a desert island?

Timber

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Some advice please on an amp upgrade for someone who has not looked at a Hi Fi mag for 20 years. I have a Linn LP12 'anniversary' with Akito arm and K9 cartridge (a significant birthday present from my wife), Musical Fidelity B200 integrated amp, and Musical Fidelity MC2 speakers. I have always been more into the software side than hardware yet I'm now thinking my system could be better but I'd prefer to spend money on best buys from three/ five years ago than on new equipment. I'm still playing and buying vinyl - jazz to dance to world music. The question is is the amp the best place to start and if so what would people recommend I trawl e-bay for? Budget £300 to £600, not worried by 'styling', used to have a soft spot for Musical Fidelity but not sure how they are rated now, would consider integrated or pre+power.
 
Timber said:
Some advice please on an amp upgrade for someone who has not looked at a Hi Fi mag for 20 years. I have a Linn LP12 'anniversary' with Akito arm and K9 cartridge (a significant birthday present from my wife), Musical Fidelity B200 integrated amp, and Musical Fidelity MC2 speakers. I have always been more into the software side than hardware yet I'm now thinking my system could be better but I'd prefer to spend money on best buys from three/ five years ago than on new equipment. I'm still playing and buying vinyl - jazz to dance to world music. The question is is the amp the best place to start and if so what would people recommend I trawl e-bay for? Budget £300 to £600, not worried by 'styling', used to have a soft spot for Musical Fidelity but not sure how they are rated now, would consider integrated or pre+power.

Timber, first off I would be looking at changing your speakers too. Not sure what your total budget is but spend directly half on speakers & amplifier. I think Primare & Castle work very well for instance, and you could easily source a Primare A20 Mk II for £350, leave you £250 for a pair of Castle floorers on Ebay. But ….

Your LP12 is only as good (and it is good dude) as your cart & stage, my last cart was a K9, and I bought an old Shure V15 MkIII and a Moth phono stage second hand, the stage made a huge difference to what I heard from my LP12-Akito-Shure V15 TBH. The K9 is a nice old cart, but you will need a proper stage (if it were me I would be looking at a Grahma Slee Gram2 - £100 odd) to hear what your TT is really performing. So like all things you may start off tinkering with Amp-speakers but then it will effect the rest of your system.
 
Thanks CJR. Sorry for rookie question but by stage do you mean pre amp?
 
Timber, your TTs line outputs are at a much lower level than say a CDs outputs, thus you need a Phono stage (or Phono pre-amplifier) to amplify the signal to the same sort of levels as CD. Quite a few amplifiers have them built in, ie a line input marked “phono”, these also sometime have switches on them to select the type of cart your using ie MM or MC. Some good reading here. A decent phono stage is a must with a TT of the quality of the LP12 FWIW, or elst you may never heard what the TT is really capable of.

Good reading here :

http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/
 
Interesting reading indeed! So for my TT I need either an integrated amp with phono, a pre/power amp combo or a phono stage and integrated amp with out phono. Is that right?
 
Timber said:
Interesting reading indeed! So for my TT I need either an integrated amp with phono, a pre/power amp combo or a phono stage and integrated amp with out phono. Is that right?

Yes in every circumstance above you mention you will need a phono stage :

Integrated with an internal phono stage
Integrated with no phono stage used with an external phono stage

Same with pre powers as above. Some pre-ampS include phono stages, some don’t.
 
Some pre amps don't phono! Well I'm glad I asked else I could have made an expensive mistake - thanks.
 
You could also use a transformer if the preamp does not have a phono section
 
Londondecca said:
You could also use a transformer if the preamp does not have a phono section

But also need to remember RIAA equalisation,which the transformer will not provide....if the preamp doesnt have a phono input,you'll need some form of phono stage other than a transformer alone.
 
alexs2 said:
But also need to remember RIAA equalisation,which the transformer will not provide....if the preamp doesnt have a phono input,you'll need some form of phono stage other than a transformer alone.

A very good point.
 
mikeoxsmall said:
Buy A Gyro Deck

Firstly,Timber's budget is £300-600,and he is unlikely to find a reasonable Gyrodec plus cartridge in that range,plus as he says,his LP12 was a "significant" present,which he may not wish to part with.

There are plenty of ways of releasing a lot more performance from it,and upgrading to a reasonably priced cartridge(Budget MC or decent MM)plus a phono stage is a good place to start.....I would concur with CJROSS in terms of a cartridge upgrade,but tend towards an MC cartridge,this being my own preference.

Your views on Linn's products have been recorded elsewhere.
 
mikeoxsmall said:
don't be so touchy? i am only joking. i do not like the lp12, so i am giving him my honest opinion ok. u will not improve that deck, i went all the way to ekos, lingo and arkiv and was not satisfied ok. only had it for 2 weeks. it is a design from the dark ages, mdf and pressed steel. onboard motor(ouch) the gyro is a significant step forward, sell the lp12 on ebay, mugs on there pay a fortune for one.
and buy a used gyro deck(if u can find one) soooooo many lp12's oh why

Im sick of reading your cretinous outbursts today (calling Linn owners of any kit "idiots" Im surprised you still have posting rights FWIW), the guys above is like many happy users of LP12s, so why dont you go and start a Gyro love in thread. I like what I hear, I have improved it with carts & phono stages so your talking complete and utter tripe you complete fool. Ps Ive heard a couple Gyros an Orbe and plenty of other TTs, and guess what I still like my LP12. Does that compute you idiot ?
 
Mikeoxsmall....we've been through this before....your opinions have been voiced elsewhere,with clear warnings to tone your opinions down.
Whilst it may be a joke to you,a lot more people like the LP12 than hate it,and opinions voiced in that manner do nothing more than annoy people.

Time to adopt a slightly more adult attitude.
 
CJROSS....try not to descend to the level of Mikeoxsmall....I know it's difficult when someone trolls like that.
 
alexs2 said:
CJROSS....try not to descend to the level of Mikeoxsmall....I know it's difficult when someone trolls like that.

Alex far be it for me to tell you how to do your job dude, but you have seen what this character has been writing today about Linn owners calling them idiots, then he comes onto an owner of a LP12 asking advice and tells him to ditch the deck because he thinks its crap Gyros are the only TT. Its obvious he is a troll trying to umdermine the forums, so why is he still posting out of curiousity ?
 
CJROSS said:
Alex far be it for me to tell you how to do your job dude, but you have seen what this character has been writing today about Linn owners calling them idiots, then he comes onto an owner of a LP12 asking advice and tells him to ditch the deck because he thinks its crap Gyros are the only TT. Its obvious he is a troll trying to umdermine the forums, so why is he still posting out of curiousity ?

Yes...I've seen it,removed it and I think our friend should have been able to understand the error if his ways by now.
 
no everybody i am sick of everyone being ripped of with that linn junk, i am trying to help the fella get a good sound. as i said i had a fully loaded linn and it was junk, that is my honest opinion,
u will NEVER get a good sound from an lp12 ever ,it is a dated design from the seventies, the ekos is a waste of money on an lp 12 ,it is to good for the deck, far far better on a pink or townsend or a real super deck the alphason sonata symphoney.
i have an old rega 3 and that blew away my fully loaded(dealer set up )lp12 now work that one out. u linn devotes are being ripped of in your thousands, as i said before my friend is a high end dealer, and i mean high end( rockport, krell etc) and he calls the linn lp12 garbage, now he should know he has been dealing in hifi for 30 years, now all i am doing is giving my honest opinion, to sell the lp12 and buy a proper deck, sell it on flea bay to some mug, and get a second hand REAL deck that is engineered well, having the motor under the platter is muppetry it needs to be offboard to eliminate noise getting to the cartridge, the lp12 is junk and that is all iam going to say. now if u listen to me my friend u can achieve a great sound with very little outlay, if any.
 
neil e normal said:
i agree with the above statement

Yeah after re-joining today you would Mike.
 
mikeoxsmall said:
no everybody i am sick of everyone being ripped of with that linn junk, i am trying to help the fella get a good sound. as i said i had a fully loaded linn and it was junk, that is my honest opinion,
u will NEVER get a good sound from an lp12 ever ,it is a dated design from the seventies, the ekos is a waste of money on an lp 12 ,it is to good for the deck, far far better on a pink or townsend or a real super deck the alphason sonata symphoney.
i have an old rega 3 and that blew away my fully loaded(dealer set up )lp12 now work that one out. u linn devotes are being ripped of in your thousands, as i said before my friend is a high end dealer, and i mean high end( rockport, krell etc) and he calls the linn lp12 garbage, now he should know he has been dealing in hifi for 30 years, now all i am doing is giving my honest opinion, to sell the lp12 and buy a proper deck, sell it on flea bay to some mug, and get a second hand REAL deck that is engineered well, having the motor under the platter is muppetry it needs to be offboard to eliminate noise getting to the cartridge, the lp12 is junk and that is all iam going to say. now if u listen to me my friend u can achieve a great sound with very little outlay, if any.

Hello all, after being member of this great forum for some time, there are certain members who are deliberatley causing bother, and not helping a new member.

In response to mikeoxsmall, Having owned a Linn T.T in the past your DEALER friend may have been in the business for 30 Years, but I guess you cannot cure deafness. Many people by hifi with their EYES rather than EARS which says it all really.

I have demoed countless T.T in comfort of my home and the Linn LP12 remains one of the most natural sound decks around today, being only 27, and lisening to hifi for almost 17 years I must say that I have met people, friends may I add who cannot tell the diffrence between a Linn or Technics Deck for that matter.

T.T are very sensitive pieces of equipment set them up wrongly without attention to detail may make or break a system, you'll be suprised how many dealers I know who cannot set a T.T correctly.

neil e normal, I would take the advice of CJROSS, or you may save up and listen to some other alternatives, which you may or may not like.

I own an AVID Volvere myself after having a Linn Basic with Akito arm, I went for that T.T for many reasons, very dynamic, puncy, yeat still natural, well built. There is no perfect T.T it depends what you like, tyoe of music you listen too, you mentioned Jazz. Take a few LP go for some demos nothing to loose.

Oh Mr mikeoxsmall, I take it you own a Gyro Deck? does sound as good as it looks in the dark?
 
neil e normal said:
sorry who is mike? what does that mean

Mike is someone who posts from 81-235-142-176-no63.tbcn.telia.com just like yourself. What a co-incidence
 

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