Linn Lies

[jayman67]

well im glad i got rid of mine before going down the cirkus upgrade route,im very pleased with my pioneer

[Geoff.R.G]

So, never having even considered a Linn, do they acknowledge the inherent dynamic range compression of commercial LPs (to keep the stylus in the grove). I know that they don't offer a radio tuner, have they ever done so?
As a Tape and Radio user I would probably be marched smartly out of any Linn showroom (expensive things showrooms) especially if they heard that I still have a Leak Troughline in the loft, which I keep telling myself I will restore one day.

[Classicrock]

So, never having even considered a Linn, do they acknowledge the inherent dynamic range compression of commercial LPs (to keep the stylus in the grove). I know that they don't offer a radio tuner, have they ever done so?
As a Tape and Radio user I would probably be marched smartly out of any Linn showroom (expensive things showrooms) especially if they heard that I still have a Leak Troughline in the loft, which I keep telling myself I will restore one day.

https://www.stoneaudio.co.uk/?product=l ... rate+tuner

[Geoff.R.G]

So, never having even considered a Linn, do they acknowledge the inherent dynamic range compression of commercial LPs (to keep the stylus in the grove). I know that they don't offer a radio tuner, have they ever done so?
As a Tape and Radio user I would probably be marched smartly out of any Linn showroom (expensive things showrooms) especially if they heard that I still have a Leak Troughline in the loft, which I keep telling myself I will restore one day.

https://www.stoneaudio.co.uk/?product=l ... rate+tuner

I think restoring the Leak would be better value for money. I haven't had a very good experience of DAB either.

[CN211276]

I started this thread because Ivor’s son, a chip off the old block but less smart, is attempting to distort history under the cover of the mists of time. It seems his intention, via the priesthood, was to transfer what is on the Linn website to Wikipedia . The clandestine origin of Linn products is not pleasant reading. From what I have gleamed on the Internet, correct me if some things are wrong, it is broadly as follows:

Ivor’s Dad Jack owned Castle Engineering. Jack and Ivor were friends with a Hamish Robertson who set up Ariston to manufacture a tt. A suspended sub-chassis design, very similar to the Thorens TD150, itself modelled on the original Acoustic Research tt was decided upon. Hamish Robertson was primarily responsible for the design of the bearing which was manufactured at Castle Engineering.

Hamish Robertson introduced the Ariston RD11 but experienced difficulty obtaining parts from Castle Engineering. In 1973 he discovered that Ivor had set up Linn products, with capital from his Dad, to manufacture and sell the Linn Sondek LP12 , at this time a virtual carbon copy of the Ariston RD11. Hamish Robertson felt that he had been stabbed in the back by Ivor, whom he had considered to be a friend, and this contributed to his untimely death not long afterwards.

A patent case followed, in 1978 I believe, between Ivor and the estate of Hamish Robertson about the originality of the LP12. Ivor won, but as in many legal cases, the outcome most likely depended upon who could afford the best lawyer rather than the merits of a case.

This contrasts somewhat with Ivor’s fairy tale about being dedicated enthusiasts, I quote from his lengthy rebuttal of my exposure letter I had published in the December 1980 edition of Popular Hi-Fi:
“Although there is an image at large of us as efficient marketing people, or dedicated professionals, the truth is somewhat simpler. We are a collection of enthusiasts who have found the secret of being paid for what we enjoy most.”

What is on the Linn website, drifts even further into the realms of fantasy:
“Unsatisfied with the performance of the hi-fi system he purchased shortly after getting married, Ivor started to experiment and discovered that that the turntable was being adversely influenced by the changes in sound pressure of the loudspeakers. He established this fact simply by putting the turntable outside his living room and listening with the signal leads passing under the door. It sounded much better and much more musically accurate and involving than when the turntable was located inside the same room.
At that time he was working for his father Jack Tiefenbrun’s engineering company, Castle Precision Engineering Ltd., so he set out to use that resource to make a turntable that wasn’t adversely influenced by the loudspeakers. With the assistance of his father, who designed a very quiet-running central bearing, and a group of skilled colleagues, he succeeded in making an LP record playing turntable that was immune to acoustic feedback from the loudspeakers. It was also precision-engineered to a very high standard to enable more music information to be extracted from the record groove
The turntable, which he eventually named the Linn Sondek LP12, looked the same as most other turntables, but almost every component had a different purpose. Crucially, the suspension was optimised for acoustic isolation instead of shock resistance. With it, Ivor proved for the first time that a better turntable improved the sound of any hi-fi system.”

[Classicrock]

Yep read all that shit years ago and it sounds very plausible if you don't know the true story or look at the actual engineering and it's similarity to any other suspended deck available around the same time. In fact pictures of early Lp12s show it to be a botch job compared with a Thorens. I imagine any gains v rivals involved the main bearing designed by Robertson. If they had any idea what they were doing they would have come up with something more similar to later circus models or even current production all those years ago. A decent design would have only required modest tweaks.

[Alfi]

It was also precision-engineered to a very high standard”

That is the part I love the most! What a load of claptrap, early ones were far from precision, they were total shite!

The very same shite the press would have you believe was fantastic and therefore better performers than anything else on the market.

Alfi.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Corrections. Hamish's original bearing was a ball bearing. Castle designed the hardened point and thrust plate bearing "for him" to an order. Castle then decided to apply for a patent on the bearing cutting Hamish out. Hamish and Ivor met when he came to work for his dad in uni holidays, they weren't friends before that. They became friends for as long as Ivor could use him to help set up Linn by copying the Ariston. Hamish was a drunkard, but nice guy, but nice drunkards don't run companies. He pursued Castle and Linn in the High Court as to the validity of their Patent (DQ can show the docs as they are easily found by a lawyer as it is in juris prudence). Hamish turned up to court pissed and blew it, Linn's lawyers took him apart. Ariston went into financial problems because of the costs and was bought, so he started a new company Fons. He continued to try and pursue Castle and Linn but didn't have the money. Eventually in a state of depression he drunk himself into a state of oblivion I died drowned in his own vomit.

I have the whole thing in more detail back in the archive somewhere, unless it was part of the archive we lost.

[Alfi]

It's not that hard a point through Doc, it's actually quite soft. The spindle tip wears first and when it gets ropey it damages the thrust plate too. Their black oil (was GTX and Molyslip) helps to prolong the eventual failure.

Alfi.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Castles speciality was bearing design. I think the problem was not design but execution, in the early days because of all the marketing hype they were throwing them out the door of the factory, and Linn practically took over the whole manufacturing space at Castle.

The design required long and precise hardening techniques on plate and point. That was passed round because they were always short of bearings to complete turntables. Second rate casting and machining on the platter was another early problem.