Getting the best from your LP12
As the owner of a number of Linn LP12s myself I am delighted to find that, in this digital age, there are still many people out there dedicated to the unique and beautiful sound of vinyl that this legendary turntable brings. My relationship with Ivor Tiefenbrun goes back many years and I am pleased to still be an official distributor of Linn spares in the UK. But as well as maintaining your Linn there are a number of other things you can do to improve its performance, and that’s what this short guide is all about. Distilling 30 odd years of experience into a few pages of useful help is no easy task! I’ve made it easier for myself by confining the scope to the essential things you need to do in order to get the very best from your treasured LP12, so you are able to relax and simply enjoy your records. Yours in Music,
Russ Andrews
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Keep the stylus clean It goes without saying that you need to keep your stylus clean. We sell a couple of really effective products to help: The VP Stylus Dust Buster consists of a small pot of gel, it works when you lower your stylus into it; the unique gel holds onto dust and dirt particles leaving the tip clean. The gel is re-usable and can be rinsed to restore its properties, though we recommend replacement after one year. The Dust Buster is ideal for removing everyday dust and fluff but mould release agent in the record groove still builds up on the stylus into a hard black lump that causes mis-tracking. This black gunge is not easily removed because very few cleaners dissolve it. Our TipTonic Stylus Cleaner is a gentle cleaner, designed to uniquely remove this mould release agent and minimise build up.
Demagnetising Yes, the cartridge does become magnetised, increasing distortion, reducing dynamic range, soundstage and bass. The Benz MC Demagnetiser ABCD-1 works superbly, reversing the degrading effects of coil magnetisation. How copper coils become magnetised I don’t know, but perhaps it’s the magnetised iron filing dust from the vinyl that causes the problem – who knows? Anyway, if you want the best performance from your expensive MC cartridge, demagnetise it regularly - even weekly if you use your turntable every day. Simply plug your Linn’s phono leads into the battery operated device and let the ABCD-1 work its magic!
The Dust Buster in use
TipTonic stylus cleaner in use
ABCD-1 MC Demagnetiser
Cartridge Alignment There are many different designs of alignment gauge available. The aim of most of them is to position the cartridge in the headshell so that the cantilever is perfectly aligned when the stylus tip is 63.6mm and 119.5mm from the spindle; at these points distortion figures should be at 0%. If correctly aligned at these points distortion levels will not exceed 1% (+/-) at any point along the gauge. Although it is traditional to align the sides of the cartridge with the parallel cross-line on the alignment gauge, it is, in fact, the stylus tip and therefore the cantilever, that need to be aligned. If the
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cantilever is in a straight line from the centre of the cartridge, this makes the alignment task much easier. However, the stylus tip end of the cantilevers of some cartridges may incline towards the inside edge of the cartridge after a while, perhaps because too much ‘bias’ has been applied in the past to counteract the natural tendency of a pivot arm to be pulled inward to the centre of the record. If this happens to be the case, then try and align the cantilever (rather than the cartridge) with the cross-lines on the alignment gauge.
Polaris Cartridge Protractor
For a simple but effective solution, we recommend the Polaris Cartridge Protractor designed by Martin Bastin. It is accurate, effective and very easy to use. Alternatively, Mobile Fidelity produces the Geo-Disc which offers an ever easier route to correct alignment. Geo Disc
Cartridge Pins/Headshell Leads DeoxIT™ Gold is ideal for cleaning and enhancing cartridge pins and headshell leads. DO NOT, however, spray it anywhere near a cartridge. It could possibly damage the plastic body or the coil dust cover. My advice is to spray the DeoxIT™ Gold onto a cotton bud and use that to clean the pins. Don’t forget the headshell pins at the other end of the red/white/blue/green leads, or the arm cable plug and phono plugs. The effect of DeoxIt™ Gold on all these gold plated contacts is nothing short of amazing. Remember to use only a little and to clean it off effectively too. We also supply the excellent replacement and superior Origin Live Copper Beryllium Cartridge Clips for improved performance. These need to be soldered directly onto the tonearm wires and have the advantage of combining high conductivity with low tarnishing and high grip.
DeoxIt™ Gold
Origin Live Cartridge Clips
If your arm suffers from a lack of height adjustment you can use the RingMat Support System which provides a RingMat and a set of spacers to fit beneath the record to achieve the correct Stylus Rake Angle (SRA).
RingMat Support System
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Tone Arm Cable Original equipment arm cables leave a lot to be desired! Even the very best are just bits of screened cable that are quite unsuitable for this application. They generally sound hard, splashy, and noisy and have a one-note thumpy bass. Being screened cable, they are really good at injecting Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) into the disc stage, the last thing you want there. The disc stage is a sensitive amplifier designed to accept the incredibly low output from a cartridge. In the case of most MC cartridges that’s about 200 microvolts, similar to the output voltage from an aerial! No wonder it is common to hear radio stations in the background when you listen to LPs.
RA TAK-Cu tone arm cable
If you are lucky and the arm cable is detachable with the standard five pin socket, a massive upgrade is available to you in the Kimber Select, Kimber TAK or RA-TAK arm cables. I believe that Kimber’s cables are unrivalled in their ability to deal with the problem of RFI. Their unique woven cable design is very effective at cancelling RFI and rejecting further RFI pick-up.
The Mains The importance of upgrading the mains cable to your Linn LP12, or its power supply, cannot be emphasised strongly enough. In my experience, the performance of any turntable is greatly influenced by mains noise, distortion, harmonics and RFI. The electrical PowerKord-100™ mains cable perturbations are converted into mechanical noise in the motor which is then transferred to the platter, and then the record, is picked up by the stylus and becomes confused with the music signal. The noise masks low level information, detail, phase relationships etc. to the detriment of the music in areas such as soundstage, 3-dimensionality, rhythm and timing. Clearly then, big improvements can be gained from removing, or even just reducing mains interference. Replacing your lead with one of our PowerKords™ is an essential step in getting the best out of your LP12 – the higher up the range you go, the greater the effect. I recommend a minimum of the PowerKord-100™. It’s likely that your LP12 has a ‘captive’ mains lead wired directly into the plinth – use our easy-fit Male IEC connector to convert this. Male IEC connector
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Once you’ve upgraded your mains cable, turn your attention to your mains extension. We supply a range, from the PowerBar™ to the PowerBlocks™ providing for all budgets. Go for the best you can afford as the performance clearly improves as you go up through the range. Our Silencer and Purifier mains filters will remove mains noise and harmonics too and simply plug into spare sockets. Both are PowerBlock designed to filter in parallel to the mains rather than ‘in-line’ so do not interfere with the current flow. Use the Silencer close to your system to create a ‘quiet area’ or plug them in next to sources of mains noise such as in the socket next to a fridge or dishwasher. The Purifiers work best simply plugged into the mains block supplying your system. Checking the polarity of your turntable mains supply is also simple and very worthwhile; it ensures that the smallest electromagnetic field (EMF) is generated. Use the Elfix tester to minimise EMF by ensuring that the mains polarity is correctly connected.
Silencer and MiniPurifier
Turntable Mats Over the years, a wide variety of turntable mats have been marketed, each claiming vast superiority over the original ribbed rubber mats manufacturers supplied as original equipment. I found them rather unconvincing with the exception of the Linn LP12 felt mat (Linn once supplied a rubber mat). I wasn’t Elfix Polarity tester surprised at the improvement because using a felt mat was the first upgrade I made to my first record player (a Philips Disc Jockey Major) in 1959 at the age of 13. Felt is great but do stick it down to the platter, or it and the record will ‘creep’ as it plays. Use double sided tape, not glue as it will soak through the felt and wreck the performance. If you are sceptical about the ‘creep’, just stick a small tag (a cut off piece of self adhesive label) on the record, the mat and the platter, line them up before starting the turntable and watch them move apart as the record plays. If the record is moving with respect to LP12 with original felt mat the platter, at what speed is the record actually being played?
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Ringmat Developments has introduced a turntable mat that is a remarkable improvement over rubber or felt on most turntables (yes, including the LP12). It brings better bass, cleaner treble, better soundstaging and lower surface Ringmat Anniversary Goldspot noise. I highly recommend it. The Ringmat is available separately or as part of the Ringmat Support System that also contains record spacers to allow you to optimise Vertical Tracking Angle (VTA) for any record you play, or to set a good general setting that suits most of your records.
Static Electricity The degrading effect of static electricity on the performance of a record is enormous. The biggest culprit is the acrylic lid. The static charge can lift the arm slightly and reduce tracking pressure. If you dust the lid with the pickup on a record you can lift it right off the record! Treat both the inside and the outside of the lid with ReleeS® anti-static spray for best results. Treat also the plinth, armboard, tone arm, rubber mat etc. (Don’t spray any near the cartridge!). Remember also to treat the tonearm cable with ReleeS® - it really works. An extra bonus of treating with ReleeS® is that less dust is attracted to the turntable and so less gets onto the record.
Ringmat’s LP Statmat and LP StatCap placed above and below the record will reduce static
Ringmat’s excellent Statmat is a perfect solution to reducing electrostatic charges which build up as the platter and spindle rotates while you are playing records.
Record Cleaning I recommend my Russ Andrews ReVive. It uniquely removes the nasty-sounding mould release agent left in the grooves of vinyl records as part of the manufacturing process. Alcohol-based cleaners simply won’t do this. You’ll hear more detail, lower surface noise, less sibilance and less distortion. We have a full kit to do the job, or you can use the solution with your existing ‘suction’ type cleaner.
ReVive Record Cleaner ReleeS® anti-staticspray
Manual Cleaning Kit
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Supports The influence of the turntable support you use on the performance of your turntable is absolutely immense. We recommend our Torlyte™ Turntable Stands or Torlyte™ Platforms for turntables. The Torlyte® Turntable Stand is the ultimate, no compromise solution to the turntable support problem. It was the product around which the original Torlyte® design effort was concentrated and from which all other stands have been developed. It minimises the sound degrading effects of acoustic feedback, allowing your records to sound more detailed, musical and rhythmic. The stand is triangular, giving the greatest stability and lowest weight. Find out more about Torlyte® at www.torlyte.com Torlyte® Turntable Stand
Cone Feet The degrading effects of rubber feet are very obvious on turntables. The reasons are set out in my book ‘Sound Solutions’ and the rule of 3 feet versus 4 feet explained there works on turntables too. Use either two cones at the front and one in the centre at the back, or vice versa depending on your own preference, or the dictates of your turntable stand. Our small Cone Feet are a direct replacement for the small rubber feet on the Linn LP12 and other similar turntables, but with all other equipment the larger the Cones used, the more effectively they couple your turntable to its support and the bigger the improvement in the sound.
Oak Cone Feet
Need any help? If you have any queries about our products then please contact us on the number below. Our friendly, trained staff will be happy to assist you:
01539 797300 www.russandrews.com E-mail: info@russandrews.com
Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal, LA9 6NS, UK. © Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, August 2014. Prices right at time of printing. E&OE.