Upgrade or Replace ?? - 1986 Linn system - LP12/Ittok/LK1/LK280 & Mission 770's

Sproutsdad

Thanks Martimu, it's always great to get response and a healthy exchange going.
​I live in Oxford, the guy there at Audio T seems to know his stuff on the LP12 and relevant upgrades.

But if there are especially skilled people out there and with the reputation to match, then I am very happy to take any good direction on this. Any companies and names please, how do I seek them out?
This is my first step and stage in upgrading what over 3 decades ago was a quality system, and I would like to get this front end stage as right as it can be.

With many thanks

dogfonos

Interesting. I suspected, wrongly, that you had a thing for vinyl because much of this thread concentrates on that particular media.

Concerning the Linn LP12 as vinyl source, I'd like to add a slightly alternative perspective. Just my opinion, but the money you could end up spending on the turntable/arm/cartridge combination may not yield proportional (or maybe expected - depending on your expectations) improvements in sound quality. As an LP12 owner myself, I agree with most of the other posts about getting the LP12 serviced but, unless money was no object (I see no mention of budget?), I would limit the amount I spent on turntable upgrades and a new arm and/or cartridge and instead spend it on other components.

When you initially assembled your turntable-based setup in the mid-eighties, domestic digital playback systems were in their infancy. CD players were still evolving and turntables were the only affordable and (relatively) convenient high-quality source. Not so these days. Many folk, including myself, consider a competent digital source more accurate that most (if not all) turntable-based sources. I believe this opinion is also backed up by measurements. Turntables have their fans who enjoy the sort of sound turntables produce, in the same way that valve amplifiers have their proponents too. Quality turntables and valve amps don't sound bad as such,  it's just that a decent modern CD player will probably sound more accurate, not to mention even higher quality digital files. On the other hand, not everyone seeks sonic accuracy.

I had the slightly earlier Mission 770's, which had an interesting blend of strengths and weaknesses, but I'm told the 770 Feedoms sounded particularly good. At this end of the hifi market, I would expect sellers to come to your home for final demonstrations, perhaps after you've narrowed choices down to a handful of components with shop demos. Personally, if I wished to use three different sources as you do (i.e turntable, CD player and digital streaming) I would want to base my system around the most accurate source - unless I listened almost exclusively to vinyl then I'd plump for a turntable source - so I would choose the highest quality digital source available from the seller.

martimu

Lots of reasons why many of us use and still love or prefer the sound of our vinyl.

Nice article here from Rob Sinden of Gecko home cinema whose seems to be very much a digital champion ( if done correctly) explaining the some of the reasons why vinyl can sound so good and often better than digital Digital Vs Analogue Audio - The Loudness War

As to who is good with an LP12 the ones I'm aware of are Winchester hifi, Cymbiosis, and The Audiobarn.

However probably worth having a look over on pinkfishmedia.net as they will be far more up to date than me and have a lot of LP12 users on there.

Either way I suspect with a little of TLC you'll have something sound fab without having to lay out for a whole new TT!