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Linn vs Thorens Smackdown. Who Will Win?

Here's another vote for the AR XA. That's one in my avatar. A few years ago parts were a problem. Headshells were treated like rare archeological artifacts. But now you can buy new headshells. You can even get one with an adjustable insert that allows adjusting stylus overhang with modern cartidges. It's better than the original! You can buy belts, reproduction counterweights, and new arm rests that are much better than the oh-so-fragile original (at the price of a not-quite-authentic appearance of your turntable). You could buy several AR XAs, plus whatever new parts you need to get them working, for the price of one LP12 or Thorens.
 
Linn and Thorens use two springs to support the arm, the AR putting two on the platter end.

The Ariston and Linn are the same which is an interesting trip down the historical rabbit hole.
 
You can also buy a Technics tonearm wand and swap it which permits the use of better headshells and corrects alignment issues.

It occurs to me that XAs are are going for the price of a Valhalla circuit board, more or less. I gave $19 for mine. The guy holding the yard sale had $20 on it but I was a buck short. ;-))
 
Hi everyone, I have decided to buy a music server instead of a new turntable, but thank you so much for your time and I have gained much knowledge about Linns, Thorens, and AR turntables!
 
Nat said:
Shipping tables is dangerous, shipping tables internationally is complicated and fraught with possible complications.
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Agreed.

BennyES said:
Hi everyone, I have decided to buy a music server instead of a new turntable, but thank you so much for your time and I have gained much knowledge about Linns, Thorens, and AR turntables!
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Probably a wise decision, you would've likely ended up with a very nice deck with a lot of problems due to crappy packing. Very, very few people know how to pack a turntable properly for shipping. Most will throw it in a recycled Amazon box with some crumpled newspaper.

If you do decide later you want a turntable, my advice is to buy locally if you want a used turntable.
 
patient_ot said:
Agreed.



Probably a wise decision, you would've likely ended up with a very nice deck with a lot of problems due to crappy packing. Very, very few people know how to pack a turntable properly for shipping. Most will throw it in a recycled Amazon box with some crumpled newspaper.

If you do decide later you want a turntable, my advice is to buy locally if you want a used turntable.
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SO,SO TRUE I hate to say. I can't count the number of used "nice" tables I bought over the years that were severely damaged due to poor packing.
 
The LP12 in the first post includes the original box and insert. Linn will also supply empty boxes for reasonable money, and probably some other manufactures that are still in business do, as well. I would never buy in this price range without factory-quality shipping materials.
 
Nice turntable although I’ve not owned a Linn. It’s an awful lot unless you really know how to get it set up and keep it in tune. Even then, you might get a better result spending less and putting the balance into a nice phono stage or amplifier.
 
Benny,
I looked at your profile and it seems you have a system that wouldn’t bottleneck a nice turntable. If you pulled the trigger on that Linn, I would recommend a nice phono stage because that HK won’t cut it. Then spend at least $1k on a cartridge. Otherwise just set that cash on fire.
 
BennyES said:
What does everyone think?
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hm. that's a lot of cash, but it's very well updated, so....? i have an LP12 from the early 90s that i picked up this winter, third owner but still seemingly in tune with very little maintenance over time (came with an Origin Live-modified RB250 and the Valhalla supply). i negotiated the deal down to just less than $1000, but i did have some history dealing with the seller so i saved an extra $100 that way. when i got it home, i put some oil in the main bearing and a drop or two on the motor spindle, then mounted my cart. been extremely happy since then (it's also the most expensive table i've owned for any length of time).

the asking price of Linns seems to ramp up pretty rapidly as they get more upgrades and get newer. i'm not sure how much extra sound quality i could appreciate getting out of mine, compared to putting that same money on a better cartridge and phono stage -- it's very good as-is. if it were me and i were to spend that much at once on a table, it would be for a nice used VPI Classic/Prime/TNT, or whatever the best VPI is i could get for that price with the 10" tonearm.
 
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