Scotland-based audio manufacturer Linn has released upgrades for the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable. This turntable has been around since 1973 because its basic design is excellent. The latest (optional) upgrades take it to the next level.
Linn Klimax Radikal: 33,333333 is the magic number
Linn’s Klimax Radikal features ultra-precise speed control technology, ensuring a consistently smooth platter rotation closer to 33 rpm than any other turntable. Listeners experience music even more immersively and in perfect pitch thanks to the Klimax Radikal’s digitally controlled motor, custom-designed Utopik power supply, and milled aluminum chassis with exceptional electrical and mechanical isolation.
The Utopik power supply is crucial to its performance because it has separate, dedicated output voltage rails for each of Klimax Radikal’s two specialized tasks: driving the motor and supplying power to Urika’s internal phono stages. These output rails are independently self-regulating; sudden, significant power drops from the motor or controller do not affect the rails feeding Urika, and vice versa. The independence of these rails ensures consistent, high-quality power to both the motor and the phono stage, enhancing the performance of both.
Also crucial to performance is the Klimax Radikal’s enhanced mechanical insulation. Weighing nearly 14 kilograms, crafted from three pieces of solid aluminum and mounted on massive stainless steel feet with rubber ring inserts, the beautifully crafted housing is reassuringly robust against external influences.
Linn Keel SH: High-quality machined sub-chassis and armboard for the Sondek LP12
The Keel SE is the highest-performing LP12 sub-chassis available, with superior stiffness, optimized resonance behavior, and ideal mass distribution. The complex bracing structure milled into the underbody of the Keel SE—designed using a combination of manual and computer-aided optimizations—helped the designers achieve their key objective: maximizing the sub-chassis’s stiffness. This significant 300 percent improvement compared to previous designs means the frequency of vibrations traveling through the Keel SE is forced up, significantly reducing the energy lost.
Thanks to optimized resonance behavior, the Keel SE can better break up and dissipate problematic acoustic energy, reducing its potential impact on the delicate music signal.
By machining aluminum from calculated areas beneath the armboard, the Keel SE has a more even center of gravity on the suspension than other sub-chassis models. This improves weight distribution between the springs and reduces inertia, enhancing the critical acoustic isolation properties of every LP12.
Pricing and delivery information have not yet been announced.
