LP Gear Blog
NEW versus OLD — Technics SL-1200GR vs Linn LP12 belt drive turntable
Technics SL-1200 vs Linn LP12 turntable
by Rome • February 07, 2025
What really matters.
The seventies was the pinnacle in High End audio in terms of discovery, available resources, talent and advancement. During this period there was one turntable that gained supremancy — the Linn Sondek LP12. Harry Pearson, the founder and Chief Editor of The Absolute Sound reviewed and compared it to the reigning turntable - the direct drive and powerfui Technics SP10. The Linn LP12 was a basic three point suspension belt drive turtable with a Grace G-707 tonearm bereft of many upgrades, adornments and embellishments that were added through the years and presently cost around $60,000. Then, it was a simple turntable and retailed for only $395. The historical context was direct drive had gained credibility as the better turntable due to its rotational accuracy and operational simplicity. Harry Pearson's endorsement of Linn and belt drive's superiority, reversed the hierarchy with belt drive becoming the superior design for high fidelity record playing.
In audio as in life sometimes we forget what really matters and off we go on a direction unintended. With turntables, its function is to recreate the music the way it was recorded. I was thus surprised when many reviewers jumped on the Technics SL-1200 direct drive bandwagon seemingly without due diligence and thorough comparison. With the Linn LP12, you'll own a legend of the best turntable in the world! With this particular LP12, you'll hear the legend as it was enjoyed back when the legend was established in the 1970s. It has the red button power switch, the venerated Grace G-707 tonearm properly fitted and adjusted in to the arm board, a new Nirvana, new springs, sub-chassis, new bearing that is compatible with synthetic oil, bearing well, new bottom panel and feet, old screws replaced, re-screwed and epoxied and so everything is just like it was new! See the copy of work done by probably the best Linn technician in the US, Rick Duplisea, at Audio Alternative. It also comes with a Grace cartridge but the stylus needs to be replaced. The unit is without a dustcover for optimal sound quality. The photo depicts the turntable still wrapped in plastic, the outer platter in a box and the inner platter with the counterweight in another box. All in all the turntable will come in three boxes. I will let the new owner experience unwrapping the turntable as received from Audio Alternative.
In a Stereophile review
In a Stereophile review (https://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1103linn/index.html) of a stock, modern Linn LP12, it was concluded: "On balance, the complete Linn system is not the best analog front-end I've ever heard, but it is among a handful that I could easily live with because it made music that was believable."
I have two Linn LP12s. one Technics SL-1200GR, two Sota Sapphires, a Rega' Planar 3, and a Rega Planar 10 because I enjoy listening to LPs, my unceasing curiosity and personal belief that if something is made to be great, (like the historic 1716 Stradivari Messiahs still considered to being the best today,) then it should be timeless. The choice should not change every year or every three years! I've been intrigued: with everyone (crowd-following audio enthusiasts) going for the SL-1200GR, I wondered whether their choice and mine may be ill-informed. Thus I brought out my LP12s from years of storage since our move to Las Vegas from Manchester, New Hampshire. After the first one was inspected, updated and checked by Audio Alternative, I took the opportunity to compare. I played two records that I knew well and liked with both the SL-1200GR and the Linn LP12 for a few hours. I found after a while I no longer enjoyed listening to the SL-1200GR and played the two records and many more the rest of the day with the LP12. Why? The LP12 played music that sounded and felt like music. The SL-1200GR is impressive in terms of overall manufacturing fitness and quality, rotational accuracy, convenience, adjustment, durability, portability. But for me, if you want to hear, feel and enjoy the music , the LP 12 is better. This seems self-serving since I am selling a LP12 turntable. Be that as it may, I just wanted to find out for myself and share my enlightenment. If you disagree, that's your prerogative. But do your due diligence. Don't rely on fake reviews, unreliable reviewers, commercial publications.
BTW, the LP12 I used for comparison is not the one for sale. It is a later version that has the Valhalla, Ittok LV II tonearm, new armboard and LP12 rebuild. Both turntables that were compared used the Ortofon Super OM20 cartridge, which I consider timeless. I am not a professional reviewer, not a follower, abhor fake news...just someone who loves listening to live music.