I've found the grommets wear on an LP12 and stay in tune if they are replaced every 4-5 years. The ones that go out after a year have 10+ year old grommets. It is more important than the springs. Many decks out there have 20+ year old grommets and it perpetrates the "Linn's go out of adjustment" syndrome.
A newby to Turntables -- Linn - Thorens
I'm looking at few tables in the $200 to $500 range. In the running is a Thorens 166, 145, 160, or an original 1974 Linn LP12. I believe the Linn is the higher-end table but it seems to be very complex in maintenance, set up and tweaking. Do the Linn's actually require monthly and yearly set up and constant tweaking to perform well?