audiophile help needed in CT


Need ann analogue guy to help me troubleshoot my LP12 Iittok, Supex 901 setup.

the CT Linn "dealer" here does not have a technician anymore, and did not want to promise that it would not become a long term "sit on the shelf." situation.

i live in deep river, ct 06417. about 35 minutes above new haven , will travel for help, and pay for time and any materials too.
thanks
bob
bzalforno
Are you anywhere near Goodwins in Waltham MA. They have an excellent TT guy there, last time I knew....
Oddly enough, my wife is from Deep River. Her family are long time pillars of the community. If by some poor luck your problem persists that long, we expect to be visiting in a month or two. Would be glad to help.

The nearest audio store I can think of would be in New Haven. Take 5 Audio was always a good business, on 105 Whitney Ave. Here is their phone number: (203) 777-1750. They are right off Rte 95 near the junction of 95 and 91. Trumbull St exit, I think.
Berlin here. Honestly the top TT guy I've found in the northeast is an old timer. Call John at Audio Connection in Verona NJ. He's also on this board and may be able to talk you though much of it. If it's repair he's got a great guy whom he can use, but he's a vinyl guy big time.
Yogiboy, we're almost neighbors... Bloomfield here.

I'll repeat Altaylorwood's post... please describe the problem. I know my way around a vinyl rig but I'm not a Linnie. Knowing what you're trying to fix or deal with would be helpful.
The OP has apparently lost interest in this topic, long before the rest of us. But now we know everyone else's location relative to Deep River. It's a beautiful small town. From my mother-in-law's house in the center of town you can walk to the Connecticut River, and it's a short drive to the Long Island Sound. It's a short bike ride over to Essex along a beautiful road that borders the river.
I'll be in Deep River in July for a family member's graduation party. I'll listen for a busted LP12!
i guess this post post did not go.

there seems to be a lot missing info from the record, which i knw well. ( alicia dela rocha's mostly mozart original decca lp. One can't hear the various notes struck within the chords.

i am not sure if it is the stylus/cantiliver on the supex mc. the tracking weight and anti skate are correctly set up. or what else.
hearing is not not what it was 40 years ago, but I CAN hear the same info from a Fasil Say CD of the same Bach Chaconne.
I just looked at Goodwin's site. they do have a LINN tt guy. i am going to call there, and try and set up an appointment, if they have misc parts, and a microscope.
At Goodwin's, ask for Paul. He will probably be the most responsive. Jim, the turntable guy, is a great guy.
Thanks for posting more info. Before traipsing all the way to Goodwins (or even across town), have you:

- cleaned the stylus properly?
- cleaned the record properly?
- adjusted tracking weight?
- adjusted anti-skate?

You said tracking weight and anti-skate are correctly set up. By what criteria? If they were just adjusted to some numeric value with a scale, they're only in the ballpark (at best). The only way to fine tune VTF, A/S and several other parameters is to adjust while listening to familiar music. As a rule, reducing tracking force and/or A/S will tend to bring out more detail and clarity (provided you don't go too far and incur mistracking). Every cartridge is unique, so adjusting to some recommended value without listening is only an approximation.

No technician can do this fine tweaking in a shop. A cartridge will perform differently in a shop than in your home. A cartridge will sound different in your system and room. A cartridge's performance changes with the weather and the seasons, particularly in a highly variable climate like ours in Connecticut.

Unless you're willing to pay for regular home visits by a technician, maximizing the performance of any good vinyl rig requires effective maintenance and frequent adjustments by the user.
Hello fellow CT'ers, I am from Clinton, about 15 mins from Deep River on the CT shore (previously from Balbrae in Bloomfield DougDeacon) I do have a high powered scope and could certainly check your stylus and set-up. Take-Five in New Haven could also offer you professional service and they are very good and have been around forever. Feel free to contact me.
Deep River/Essex is a lovely little New England boating community.
Cool to find out so many of us know about Deep River, after years of shmoozing indirectly on the internet. Take Five was my recommendation also, Zenblaster. It's an easy hop from Deep River. But I also take Doug's point about doing a little homework first, altho I don't find my vinyl rig needing such regular maintenance as Doug suggests. I tend to set it and forget it.

I grew up in New Haven and never even saw much of CT east of New Haven until I started dating my wife and became a member of her family in DR, in the late 1970s. Sometimes I fantasize about retiring there, but I admit to being hooked on the "bright lights" of the DC area; I like being able to hear high quality live music any day of the week within 15 minutes drive from my house. (20 minutes to Kennedy Center.) One of my best friends from high school lives in Clinton, Zen.

To the OP, you may have known my mother-in-law, Rita Samuels. She was Comptroller of the town even into her early 90s. A remarkable woman. My father in law was THE dentist in Deep River and an avid sailor.
ZenBlaster, I guess we're almost ex-neighbors. We moved to Bloomfield just last year. Looked at Balbrae but landed on a hilltop just below Talcott Mtn. It's scenic... also windy and frigid in the winter.

It can't match Lew's town for bright lights and culture, but it sure is low stress. The nearest "store" is Wade's Farm Stand (best native corn in the state, and their fields are right outside my back door). My daily commute is all of 5 miles on country roads. Traffic jams consist of deer, turkeys, fox, wildcat (once) and the occasional bear.

I have a long time buddy in Guilford, not far from Clinton and Deep River. Connecticut's small... everybody knows somebody from every town in the state.
If Boston isn't too far away, there's a terrific store in Cambridge called QAudio, and the owner is also a superb technician for turntables.
Hi Bzalforno,

I know that you are about 1 1/2 hours from Mt. Kisco, NY which may be too far, but David Wilson, the owner of Accent on Sound there is an experienced Linn specialist, and quite generous with information and advice about judicious spending of $$ on various repairs, upgrades, or replacements. I hope that you get your issues sorted out without too much hassle!
Cambridge is about 2 or 2.5 hours from Deep River. Q Audio sure was a great store back in the day when I frequented Cambridge. Glad to know it still exists, if it's the same business. Take 5 Audio in New Haven is not quite as long-lived but also excellent and much closer to DR.
Here's a vote of confidence in Dave Wilson (and Alma). I've been their customer 20plus yrs, without any regrets. I fear the day Dave decides to retire.
I think it's awesome that we all have real dealers who run stores where you can hear things and they can keep our investments going strong. That's why I will support dealers when I can.
Thanks for all of responses.
I forgot about MT Kisco. I lived nearby out of college.
I bought some very substantial runs of terminated Linn speaker cable there about 25 years ago. not sure if it is the same ownership.
(I had put in rear Rogers speakers with an old fashioned tine delay to try and make my room into Carnegie hall.)

He is closer than Waltham, so that might be the first choice.

plan B is sell the Llinn/Ittok and and buy a current 2000 dollar rig, which is a bit less fussy. Pro-ject or such.
clearly, there is no dollar limit in analog these days. But i have to not get crazy.
thanks for everyone's input.
bob
if you are looking at 2k rigs, check out the Well Tempered Simplex. Just saying.