A 1979 LP12 is not competitive with the best of today but a 2009 LP 12 is.
The only thing that's obsolete about a current spec LP 12 is its appearance, which definitely has a retro '60's or 70's look to it. It's not as nice looking as newer designs, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I might like the look of something jazzier, but I'm not going to get rid of my table for appearance any more than I would trade in my wife for looking a little older than a more current woman.
As far as engineering and construction goes, the thrust plate in the bearing well is machined so precisely, you cannot measure its flatness mechanically. You have to use wavelengths of light to measure it. Hardly obsolete.
Whether you like the Linn sound or not is a different question. But this has nothing to do with obsolescence. People who don't like Linn perhaps use the obsolescence argument to cover their real point, i.e. they just don't like the Linn and prefer other tables for a variety of reasons. Rather than extol the virtues of their own table, they try to make their table look better by attacking the competition.
My complaints about the Linn are its non-user friendly set-up and the excessive price of its upgrades. Perhaps Linn is trying to squeeze as much out of it while they can before it dies, to be replaced by computer based audio.
It is not the table that is obsolete, it is the technology itself that is obsolete. And that applies to all tables, soon to be followed by CD players.
The only thing that's obsolete about a current spec LP 12 is its appearance, which definitely has a retro '60's or 70's look to it. It's not as nice looking as newer designs, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I might like the look of something jazzier, but I'm not going to get rid of my table for appearance any more than I would trade in my wife for looking a little older than a more current woman.
As far as engineering and construction goes, the thrust plate in the bearing well is machined so precisely, you cannot measure its flatness mechanically. You have to use wavelengths of light to measure it. Hardly obsolete.
Whether you like the Linn sound or not is a different question. But this has nothing to do with obsolescence. People who don't like Linn perhaps use the obsolescence argument to cover their real point, i.e. they just don't like the Linn and prefer other tables for a variety of reasons. Rather than extol the virtues of their own table, they try to make their table look better by attacking the competition.
My complaints about the Linn are its non-user friendly set-up and the excessive price of its upgrades. Perhaps Linn is trying to squeeze as much out of it while they can before it dies, to be replaced by computer based audio.
It is not the table that is obsolete, it is the technology itself that is obsolete. And that applies to all tables, soon to be followed by CD players.