Linn LP-12 still competitive with the very best?

First of all, I am certainly not an audiophile and I just bought my first Linn LP12 this evening off of e-bay. I looked at (listened to) Oracle, Rega, VPI and Thorens TTs but I chose to buy a 69,XXX serial number Linn because I liked the sound of a friend's unit when hooked-up to my amp and speakers. No, he wouldn't let me touch it or take it home. I had to take my gear to my friend's place. Anyway, for my 2 cents, it was not how modern the technology was but how I felt emotionally from what I heard. BTW my amp is only a Sugden A48 Mk III and my speakers are Spica TC50s. Some if not most would say hardly audiophile grade. Once the unit arrives, I plan on upgrading the power supply, bearing, Cirkus upgrade, new springs, the keel upgrade, a polycarbonate sound base, and if luck prevails install an Ekos SE tonearm. At roughly that point, it will be a little better than my friend's unit (he has not installed the keel yet but is planning to do so and has the Ekos 2 Tonearm). Incidentally, my old TT was a Dual 1225 with a Shure M75ED Type 2 cartridge so all of the forementioned units I tried were an improvment to say the least. The Linn was just more pleasing to me. I only hope it sounds as good in my house as my friends did in his house!

Aguadiem, See Jazzdoc's post way above. If you are really planning on spending all that money to upgrade your Linn, you might want to consider another table entirely, like a Galibier et al. Otherwise, your system is very nice; go for it.

Drubin, The reason that your Linn sounds pretty good is that you have left is alone. Unlike the rest of us with Linn horror stories, the original unit is a pretty nice musical player. Upgrade it and it goes down hill from their. Trust me... I know.

Aguadiem, don't do Circus, until you are prepared to have the sound character of the LP12 vitally changed. I second Normansizemore's opinion, that a cheap used LP12 bought from the usual s/h marketplaces is quite OK, but don't touch it, or you get a result you don't like, and the price/performance ratio changes to the worse. I think 1000 USD could buy you a good condition 80ies LP12 with tonearm.

I owned several LP12 over a twenty yr. period, and finally decided against them. If you are interested in a really negative view about the LP12, have a look at my write up here: http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/linn_lp12_e.html

best regards, Hartmut

"that a cheap used LP12 bought from the usual s/h marketplaces is quite OK"

I'd go even further and say a used Axis is quite OK also. Use a good matching cartridge though. Denon DL103R on teh Linn Basik tonearm with a good phono pre-amp (and step-up device if needed, see my system for example) sounds as good as anything I have heard recently to me.

I would rather spend my time listening to music than re-configuring turntables, so if I had to replace my Axis, I would do it with something similar that I can live with without regret without having to perform major surgery on it.