LINN SONDEK LP12 "THE TURNTABLE"

Scottish Ivor Tiefenbrun revolutionized the world of Hi-Fi in the 1970s by claiming a fundamental role for the turntable-arm-cartridge chain in the audio system, and he did so with great determination (mistaken for arrogance) and, above all, with a scientific method. His turntable, the Linn Sondek LP12, completely upended the concepts of audio system composition and at that point became the standard-bearer of the British Sound, forcefully entering the Hi-End Audio (also known as Esoteric Audio or Audiophile) scene. Ivor's revolution propelled the entire British audio industry, which effectively dominated during those years. The setup was: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, Ittok arm, and Troika cartridge. This configuration has continuously evolved over the years, especially in terms of power supplies with various Lingo, Cirkus, Keel, Trampolin, and Radikal updates. The change that Tiefenbrun required was radical; it undermined all the foundations of the audio electronics of the time, ranging from the absolute prohibition of washing records because the stylus would clean the grooves with its precision diamond cut, to the requirement that the stylus be cleaned with fine sandpaper, even banning any form of blowing on it, as even breathing on it could damage the adhesives (aeronautical in origin) used to assemble the cartridge. I bought my Linn Sondek LP12/Ittok IV/Troika in London in 1988; I was there for work and spent a lot of time testing it in combination with the other components (also British Sound) that I intended to purchase. Ivor Tiefenbrun's second revolution came with the advent of the CD (the digital format) because he surprised everyone by becoming one of the best manufacturers of A/D D/A converters in the world, supplying what were at the time the best and most technologically advanced recording studios, such as Peter Gabriel's Real World. Listening to vinyl with the Linn is still a wonderfully psychoacoustic experience.

Now you might ask, what does this have to do with listening experiences? It matters because over time, Linn has also become a record label and has produced albums for the BLUE NILE, a Scottish band that is a true cult among enthusiasts of music and esoteric audio (hi-end). They don’t perform concerts, they don’t do interviews, they take years between albums; they are a true mystery of splendid nighttime music, produced by that genius Ivor Tiefenbrun. In particular, their album Hats was used to test the quality of hi-fi systems, and the review on Ondarock begins like this: "The story of the Blue Nile is the story of a cult band. Indeed, the cult band par excellence."

P.S. The turntable existed in only two variants, black base or natural base; the one I photographed today is my turntable in the natural version.





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