Planar Speaker Asylum

RE: No, my LP12 had the Cirkus installed as soon as it came out. ...

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In Reply to: RE: No, my LP12 had the Cirkus installed as soon as it came out. ... posted by andyr on September 07, 2010 at 16:16:43

Hi Andy,
I’m not surprised your LP12 is not bloated sounding with a unipivot arm, cirkus bearing/inner platter and Cetech chassis and Lingo PSU!!

Your combo with the Graham unipivot sounds very interesting. That’s obivoulsy not a typical LP12 setup. I wonder if the Graham sounds fuller/more weighty than the Aro?, - most likely I guess so as the Aro is well known not to work well on the Cirkus LP12, - the pre-cirkus is the LP12 of choice, -that’s what the Aro was designed for and it’s the only combo that sound right, - like I say the ARO is too thin and clinical sounding on a Cirkus deck. Perfect tonal combo however with a pre-cirkus LP12.

I tried the Cirkus and Lingo upgrades when I had both an Ittok and Ekos. I didn’t like either the Cirkus or the Lingo, - both makes the deck more neutral and detailed but IMO they removed the much of the musicality and charm the pre-cirkus/Valhalla LP12 had, - that I though was the "classic" LP12 sound. I found the Lingo makes the sound thinner and more CD like in sound. Bass is tighter and less bloated yes but I didn’t like it. The Cirkus really added more detail and also improved neutrality, - but I found it also presented the music in less musical way. It’s a subjective thing, - some people seem to prefer the pre-cirkus LP12 sound, - other far far prefer the Cirkus. I am definitely in the Pre-Cirkus camp though and the anti lingo one too!

And the Ekos is a not a great arm in my opinion, - it puts an unnatural over emphasis on dynamics and I far prefer the more refined and natural sounding Ittok which is under half the price on the used market.

The one excpetion to the upgrades I tired (though it wasn't a Linn upgrade of course), was the Aro unipivot tonearm, - I really did like it a lot on the Pre-Cirkus deck like I say. The Aro is an exceptional arm on that deck despite the drawback with the headshell situation, - I would buy an Aro again in the future, despite this limitation. That says something for its quality.
The cart limitation are not as bad as you might think, - as you can use Dynavector cartridges as well as Linn, - all the Dynas are near to spot on right Ggometry.

The Aro had fantastic midrange and very fluid and musical sound. Shame the operation is a bit fiddly but that’s unipivots I guess. And its a shame it did not sound good with the Denon DL304 cartridge (which is an expectional cartridge for the money IMO), like I say thats another reason why I sold the Aro, - I ccouln't afford to buy an ultra expensive cartridge right now to make the most of it.

Geometry with the Denon DL304 and DL103 are both fine for the Aro, - but the Denon 110 and 160 are wrong, and other cartridges like Ortofons and many other brands are the wrong geometry too. Its a shame the DL103 has a rolled off treble, - despite its usual appetite for a high mass arm, it worked incrediblty well on the Aro in my opinion (tried it and was VERY surprised), - the weightly heavy sound of the 103 complemeting the light nature of the Aro and balancing things out nicely. Just the lack of top end with the DL103 is a real major problem in the long term for me. I could have got the 103 retipped with a paratrace tip from Expert sylus though, - that might have been an ideal solution for a good sounding well suited MC to use with an ARO that had some top end!. Might revisit this if I ever get an Aro again.

So yeah your LP12 combo looks very nice, - my experience of the Lingo and Cirkus upgrades was with different tonearm and cartridge combos, - I bet your LP12 sounds superb though!

These third party subchassis have really taken off haven't they!, - Cetech, Sole, Greenstreet and Rubikon too (didn’t know that one existed!). The Rubikon looks very good,- perhaps you should look into the Greenstreet too, - not sure if you have seen it? (most likely I guess) its cheaper and they can make it custom for your arm.
http://www.greenstreetaudio.com/pages/subchassis-custom.html
It basically a Keel clone and from what I’ve read it does sound very good at a nice price. Not sure about the Rubikon though, - will have a look myself.

The Radikal motor and Urika P/S are also supposed to be very good too, but very pricey like all the Linn upgrades!

Cheers,
Colin

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