Planar Speaker Asylum

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

109.156.17.187

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

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 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 exception 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 LP12 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. To me, that says something for its sheer quality.
The cart limitations 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 Geometry.
The Aro had fantastic midrange and very fluid and musical sound. And of course (after all its a Naim product), it somehow miracsouly gives a lot of pace too along with all this! 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 couldn'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

Edits: 09/07/10 09/07/10 09/07/10

Follow Ups: