Analog Gear News

Way back in 1973, Linn swung for the fences with their initial playback offering, the Sondek LP12 turntable — and it connected bigtime. This table continues to be refined, and it remains a part of their line to this day. The venerated European company has just announced two new key upgrades for that rightly acclaimed Sondek LP12 turntable: a) the Linn Klimax Radikal power supply and motor control unit, and b) the Linn Keel SE sub-chassis and armboard assembly. According to the manufacturer, both upgrades have been developed to, quote, “refine performance in areas of power management, mechanical stability, and vibration control.” The Klimax Radikal also comes in two anodized finishes, black and silver.

The Klimax Radikal (seen above in its silver anodized finish) features hyper-accurate speed management technology that is said to generate “sustained, uniform rotation closer to 33⅓rpm than any turntable.” The intention is for the listener to experience “even more of your music, in perfect pitch,” thanks to Klimax Radikal’s digitally managed motor control, bespoke Utopik power supply, and machined aluminium chassis with, quote, “exceptional electrical and mechanical isolation.”

The Utopik power supply boasts separate, dedicated output voltage rails for each of Klimax Radikal’s two specialized tasks: a) controlling the motor, and b) providing power to the Urika internal phono preamps. The output rails are separately self-regulating, seeing how any sudden and/or significant draws in power from the motor or controller are purported not to affect the rails supplying Urika, and vice-versa. The independence of these rails ensures consistency and quality of power supplied to both the motor and phono preamp.

Additionally, the Klimax Radikal’s enhanced mechanical isolation weighs in at nearly 14kg, is machined from three pieces of solid aluminium, and is mounted on high-mass stainless-steel feet with rubber ring inserts. (Two rearview shots of the unit are shown a few grafs apart above, one each in black and silver respectively.)

The Keel SE replaces the company’s previous top-tier subchassis design, by way of using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and in-house machining. The intricate bracing structure machined into the underside of Keel SE — which Linn designed by using a mixture of manual and computer-aided optimization — is said to have helped the company achieve their, quote, “number one goal of increasing sub-chassis stiffness as much as possible.” The 300% (3x) increase over their previous designs means that any vibrations travelling through the Keel SE are said to have their frequencies forced higher, and their energy substantially lowered.

Furthermore, the optimized resonant behavior enables the Keel SE to “better break-up and dissipate problematic acoustic energy,” reducing its potential impact on the music signal. By machining aluminium from calculated areas beneath the armboard, the Keel SE has its center of mass balanced more evenly on its suspension compared to other subchassis models. This is intended to improve weight distribution between the springs and reduce inertia, intending to improve the critical acoustic isolation properties of any LP12 table.

As for the cost of these Linn LP12 table upgrades, the SRP for the Klimax Radikal is $16,820 (£11,500), while the Keel SE has an SRP of $6,215 (£4,250).

For more about Linn, go here.
To find an authorized Linn retailer, go here.