Re: The sound of LP12 plinths?
Posted: 2022-09-08 17:29
Yes, but only thoughts, no hard and fast results from listening tests. I wasn't that impressed with the tap tone from the oak one I was able to test that way. I would guess that the most musical of current Linn plinths are likely the walnut and rosenut, which is stained walnut, but that is mostly a guess based on tap tones on a few plinths.
How they would compare to afromosia is a much larger question. In general afromosia plinths have not been the most musical in my experience, BUT. Seeing as I opened this can of worms I should clarify something here. While I did my testing by actual A/B comparisons with two otherwise virtually identical turntables the results can really only be considered rough guidelines. Wood is not a uniform or consistent material. Not only physical but also musical quality varies from piece to piece, as I'm sure any maker of acoustic musical instruments using wood is quite aware.
So a little story to illustrate this. One of my customers had two LP12s and paid me to drive out to Virginia for a week to set them up. He told me ahead of time that he had three plinths he had been playing around with, an afromosia, a movingui (my favorite plinth and what is on my main LP12) and a catalox. I had never heard of catalox before and thought it might be some composite but found out it is a wood and it had come from Chris Harban along with the movingui. He said he liked the afromosia best and didn't like the catalox at all as it had a very hard sound. I asked him if he had done a tap tone test on it. He said "Yes, and it sounds like a steel bar!" That certainly didn't sound hopeful. He wanted me to evaluate all three while I was there setting up both LP12s. When I did so I found that his particular movingui was OK but not great. It did not have the really good tap tone that I have found on most movingui. It was still good but more in the B or B+ class rather than an A. The catalox was indeed dreadful. But the afromosia had the best tap tone I have ever heard from an afromosio, which I generally find to be a bit dead sounding, and was clearly the most musical tap tone of his three plinths. So we used it on his primary LP12 and the movingui on his secondary one. The catalox he sold somewhere.
There is, however, an extenuating circumstance here. This customer was big into fine woodwork and his beautiful house had lots of it. He had gone to a fine woodworker he new and gave him the afromosia plinth. The instructions were to srtrip the finish and true all the surfaces, including the wood strips and blocks the top plate sits on, to very tight tolerances similar to what Chris used to do, then to refinish the plinth. I'm not sure how the refinishing was done but my guess was that it was not a spray lacquer like on factory plinths. So there are possible reasons, other than the specific pieces of wood, why this afromosia plinth was so good. Still it had to start with a good tap tone to have much hope.
Another note is that I have found the most musical plinths from Linn to have been the actual rosewood ones that were late enough to have the larger cross braces. These were only made for a few years. I got one from a customer that looked very faded and had some scratches so he replaced it. It was still straight and level and had a good tap tone so I sanded it down to find that the dull, faded quality was because of the aging of the lacquer and the scratches were all light, surface ones. So once I'd sanded it properly and had nice, smooth wood all around I used the same wiping varnish Chris Harban uses and applied 7 coats. The plinth ended up quite beautiful and with an even better tap tone - one I would place only slightly behind my movingui (which is the single best plinth I have heard) as an A- to A. Again, instrument makers are quite aware of this but the finish used also changes the sound and musicality. I believe the finish is one of the reasons for the sound quality of the Harban plinths, along with the wood used and the quality of construction. It is a real shame he doesn't make them any more.
I know, not a simple answer. But, really, when are they?
How they would compare to afromosia is a much larger question. In general afromosia plinths have not been the most musical in my experience, BUT. Seeing as I opened this can of worms I should clarify something here. While I did my testing by actual A/B comparisons with two otherwise virtually identical turntables the results can really only be considered rough guidelines. Wood is not a uniform or consistent material. Not only physical but also musical quality varies from piece to piece, as I'm sure any maker of acoustic musical instruments using wood is quite aware.
So a little story to illustrate this. One of my customers had two LP12s and paid me to drive out to Virginia for a week to set them up. He told me ahead of time that he had three plinths he had been playing around with, an afromosia, a movingui (my favorite plinth and what is on my main LP12) and a catalox. I had never heard of catalox before and thought it might be some composite but found out it is a wood and it had come from Chris Harban along with the movingui. He said he liked the afromosia best and didn't like the catalox at all as it had a very hard sound. I asked him if he had done a tap tone test on it. He said "Yes, and it sounds like a steel bar!" That certainly didn't sound hopeful. He wanted me to evaluate all three while I was there setting up both LP12s. When I did so I found that his particular movingui was OK but not great. It did not have the really good tap tone that I have found on most movingui. It was still good but more in the B or B+ class rather than an A. The catalox was indeed dreadful. But the afromosia had the best tap tone I have ever heard from an afromosio, which I generally find to be a bit dead sounding, and was clearly the most musical tap tone of his three plinths. So we used it on his primary LP12 and the movingui on his secondary one. The catalox he sold somewhere.
There is, however, an extenuating circumstance here. This customer was big into fine woodwork and his beautiful house had lots of it. He had gone to a fine woodworker he new and gave him the afromosia plinth. The instructions were to srtrip the finish and true all the surfaces, including the wood strips and blocks the top plate sits on, to very tight tolerances similar to what Chris used to do, then to refinish the plinth. I'm not sure how the refinishing was done but my guess was that it was not a spray lacquer like on factory plinths. So there are possible reasons, other than the specific pieces of wood, why this afromosia plinth was so good. Still it had to start with a good tap tone to have much hope.
Another note is that I have found the most musical plinths from Linn to have been the actual rosewood ones that were late enough to have the larger cross braces. These were only made for a few years. I got one from a customer that looked very faded and had some scratches so he replaced it. It was still straight and level and had a good tap tone so I sanded it down to find that the dull, faded quality was because of the aging of the lacquer and the scratches were all light, surface ones. So once I'd sanded it properly and had nice, smooth wood all around I used the same wiping varnish Chris Harban uses and applied 7 coats. The plinth ended up quite beautiful and with an even better tap tone - one I would place only slightly behind my movingui (which is the single best plinth I have heard) as an A- to A. Again, instrument makers are quite aware of this but the finish used also changes the sound and musicality. I believe the finish is one of the reasons for the sound quality of the Harban plinths, along with the wood used and the quality of construction. It is a real shame he doesn't make them any more.
I know, not a simple answer. But, really, when are they?