Hi Guys i am very new to this great forum.Has anyone out there worn out their Akiva yet?I've had mine for about 17 months and its starting to pick up dirt from my records already,how many hours are they supposed to last?
I listen to mine most nights as we dont have a television although a recent Kremlin has slowed things down a little.

Thanks for you patience
Leo

You bring up a good question, Leo. I have a customer who has already worn out his first Akiva which he has had for 2 years. He said he doesn't play it all that much and is surprised and somewhat dissappointed that it is already worn out. I too am surprised by the rate of wear. I just took a look at my Akiva stylus under our microscope as I had dismounted it when I sold my Ekos (Ekos SE on order) and I noticed that it had significant wear as well. Mine is older than my customers but I probably play it a bit less than he does so the wear still appears higher than I would expect.

I used to have a Troika cartridge and it lasted me much longer than these Akivas seem to be lasting. I wonder if others are finding their Akivas wearing out quickly.

This causes concern for me as well...my akiva is just under a year old, and so far so good...although it will pick up a bunch of dust sometimes when playing a whole album side, but i didnt think that was a bad thing, actually thought it was a result of how well it is tracking as my former cart, dyna 17d3 didnt do that nearly as much.. Is cartridge wear rated in hours used, or age or product as well. If these do have a shorter life than most, what Non Linn cartridge would one recommend that is equal or greater in performance.
I enjoy your posts Thomasok...always learn something

Thanks guys;Anytime i buy a new cartridge there is very little dirt picked up,i think when the needle wears down it slides deeper into the groove where more dirt exists.Apart from the green stuff can anyone recommend a fluid that might help take of any sticky gunge that could be on my needle.I know that when the original Arkiv came out there were lots of complaints to linn saying theirs only lasted a year,linn say 2000 playing hours is the ball park figure ;thats nearly 2GBP an hour!??...I used to get that rate washing plates in the early 80's....LOL

Hello everybody

I've been lurking for a while. Interesting site!

I have an Akiva for quite some time (Nr. 51). It gets played a lot and I think it must have +/- 5'000 hours play. I know that I have to change it soon but it still plays allright, not like a now one of course. It still sounds a lot better than a good CD on my Majik-CD.

What do you people mean by "it picks up a lot of dust" ? I'm shure also a brandnew cartridge picks up dirt.

Regards
Paul

That Akivas might be wearing out quickly is a new one to me.

If it is in the region of 2000 hours, the cost is around 1GBP an hour on the first Akiva. The following ones are a third less due to the trade in value.

5000 hours sounds amazing, have you really played it that much??

I have also never heard of the dust/dirt issue. Is there anyone who can confirm whether a worn out cartridge picks up more or less dirt than a new cartridge?

Hello Frederik

Yes I'm quite shure. Until October last year when I got the Majik-CD I only listened to LPs. I bought the Akiva more than 4 years ago. It belongs to my mornig rituals to have a coffee and listen to an LP, when I get home at noon I listen to another LP while I browse through the newspaper and of course I also listen to music in the evening. Alltogether an average of nearly 3 hours on a weekday, over the weekend it's easely 5 h a day.
25 h x 48 weeks x 4 years = 4'800h.

BTW: I spoke to a Linn employee at a LP12-Klinik near here and he also spoke of 4'000+ hours, dependig on how you treat it (are the Lps in a good condition, are the old ones cleaned?).

Regards
Paul

Hi! I just discovered this thread! Recently we´re having a discussion on this topic in the thread "record and stylus cleaning".

I've always been advised to use the green paper sparingly - approx once a week if you're using the deck an hour or so per day - otherwise it will wear down the Akiva prematurely.

I never use that "green paper". To me it seems ridiculous :? to use something that´s supposed to make, even very slight, physical wear to the diamond.
Linn recommends using a "dry vibrating pad". That´s what I use :) - an Audio Technica AT-637.

But it´s of course also a matter of playing clean records. If you notice the needle is starting to pick up dirt - one reason might be that you are playing a dirty record ... So, go get yourself a record cleaner!

An Akiva is a major investment for most people so it should be essential to make it last as long as possible.
Earlier we have had a short discussion on the lifetime of diamond tips in the other thread.

The hifi community sure has certain pecularities. Among other things the press - it is, as it seems, mainly concerned with finding the most esoteric language to describe the reviewers listening experiences :| .
That´s fine but I would also welcome a forum for some good old consumer´s power :twisted: .
I mean, if it appears that certain Akivas have a lifetime of, say slightly over 1000 hours, whereas for instance an Allaerts have a lifetime of 10000 hours, I think that knowledge is in the interests of the consumers. And, if so, it should also be important to ask the little question "why?" :twisted: .
Also if it appears that the Akiva lifetime is fluctuating between 1500 - 5000 hours. I don´t think that is acceptable. In my view that knowledge should point to a severe quality problem :shock: .
Maybe real consumer journalistics could even force the companies to give some kind of a guarantee... :D ?

I also have an Audio Technica AT-637, but it's nearly 20 years old and the pad is very dry and rough, so I've not used it on the Akiva as a precaution. How is yours holding up? Do you apply any liquid to the pad?

Rudy van Gelder wrote: I mean, if it appears that certain Akivas have a lifetime of, say slightly over 1000 hours, whereas for instance an Allaerts have a lifetime of 10000 hours, I think that knowledge is in the interests of the consumers. And, if so, it should also be important to ask the little question "why?" :twisted: .
Also if it appears that the Akiva lifetime is fluctuating between 1500 - 5000 hours. I don´t think that is acceptable. In my view that knowledge should point to a severe quality problem :shock: .
Maybe real consumer journalistics could even force the companies to give some kind of a guarantee... :D ?

First of all, what MC cart has a 10k hour lifetime?
I seriously doubt that.

Secondly, I'm sure the difference in reported Akiva lifetime is due to the ESTIMATES! I.e. it's SO good that you may not realize how many hours you use it on a weekly basis...

Hello Linnies

First of all I wish a Happy New Year to everyone!

Now I want to report on my experiences with the Akiva. I posted some time ago that my Akiva has been running for more than 4'000 hours allready. When I received the new Akiva ten days ago the old one had more than 5'000 hours (yes I'm certain!). The old one played still quite good, it was just a bit lame. When I compared the same tracks on CD (Majik CD) and on the LP 12 the Vinyl sounded not quite as good as the CD. It was time to change! With the new one the LP12 sounds like heaven again: fresh and crispy. Some of the improvement however certainly stems also from the new adjustment by my dealer. I would say that if I would have been short of money the cartridge could run for another year. On the other hand if I want the highest performance all the time I would have to change it earlier.

I think that makes it a bit clearer why you can't say how long the lifespan of a cartridge might be.

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul. Pleased to hear about your Akiva experience. For me, the Akiva has been a worthwhile investment, despite the cost, but I obviously want to reduce unnecessary wear. I just have a couple of questions for you: -

1.) How often have you been using the Green paper with this cartridge, and is that all you have been using to keep it clean?
2.) Do you mostly queue records by hand? - I'm not sure if this makes any difference, but am just curious. Also, it would seem that you are mostly listening to albums, not 45s (i.e. queuing up less often than you would be with 45s) - is that right?
3.) The Linn Klinik referred to the condition of the LPs. What is the condition of yours? Mine are a mix of new and used, but I don't clean the 2nd hand ones. Many Thanks, Charlie1

Hi Charlie1

*1.) How often have you been using the Green paper with this cartridge, *and is that all you have been using to keep it clean?
I don't use the green paper very often. I use a liquid to clean the "needle" because it sounds better after cleanig. The seller says that the liquid evaporates in a few seconds. So it leaves no traces. Some people say it's harmfull to use a liquid cleaner but even the expert at the LP-Klinik says it probably wouldn't cause any problems.

*2.) Do you mostly queue records by hand? - I'm not sure if this makes any *difference, but am just curious. Also, it would seem that you are mostly *listening to albums, not 45s (i.e. queuing up less often than you would *be with 45s) - is that right?
I usualy queue up by hand, but I think it would probably be better to use the mechanism. I hardly ever listen to 45s.

*3.) The Linn Klinik referred to the condition of the LPs. What is the *condition of yours?
I mostly listen to used LPs but they are in excellent condition and cleaned with a machine.

Regards
Paul

Many thanks Paul.
What is the name of the solution you're using? I might give it a try if it's available in the UK.

I use a liquid from Adiotop. Here's the link:
http://www.audiotop.ch/english/techinfo/info_stylus.htm

They also make liquids for cleaning LPs which I also use sometimes. Although I find their products very expensive.

Regards
Paul

Just want to mention that I have occasionally used silly putty since october last year. It seems to work just fine and I have not found any problems with it.

I normally use the green paper after each record and the silly putty when needed (perhaps every tenth record or so).

This is where we got the tip from ThomasOK:
http://www.lejonklou.com/forum/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

I've not owned an expensive Moving Coil for very long, so am probably still a bit nervous about it.

Tonight the needle jumped off the end of the LP and was left running on the label for about 15 mins :shock: . I won't be playing this LP again, but does anyone know if it is likely to have done any permanent damage to the Akiva? It's happened once or twice before, but never been left unnoticed.

I don't think that's a problem at all. It has happened to me many times and after all, paper is softer than Vinyl.

No problem Charlie! It's only the label that takes any damage. :)

Remember also that the speed is very low near the centre of the record, which means the wear is minimal.

...and r e l a x

thanks guys.

Azazello wrote:I don't think that's a problem at all. It has happened to me many times and after all, paper is softer than Vinyl.

And a diamond is stronger than paper!!!!

:mrgreen:

I'm on my 3rd Akiva. The first one lasted about 1 year 2 months. The second I changed while still not worn out because I got a deal on a new one. The second one was still going strong after 1 year 8 months.

The main reason why I think the second one lasted longer was because I stopped queuing by hand (at my dealer's recommendation). I think this made all the difference in my case.

What I find when the Akiva starts to go is that it loses luster and dynamics. The slam and impact goes away and the treble loses it's clarity and sharpness.

Some other things to watch out for are:

1. Tracking weight and bias. If the cartridge is not tracking properly this will lead to premature wear. I think I've seen some literature from Linn incorrectly state that the minimum tracking weigth for the Akiva is 1.8g. I find typically that the optimal tracking weight is less than this and closer to 1.75g (my current Akiva is set at slightly less than 1.75g). There's a sweet spot for tracking weight and bias which you have to work at to find. I'm not sure if 0.05g of too much weight would have any significant impact on cartridge life but it shore messes up the sound!
2. Cartridge alignement and armboard/arm collar alignment. Both these if incorrect can lead to premature cartridge wear (and performance degradation). Of course, if you have a Keel and an Ekos/SE then there's not much room for error.

One thing that is really frustrating with the Akiva is that it takes up to 60 hours + to run in properly. It typically takes me 2 1/2 weeks of a lot of use to get the sound to loosen up and open up.

Chris.

Interesting, Chris, thanks for reporting.

All Akivas I have adjusted by ear have so far ended up slightly higher than 1.75g. I agree that it's rather critical to the music.

Only 1 year 2 months on the first one? You must play a LOT of records! :shock:

To be honest, there IS room for error when mounting an Akiva to an Ekos+Keel, because Linn haven't gotten all the dimensions perfect with the 3-point mounting. I know this can seem like madness, but to get it all perfectly aligned actually isn't possible. One can get rather close, but that requires attention and knowledge. Mounting an Adikt correctly is even more challenging, because neither the tabs nor the connecting wires allow the perfect position to be reached. The solution for a perfectionist is, in that case, to cut tabs, bend connectors and reposition the connecting pins in the arm. :!:

It's important to know that these errors are small and the normal tracking angle errors are larger than any of the potential additional errors. But considering the level of performance of these cartridges and how much they cost, I expect things to be as close to perfect as possible.

Linn reps might be upset when reading this, but the truth is that I have pointed these easily correctable cartridge mounting geometry errors out to them many times since the early 90's. The only response I've gotten is that they are "not important".