Conference hips::uk_audioo

462.0. "Cheapest Linn upgrade EVER." by KURMA::PCARLIN () Wed Dec 15 1993 01:32

    The following is the cheapest and best upgrade I've ever had. 
    
    My Linn Karma was starting to sound a bit sad after 6 years of service
    so I took it along to my dealer to get his opinion. He showed me it
    under the 'scope and the area where the cantilever disappears into the 
    body was completely bunged up with dust off my records and was
    preventing the cantilever from moving freely. He then used a cocktail
    stick to remove the protective rubber sheet from the under side of
    the cartridge body and blew it all clean with a can of compressed air.
    
    The result was a brand new  ( sounding ) Karma although it doesn't now
    have the protective rubber i.e. the coils are pretty much exposed. The
    diamond is still perfect so my dealer reckons I'll get a good year or
    so more out of it. Not bad for the price of a cocktail stick and some
    fresh air. I'd forgotten how good the Karma really is. With the money
    I saved, I went back and got my turntable Cirkus'd!
    
    Apparently, Linn don't recommend this little trick. I guess they'd
    prefer their dealers to say, "Sorry, mate your cartridge is B*@gered
    but I could sell you another at countless hundreds of pounds".
    
    So, if anybody has a dead moving coil Linn and a steady hand, they may
    be able to rework it. A Linn dealer or neural surgeon would be the best
    bet but if anybody does it themselves then remove the rubber from the front
    of the cartrige to the back so that it doesn't ping off and damage the
    cantilever.