Linn LK1 to Linn LK280 leads and Ekos tonearm

[cratedigger]

Hi guys I have just inherited a beautiful Linn Sondek LP12 along with a Linn LK1 preamp and two LK280 power amps. They were owned by a dear friend of mine who sadly passed away 13 years ago. His widow wants me to have it as she thinks it's time to let it go. I am trying to breathe some life back into the system so when lockdown is over she can come round and listen to all those old LP's like we did in the 80's and have a good cry.

Anyway she couldn't find any of the cables and I can't find any info on the net how these interconnects are pinned out etc so a bit of advice would be great The Sondek has a Ekos arm that I had to install but just isn't working properly, can't really explain it but please can someone point me in the right direction.

Any advice would be absolutely appreciated.

Thanks, Gaz.

[Ted Kendall]

Couple of points here - the preamp outputs are XLR 3 pin connectors and the power amp inputs are phonos. The details of which pins are used are stencilled on the back panel, according to the manual, but the scan online isn't clear enough to be exact - a photo would help here.

Do you have the arm cable for the Ekos? This is a Japanese 5 pin connector which has become a de facto standard for pickup arms, so you may be able to find one second hand, or go to SME if push turns to shove.

You say the arm doesn't work properly. What cartridge is installed? Are you familiar with the general procedure for setting balance and tracking force? Some indication of what it isn't doing would be useful.

[cratedigger]

OK the Ekos does have its cable and has the Linn Troika cartridge
It would be better if I posted a video of it on here
Also I will post some pictures of the back of the amps later
Thanks for your reply though

[Beobloke]

The LP12 is an ostensibly simple thing but incredibly fiddly to set up - for example, how the arm cable is dressed on the underside affects how the suspension works which in turn, affects the sound.

The guides produced by Peter Swain at Cymbiosis go into terrifying detail but contain a lot of pertinent information, and can be found here: https://www.cymbiosis.com/downloads/

Volume III is the one you'll need which covers setting the 'bounce' of the suspension and dressing the arm lead.

[cratedigger]

Hers a video of the faulty preamp:-

https://youtu.be/aZNCC0kfV4A

[Radio Wrangler]

I'm afraid you've lost me.

The last I read was that you didn't have any of the connecting cables. I assumed that without cables the only way you could determine that the LP12/Ekos wasn't working properly would be if you could see something wrong with the rotation of the turntable, or the movement of the arm.

Now, the youtube video shows me that you must have arranged some sort of connection from the preamp to the dual power amp. You said you have two LK280 units, and as there are two power amps in each LK280 box, I'm beginning to wonder if you have (most of) a bi-amp setup? I can't tell from the video what the preamp setting are, I can see lights, but not read their labelling. I've tried grabbing single frames to get around the fast moving of the camera, but the resolution is worse.

Your video doesn't show the connections you're using, so there are no clues there. The sound is just a straight forward mains hum.

At a guess, you've got signal between the preamp and the power amp pair, and the hum suggests it's being picked up on something with the sensitivity of a turntable input that's floating.

There will be clues in whether the hum is the same on other input selections, and how it changes with volume control setting.

We can only see what you have and what's going on through the window of what you write and what your camera focuses on.

David

[Ted Kendall]

First things first. Nothing in this rig connects by wi-fi. There must be a cable from the base of the Ekos to the approprate input on the LK1 - moving coil, as you say. The output of the LK1 must be connected appropriately to the LK280. Evidently the LK280 is connected to the two speakers. The odd squeals coming out of the speakers are not encouraging - these and the odd lights coming up on the LK1 may indicate a fault, but first let us establish that the correct connections are in place. The hum, as David says, sounds like a sensitive input (and moving coil is by far the most sensitive) with nothing connected to it.

[cratedigger]

Ok guys my fault here, I've posted on other forums and I've tied myself in a knot LOL.
I must read stuff before I post, jumping in head first without thinking is a story of my life TBH.
Anyway here's where I am, when Nigel had these set up he indeed have the two amps in some sort of bridged set to drive his lovely Isobariks up as I remember
Is the bridging done by the way you connect cables or is something changed inside the amp?
I connected the preamp to one of the amps via a couple of XLR female to female audio leads, I've added a picture.
Shame we are in a lockdown as I could take it all somewhere and get it looked at though there's no way I can afford Linn service centre's fees

[cratedigger]

None of the controls work on the preamp BTW.

[Ted Kendall]

Understood, but have you connected the Ekos to the LK1?

[Radio Wrangler]

What do you mean by "Non of the controls work on the preamp"

Does operating the controls change the displays? Does operating the controls change the sound?

There is a lot of detail behind even such a simple statement, and the clues are in the detail. It might look like nit-picking, but it's actually thoroughness and trying to not miss a vital clue. It's awfully easy to theorise what may be wrong and to shoot down some blind alley only to find later that something seeming inconsequential at the time would have made it clear.

Having multiple forums working on this will give you breadth of opinion, which inevitably means confusion. What gets to the bottom of the problem is depth Someone has to go into it in the necessary level of detail. This means a lot more work for you in giving detailed information and going slowly.

Hifi is quite easy stuff, compared to some of the things some of us on here handle.

Is the sound out of both speakers identical?

Does it change with volume setting?

Does it change with balance setting?

Does it change with source setting?

What do you get if you turn on with one Preamp/power amp cable disconnected at the power amp end (do for each cable in turn)

What do you get if you turn on with one of those cables disconnected at the preamp end (do for each cable in turn)

Sounds tedious? It is, but if anything odd turns up, it could be the route to solving the problem. If nothing does, we can move on with some confidence.

David

[cratedigger]

The sound is identical out of both speakers most of the time.
There is a big noise, just like when you run your finger over the stylus when preamp is first turned on .....very loud.

Doesn't change with any buttons.

If one of the XLR leads is disconnected that channel goes silent.

Thanks for your help guys.

[Radio Wrangler]

OK, so the source of the noise is upstream of the preamp-poweramp cables. Expected, but now checked.

So no difference with any buttons, and that rules out variation with the volume control.

I'm wondering about a missing ground. Not certain, just one of the possibilities that needs checking before we can dismiss it.... not all XLR to XLR leads have all three pins. It would be worth checking each of them pin-to-receptacle of each pole with a multimeter.

There could be some setting we've all forgotten about that merely needs resetting?

It also might be useful to have a known working CD player or something as an alternative and trusted signal source. That would need a phono to XLR adaptor.

After thought.... you said pressing buttons made no difference to the sound, but did they make any difference to the lights displayed? Could be a dead microprocessor?

David

[cratedigger]

I do have a Linn Sondek LP12 wooden base and one of the Linn LK 280 amps to sell on to get all this fixed,I didn't want to but I suppose its inevitable
Also there was supposed to be a Lingo with it but Jill can't find it........never mind
If the Troika is faulty, how much do they charge to repair?

Once again thank you for all your advice ,I really appreciate it

[cratedigger]

Here is the custom made plinth Nigel had made a number of years ago but never fitted

[Ted Kendall]

When it comes to fixing Linn kit, the usual answer from a Linn dealer translates as "an arm and a leg". If the cartridge is faulty, they will expect you to buy a new one, but we haven't proved that yet by a long chalk. I wouldn't worry overmuch about the Lingo at this stage - as the turntable goes round, that's all we need for now. And I wouldn't rush to offload stuff - common sense is not yet exhausted.

We need a known good source to feed into the LK1 to go much further. Have you found the Ekos arm lead?

[cratedigger]

Yes the Ekos has got the arm lead installed.
One thing to mention if I put the counterbalance weight on the Ekos the arm just floats in the air as though the weight is too heavy,it is the original weight btw.......Strange?

[Radio Wrangler]

Perfectly normal if the tracking force adjustment hasn't been set properly. The process is different for different arms, and I'm not familiar with that one. It's also normal if the cartridge is missing at the other end of the arm. It's all a rather expensive see-saw.

The usual method of adjusting the tracking force is to have the counterweight position adjustable. But some arms manage to find more complicated ways.

It's all rather expensive and rather fragile. You need to get hold of the right documentation for setting the arm up, and also read up carefully before touching anything.

Photographs will help.

David

[cratedigger]

Sorted the Ekos out after watching a few setup videos on YouTube
Just can't hear ****** all cause of the ****** preamp lol

[Radio Wrangler]

You may just have a dead preamp. Without any service info available outside the Linn empire, then you may be trapped in their ecosystem.

David