2nd hand Linn Ekos

Anyone out there got an idea of what the going rate for a 2nd hand Linn Ekos should be ?

I've bid on a couple on ebay in the last couple of days, a Mk1 went for about £670 and a Mk2 went for £860. I was way off dropping out at £550.

Is this about right or is it a case of over inflated ebay prices ?

 

friend of mine went from ittock LVII says not a lot in it, and with hindsight he wouldn't have bothered, he reckoned difference between ittock and Akito was huge, this was on a circus'd up to date lp12 with lingo and Akiva cart.

Maybe you should look for a late ittock, seem to go for between £300-400, leaves a bit of your budget for other stuff, he reckons the ittock looks better as well.

 

Watch those bearings - as in, do NOT buy unseen. Bearings for an Ekos are the same as the bearings for a Rega RB300 (according to a source in Audio-T) but cost around 10x more to replace (you can only use Linn ones in their arms allegedly - another Linn rip off myth though I guess).

If the arm's had a cart change on the deck, it's almost certainly curtains for those bearings - you have been warned.

Analoguekid - your mate's right - the Tik Tok looks miles better than an Ekos

 

There were different specs of Akito.....two very different specs of Ittok (thin pillar and thick pillar) and two of Ekos.

If you are buying a s/h tonearm I'd strongly advise not doing it on ebay.....unless you can go and see the thing to check the bearings aren't screwed. Ittoks are very robust and you had to be pretty stupid or violent to break them. Original Ekos was a much more delicate device and it's not uncommon to find them broken. I've no ide whether Linn still offer it but sending back a bust one to get it updated to final ABEK7 bearing spec is worthwhile. You basically end up with a new, mega Ekos.

Working Ekos is substantially better than Ittok of any spec imho. Ittok that works, even the first thin pillar one, is better than any Akito...although at the time the second Akito came out Linn reps would claim otherwise....

Hope this is of use.

Gordon

 

I agree with AK that the Ekos is almost indistinguishable sonically from an Ittok. I ran LP12/Lingo/Ittok for many years, and lusted after the Ekos, until I heard a demo. I've heard four different Ekos/LP12s now, and none of them has impressed me. This is an unfashionable view, particularly among Ekos owners. Maybe I just had an exceptionally good Ittok, but I don't think so.

In marked contrast, the Naim Aro is clearly miles better than both of the Linn arms, and I would recommend that instead. If you are buying s/h, the Aro is a safer bet because it's pretty difficult to trash the unipivot bearing.

 

Devil is talking out of his arse.

Paul

 

I told you it was an unfashionable view amongst Ekos owners!

 

It's an unfashionable view amongst Ittok owners too.

In fact the only people with this particular view are you and a subset of the more extreme Naimies AFAICT....

Paul

 

I'm hardly an "extreme Naimie". Ho hum.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I think I'll ditch the idea of ebay - seems to be the consensus and who am I to argue.

The current cost of getting either a new Ekos or an Aro is quite frightening.

I think the current cost of a new Ekos isn't far short of how much it cost me to get the first part of my Linn system (mimk/majik/keilidhs). Worryingly expensive.

 

'and'

Paul

 

the linn service manual sheds some light here under checking bearings.

ekos-should have 35 swings
lv2/3(ittok)-should have 30 swings
akito/basik-should have 15 swings.

this suggests ekos is a refinement of the ittok rather than a new arm. ekos is better than ittok but maybe not by the margin you expected.

 

The Ekos was indeed a development from the Ittok. The original spec for Ekos was changed to make them more consistent in manufacture I believe. Then several years later they upped the game by bringing out the abek7 bearing update to bring it back to where they had originally positioned it.

Having sold Ittoks and Ekos in the 80's and 90's and Aro's as well I can say that in both retailers I worked for that Aro sales were less than 1% of the amount of Ekos......I am of the opinion that an Aro is substantially worse than an IttokLV111...not a popular viewpoint with the Naimies.....but hey....

If you want to do a demo of an Ekos v an Ittok do it on the same deck...or do it with two identical decks set up by the same person with only difference being the arm.

Gordon

 

The Ekos is too heavy for the LP12, and screws up the suspension.

But don't trust me, and definitely never trust a dealer (Gordon). Do the Ekos/Aro demo. I'm confident that the Aro slays it, and I've heard plenty.

 

Devil; I am not a dealer anymore and haven't been for several years. Just someone who knows how to set up LP12's...those with and without Aro's and Ekos's....

You are right to trust no-one....except yourself....so we agree on something....but not Ekos's and Aro's...hahahaha....

Gordon

 

Setting up an LP12 is hardly difficult. There's a lot of folklore about that.

Rgds,

 

Indeed there is.....

Gordon

 

Does seem to be either Ekos/Ittok or Aro.

I looked at the Origin Live arms in particular the Encounter but it seems to be a bit on the heavy side.

As for the 'swings' mentioned above what does it actually refer to ?

 

swings refers to the linn method of bearing testing. the important detail is in the numbers ie, the bearings in the ekos are only slightly better, although as gordon says this may not take account of the latest bearings used today.

the comment that ekos arms are too heavy for the lp12 is plainly idiotic and can be ignored.

aros are different from ekos arms and both are excellent but as a linn/naim dealer i prefer not to be drawn at this stage!!!

 

The Roksan Nima unipivot is getting a really good press on various other fora (pfm and Naim!) so perhaps this an option. Alternatively the Morch is another unipivot that is supposed to work well on the LP12

Cheers

Jason

PS. I much preferred the Aro to the Ekos in direct A-B side by side comparison. The Ekos is better in the bass in terms of control but the natural ease of the Aro makes he Ekos sound forced to these ears.