Keeping a Klimax LP12 current

A Klimax LP12 built around 2021 left Linn with the Keel sub-chassis, the Radikal power supply and motor, the Ekos SE tonearm, a Kandid or the then-new Ekstatik cartridge, a Urika inside the plinth, the Karousel bearing, a Trampolin and a hardwood plinth. It is still a reference turntable; Stereophile reviewed one in exactly that specification in 2022 and treated it as the current state of the art. Its owner, in my experience, is the owner who asks what is new. This is the current answer. Which of it, if any, belongs on your deck is your decision, and none of it is urgent.

Part	Introduced	Takes the place of	Price
Klimax Radikal	October 2025	Radikal	$16,820
Keel SE	October 2025	Keel	$6,215
Bedrok plinth	January 2025 (first seen on the LP12-50 of 2023)	Hardwood plinth	$12,060
Ekstatik	October 2021	Kandid	$8,335
Kendo	June 2022	Kandid or Krystal	$4,370
Urika II	January 2018	Urika	$4,630

In the order Linn would fit them

Klimax Radikal. The largest step of the five, and the first new Radikal at this level since the machined version of 2018. Linn’s Utopik power supply sits inside its own compartment of a three-piece machined enclosure, with separate rails for the motor and for the Urika, so a demand from one never reaches the other and the phono stage improves along with the motor control. If your deck has the 2021 Radikal, this is the one upgrade that changes what it is built around; ask us about part exchange on the Radikal you have.

Keel SE. Launched alongside the Klimax Radikal, and the first new sub-chassis at this level since the Keel of 2006, which it replaces in Linn’s catalog. Machined from solid, as before, but redesigned with finite-element analysis: stiffer along the path from the bearing mount to the arm collar, where any flex becomes tracking error, and relieved beneath the armboard so the whole assembly sits more evenly on its three springs. It is fitted with the Karousel you already have.

Bedrok. The first plinth Linn has designed as a performance upgrade rather than a finish. It began life on the Sondek LP12-50, the 250-unit fiftieth-anniversary deck Linn made in 2023 with Jony Ive’s studio LoveFrom, and became a catalog part at the start of 2025. Layers of beech are laid at right angles, pressed and heated into a material more than twice the density of a hardwood plinth, then machined to take every part from your present plinth, so nothing else changes. It is also the one upgrade on this list you can see from across the room.

Cartridge. A cartridge that has played since 2021 is well into its stylus life. The Ekstatik is Linn’s reference, a skeletonized body of about seven grams with aluminum-bronze inserts; the Kendo sits below it and above the Krystal, in the same 7075 aluminum as the Arko tonearm. If your deck already carries an Ekstatik, nothing here is needed.

Urika II. Only if your deck has the first Urika and your system runs on Exakt Link: it converts the cartridge’s signal to digital at the earliest possible point and applies the RIAA curve there. Otherwise the Urika you have stays.

What it comes to

Klimax Radikal, Keel SE and Bedrok together are $35,095 in parts; with an Ekstatik, $43,430. A new Klimax LP12 Bedrok is $56,695, and the difference is the Ekos SE, the Karousel, the Trampolin and the Urika you already own, which is why most owners of this deck upgrade rather than replace. Each part is over $2,500 on its own, so the fitting is included whether you take one or all of them, and each can be done in its own year.

Start with a call

Pearl Audio is a Linn Reference Level dealer. Russ Sherrell is our LP12 master and builds almost all of the LP12s that leave here today; he and I have each built and rebuilt them for more than a decade. Begin with a phone call or an email: tell us what is on the deck now and we can say which of these applies, what it comes to, and what the Radikal you have is worth in exchange, and you decide at home. Five LP12s in different configurations are set up in our Portland showroom, so when you do come in you can hear what the current parts do before deciding what yours should. Call (503) 222-2599 or write to sales@pearlaudio.com.

— John Loranger, Pearl Audio

See also: Bringing an older LP12 up to date · A 1990s LP12 with a Lingo and an Ekos: three ways forward · Why the Majik LP12 is the best way to buy a Sondek.