Lingo or Radikal: the two LP12 power supplies explained

After the bearing, the power supply is the upgrade that changes an LP12 most, because it governs the one thing a turntable must do perfectly: turn at the right speed, steadily, without feeding noise into the deck. Linn makes three. The Majik LP12 Power Supply, $740, is the quiet internal board in a Majik LP12 and the right replacement for a Valhalla. Above it are the two most owners ask about, and they take different roads.

The Lingo

The Lingo, $2,505, is Linn’s external supply for the deck’s AC synchronous motor, and the current one is the fourth since 1990. The first Lingo generated its own clean mains for the motor, which was the whole idea; the current one goes further, with a speed-management system borrowed from the Radikal that checks the platter on every rotation and corrects the motor drive, recalibrates itself each time the deck is switched on, and gives 33 and 45 at the press of a button, no pulley change. The kit includes a new motor matched to it, so a 1990s deck with a Lingo comes out with new electronics and a new motor, not just a new box. Linn calls the Lingo the first step up from a Majik-level deck, and in our showroom it is the step about seven in ten Majik buyers take at the time of purchase.

The Radikal

The Radikal, $6,270 in Linn’s standard enclosure, changes the motor itself. Out goes the AC synchronous motor the deck has used since 1972; in goes a DC motor, controlled by a supply that reads the platter’s speed with an optical sensor and adjusts the motor many times a turn. A DC motor driven this way is quieter electrically and mechanically than an AC one, and because the supply measures the platter rather than trusting the motor, it holds speed through belt wear and brush wear for the life of the deck. The Radikal also carries a second output that powers Linn’s internal phono stages, the Urika and Urika II, so a Radikal deck is the only kind that can take one. Linn introduced it in 2009 and revised it in 2021; the Klimax Radikal of 2025, $16,820, is the same idea in a machined case with Linn’s Utopik supply and separate rails for the motor and the phono stage.

Which one

A Majik LP12, or any older deck being brought forward on a budget, wants the Lingo. It is the better part of the Radikal’s speed control at well under half the price, it keeps the motor family the deck was built around, and it leaves the Kore or Keel SE as the next step rather than the last. A deck already carrying a Kore or a Keel, or one headed toward a Urika, wants the Radikal, because at that level the motor is the limit and the Lingo cannot address it. The 1990s deck with the original Lingo is the interesting case: its Lingo still works, so the money usually goes to the bearing and sub-chassis first, and the Radikal arrives when the owner is ready to make the deck a Klimax-level machine; A 1990s LP12 with a Lingo and an Ekos lays that out.

Two practical notes. Both supplies are fitted here, because both involve setting up the motor and, on the Radikal, the sensor and the suspension again afterward. And the Radikal is the one Linn part that is bought back: when a Klimax Radikal goes in, ask us what the Radikal you have is worth in exchange.

Start with a call

Tell us what is on the deck now and what you have in mind for it, and we can usually say which supply fits in a few minutes. Call (503) 222-2599 or write to sales@pearlaudio.com. Both are set up on our floor, on otherwise similar decks, so you can hear the difference before deciding.

— John Loranger, Pearl Audio

See also: Bringing an older LP12 up to date · Why the Majik LP12 is the best way to buy a Sondek · Keeping a Klimax LP12 current.