A 1990s LP12 with a Lingo and an Ekos: three ways forward

Of all the older LP12s that come through our door, the most common is the one bought between about 1990 and 1995, around Linn’s twentieth anniversary: a Lingo power supply, an Ekos tonearm, often a Trampolin, and from 1993 the Cirkus bearing. It was the best LP12 money could buy when it was new, and it was usually bought by someone who knew exactly what they were buying. Thirty years on it is still a very good turntable. It is just no longer a current one.

The good news first. The Ekos was the first tonearm Linn designed and built itself, in 1988, and it is still a fine arm; if its bearings are good, which we check, there is no reason to replace it. The Lingo still does what it was built to do. What has moved on is underneath: the bearing, and the pressed-steel sub-chassis it bolts to. That is where all three plans below begin.

Which plan is a question of what you want from the deck and what you want to spend, not of what the deck deserves. All three keep the Ekos, all three can be done in stages, and the fitting is included on the middle and full plans because the parts pass $2,500.

Plan	What goes in	Parts
Light	Karousel	$1,300
Middle	Karousel and Kore	$2,780
Full	Karousel, Keel SE and Radikal	$13,785

Light: the Karousel

The Karousel bearing is the single largest change you can make to this deck, and it is the one we fit most. Owners moving from a Cirkus describe a lower noise floor, firmer bass and more detail; owners moving from the pre-Cirkus bearing of a 1990 or 1991 deck hear more still. A Lingo deck has no Valhalla board inside, so the Karousel goes straight in. The kit brings new springs and grommets, so the whole suspension is set up fresh at the same time.

Middle: the Karousel and the Kore

The Kore, introduced in 2013, is the sub-chassis of the current Selekt LP12: a bonded aluminum box with a machined armboard and the arm collar bolted straight to it, in place of the pressed steel and separate armboard of the 1990s. The Cirkus package of 1993 had already doubled the thickness of that steel; the Kore replaces it altogether. With the Karousel beneath it and the Lingo beside it, you have the bearing, sub-chassis and power-supply family of a Selekt LP12 under the Ekos you already own. This is the plan most owners of this deck choose, and the Keel SE can replace the Kore later if you want to go further.

Full: the Karousel, the Keel SE and the Radikal

The Keel SE is machined from solid aluminum, and it is the sub-chassis of the Klimax LP12; it arrived in late 2025 as the successor to the Keel of 2006, stiffer along the path from bearing to arm and balanced more evenly on the springs. The Radikal replaces the Lingo and the AC motor together with a DC motor and a speed-management system that reads the platter itself with an optical sensor and checks it on every turn; $6,270 buys it in Linn’s standard enclosure. With these three in, the mechanical heart of your deck is that of a current Klimax LP12, under a 1990s Ekos. Two more steps are open from here whenever you want them: the Ekos SE, $6,725, and the Urika II phono stage, $4,630, which lives inside the plinth, is powered by the Radikal and mounts on its own Trampolin, which comes with it. All of it together is $25,486.

Two things at every tier

Whatever cartridge was on the deck in 1993 is long past its life, so a new one belongs in all three plans unless yours is recent. On an Ekos we fit the Koil at $1,250, the Krystal at $2,415, or the Kendo at $4,370. And if the deck simply needs going through before any of this, or instead of it, our full service is $650; A 1973 LP12 that just needs to run again describes what it covers.

If the original Lingo ever gives trouble, the current Lingo is $2,505 and fits in its place. It is the fourth Lingo: the first ran from 1990 to 2001, and the current one, from 2018, borrows the Radikal’s speed management and checks the platter on every rotation while keeping the AC motor. The Radikal is the other answer to the same question.

Start with a call

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, and we stock the Karousel, the Kore and most of the parts above for fitting the same week. Begin with a phone call or an email about your deck rather than a trip with it in the back seat: tell us what is on it now and we can usually say which plan fits and what it comes to, and you decide at home. If it looks like something you want to do, we will set a time for you to bring it in. A first look at the table is free; a closer look means setting the deck up on the bench, which is why we schedule it rather than take it at the door. Call (503) 222-2599 or write to sales@pearlaudio.com.

— John Loranger, Pearl Audio

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