Linn Owners

Upgrade from Ekos 2 to Ekos SE/1

John Hirsch

Newbie
Wammer
Oct 9, 2018
146
91
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I'm headed north to New York to Accent on Music to have my new Ekos SE/1 installed instead of my Ekos 2. My Ekos 2 was re-wired by Audio Origami using Cardas with the join at the headshell eliminated. So if anyone wants an Ekos 2 with T-cable mine is going for $1800 including world wide shipping.

Best,

John Hirsch
202-999-5563
johnhirsch52@gmail.com
 

sktn77a

Audio Dinosaur
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Nov 11, 2014
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Keith
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
The Ekos 2 is a fantastic arm. Good enough for 99% of us!
 

johni b

Newbie
Wammer
Apr 25, 2020
31
33
23
Hi John, Can you let us know the difference between the two arms after a bit of listening? I'm considering the same move and if it was worth the expense. John
 
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zee9

Audio Junkie
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Oct 16, 2018
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New Jersey, USA
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Zorawar
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
on wednesday a friend and i attempted to swap out my trusty Akito/1 tonearm for a possible used Ekos SE/1 tonearm that was lent to me to try out.

after 7 hours of work we decided not to install the arm as we felt something maybe wrong with it.
it was very hard to get it zero balance (the counter weight is maybe 1-2mm from reaching the end of the end of the tonearm) and even when we did, it kept pulling outwards (which now of course after reading we realized is normal but since neither of us are familiar with this arm we didn't know whether it was pulling normally or if it was pulling too much. i eventually got the zero balance but had to use a phone stand to stop it from swinging towards the arm rest.

im attaching a video and the video makes it look more dramatic but we decided not to move ahead incase the used arm was faulty etc

any suggestions / advise from the Gurus here?
 

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Mr Kandid

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
May 29, 2019
1,790
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HiFi Trade?
  1. No
If you’re not familiar then it’s best left.
It’s a high price gamble.:eek:
Best way to balance it out is really to use digital scales then you don’t have to do the free floating thing just adjust to the correct weight on the scale then just set the bias and go.
It depends what cartridge you’re using the lighter the cart then the closer to the pivot if a heavier cart then the weight will go nearer the drop off end.(y)
It doesn't look much different to my Kandid balance on my SE/1
IMG_7023.jpeg
 
Last edited:

MickC

Expert Thread Disruptor
Wammer
Oct 8, 2018
1,371
1,391
148
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
If you’re not familiar then it’s best left.
It’s a high price gamble.:eek:
Best way to balance it out is really to use digital scales then you don’t have to do the free floating thing just adjust to the correct weight on the scale then just set the bias and go.
It depends what cartridge you’re using the lighter the cart then the closer to the pivot if a heavier cart then the weight will go nearer the drop off end.(y)
It doesn't look much different to my Kandid balance on my SE/1
IMG_7023.jpeg
Yes - mine (also with Kandid) looks pretty much the same.

Mick
 
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sktn77a

Audio Dinosaur
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Nov 11, 2014
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Keith
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
You may have the heavy counterweight which could push it that close with a Kandid.
 

Mr Kandid

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
May 29, 2019
1,790
3,088
148
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  1. No
Standard counterweight here.
Superb how it just sits nice and close to the pivot for the best SQ.
(y)
 
Last edited:

zee9

Audio Junkie
Wammer
Oct 16, 2018
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New Jersey, USA
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Zorawar
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I’m very sure my counter weight is the standard one. Cartridge is a Kandid
 

zee9

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Wammer
Oct 16, 2018
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Zorawar
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
So I had the arm looked at from a local professional “hyendaudio” who rebuilds arms, cartridges etc.

He says:

Hi Zee

(Pertaining to a second cartridge that I gave him for inspection So:Your Kandid cantilever definitely is off-center. I don't suspect it is bent; rather, your suspension is off and needs adjustment.

The stylus shows signs of light wear. This is generally caused by the anti-skating set too high. In my opinion, low anti-skating settings are the way to go. I almost never set it higher than 1-1.5 (which is really just a mfr reference and doesn't have any direct relationship to a measurable amount of force))

The Linn mod to the anti-skating is the application of some light grease to the spring. It was binding as a glob was on the very end of the spring. I've distributed it, and the behavior is a bit better. (I did this on my dime as i was curious to see if my hypothesis held true.)There's still too much tension at 0 for my taste. I can adjust the spring a bit to lower the tension, but my recommendation is to leave it as is, as I expect it's now close to the tolerance set by the OEM. The only way to really know it's tracking properly is to mount the arm and play a test record. If the cantilever is skewing or channel balance is off, then there is a problem, and it should be fixed.

He also has an ittok collar Handy and would probably sell it. I just don’t know if the ittok collar is the same as for an Ekos SE/1. I’m attaching a picture of the ittok collar he has for sale. It seems to be attached to a different piece probably an adapter for a different deck.
 

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sktn77a

Audio Dinosaur
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Nov 11, 2014
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Keith
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  1. No
Interesting. I recall the very early Ittok collars had a smaller diameter as the arm pillar was narrower than later versions so they may not work. I also don't recall the Ittok collar having the two bumps ("three point fixing", when you include the screw). But that looks similar to the Ekos collars I've seen (been a while, though).
 
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ThomasOK

LP12 Whisperer, Lejonklou importer
Wammer
Oct 19, 2018
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Thomas O'Keefe
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Interesting. I recall the very early Ittok collars had a smaller diameter as the arm pillar was narrower than later versions so they may not work. I also don't recall the Ittok collar having the two bumps ("three point fixing", when you include the screw). But that looks similar to the Ekos collars I've seen (been a while, though).
Yes, early Ittok LVII arms had a smaller pillar and hence the collar a smaller hole. But the one in the photo is pretty obviously the larger one which accounts for most of them out there. All Ittok collars did have the three point fixing as shown on this one and almost all Linn tonearm collars accommodate the the same size pillar. (All Ittoks except the mentioned early ones, all Basiks, all Akitos, all Ekos and the Krane. The ProJect 9CC and Jelco units are different.)
 

zee9

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Just an update (and sorry for hijacking the thread)

The arm was checked out. The bias seem to be pulling a little more than normal as some oil on the bias spring had collected towards one end. My friend from Hyendaudio redistributed the oil evenly for the bias spring and returned it to me.

We attached the kandid and set the arm height accordingly. The sound was just so bad. A lot of sibilance and a large amount of distortion. I just couldn’t get myself to sit down and listen to any music.

3 days ago I decided to change the cartridge to another used Kandid that I have. I reduced the tonearm height. Now probably at 1.8cms when measured from the armboard to the bottom of the arm rest and the sibilance is almost gone. There is no distortion with the second cartridge which tells me that although the first Kandid looked good it’s probably at end of life.

At this arm height I have no crackles and pops which tells me it’s a more correct height than before.

What worries me is that it sounds best at a VTF of 1.9 with the bias set at 1.2 I don’t have a reference point as the arm and used kandid are new to my system and room.

Todays experiment now that I feel the TA height is almost correct is to compare the internal MC connection of my selekt dsm to a mint Linto that I have. Once I know which phono stage is better i’ll probably switch back to the first Kandid just to be sure that it’s really at end of life with these settings.

Finally i’ll also try my AT-VM95ML (MM) cartridge just to see how that sounds on the Ekos SE/1. This might also tell me if the arm is actually not faulty and should sound better than my serviced (by Audio Origami) akito/1

It’s been 2 days of experiments but I’ve learnt a lot.
 
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zee9

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Zorawar
HiFi Trade?
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Has anyone compared an internal
Mac connection like the Adsm/3 or selekt to a linn Linto? To my ears I prefer the Linto. The internal MC connection at first sounds more detailed but also more distracting (if that makes sense)
 
Last edited:

Roonster111

Newbie
New Wammer
Dec 30, 2018
29
32
18
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Has anyone compared an internal
Mac connection like the Adsm/3 or selekt to a linn Linto? To my ears I prefer the Linto. The internal MC connection at first sounds more detailed but also more distracting (if that makes sense)
I used an ASH with the on board MC as I had heard good things about it. It wasn't long before I reverted back to the Linto I had back then....
 
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HH2010

Linn tune exile
Wammer
Oct 11, 2018
78
117
38
Hamburg
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I would get the arm factory-checked. It's the best way to be sure it's in specs. Should not cost a fortune.
 
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Ian_km

Newbie
Wammer
May 27, 2020
35
36
38
UK
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I used the MC stage in my Akurate Kontrol 1 while my Linto went to Linn for repair after failing.

Back from Linn and I prefer the Linto somehow, just more detail. However I will say the AK MC is good, just not as good as the Linto.
 

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