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Purchased a broken Linn Axis. Need help with repair attempt!

RAART

RAART

Member
Hey folks,

I purchased a Linn Axis with Basic Plus arm but it is totally messed up. I didn't expect that someone was able to mess this TT to that level.
Except that TT is turning on, platter switches and spins (at 32.45rpm and 44.25rpm) everything else was broken.

Here is my assessment at the beginning of attempted repair:
1. Tone arm base was fine but tonearm assembly was able to move freely up and down
2. The cartridge was there but no screws, just loose and stylus is slightly bent to one side
3. There was no sound coming out at all though all connections were connected and there (tested with another cartridge)

I opened the turntable and removed the ground wire and found some surprises there...

Someone was doing some very laughable modding job there and I just shook my head. Anyway I continued to investigate and took off DIN connector. When that happened I just pulled arm very slow up to see if wires are still attached to DIN connector while previously i checked if there is continuity between cartridge and back of DIN connector and there was none. As I expected already wires were torn somewhere inside tonearm. My guess is that someone puled tonearm out without loosening the DIN connector first.

I removed the front of the tonearm and saw there just 3 wires instead of 5. Black and green were missing! They were also not attached on the other end either, and to be exact on the other end were no wires connected at all and all of them were missing. I am just guessing that someone just removed them and discarded them. As wires were missing anyway I just pulled the other ones out and they were approximately length of the tone arm. I removed then 2 screws at the other end of aluminum tube and shined a light through but tube was empty. I managed with some effort to pull through tonearm doubled fishing line in order to get some tonearm wires later. Tapped fishing line to the tube and left it there.

I am a bit puzzled why is no ball bearing there but looking at the end of spindle it looks like that this design does not need a ball bearing (have to confirm this later).

I went back to the tonearm and looking at the wires it looks like that they were wrongly connected and blue and green switched as well as red and white.
Question1: Is this right and this is the way to connect them? My guts telling me that this is wrong but anyway I like to get your confirmation guys!

Back to DIN connector on the other end. I am guessing that the middle one is the ground (black missing wire) and the bottom ones are positive and upper ones negative...
Question 2: How to determine which side is left which is right?

Black missing wire...
Question 3: where is connection point on the tonearm itself as I did not see one?

Tonearm assembly height.
Question 4: Since the tonearm can be moved up and down, at which height it should assembled?

Dampening of Up/Down lever.
Question 5: What I should use to dampen the lever (didn't tried even now to disassemble that)?

I hope to get this done... BTW I am not pro repair guy just a an amateur who likes to repair his stuff by himself.
 

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I thought that here should be someone with knowledge of Linn turntables... anyway, I found that Linn Axis do not have ball bearing in spindle hole and this is good.

To get that turntable up and running I will need some tonearm wires. Looked locally and found some but not sure which ones to get. Here is the list of currently available wires to me:
1. Zavfino 1877 Tonearm wires: https://www.partsconnexion.com/1877phono-tonearm-wire.html
2. Cardas Clear: https://www.partsconnexion.com/cardas-clear-tonearm-wire.html
3. Cardas Original: https://www.partsconnexion.com/cardas-original-series-tonearm-wire.html
4. Discovery Cable: https://www.partsconnexion.com/discovery-tonearm-wire.html
5. Generic in-house brand Connex: https://www.partsconnexion.com/connex-tonearm-wire.html

Shipped, Ontario based:
6. Discovery Cable: https://www.takefiveaudio.com/products/1406-discovery-33-awg-tonearm-wire-cryo-treated
7. Cardas: https://www.takefiveaudio.com/products/1230-cardas-4x33-tonearm-wire-cryo-treated
8. Zavfino 1877 (Silver): https://www.takefiveaudio.com/products/1288-1877-phono-4-litz-3ag-silver-tonearm-wire-06m
9. Zavfino 1877 (Copper): https://www.takefiveaudio.com/products/1287-1877-phono-5-litz-7-tonearm-wire-1m
10. Cardas (shielded): https://www.takefiveaudio.com/products/582-cardas-4x33-tonearm-wire-cryo-treated

11. Computer mouse wire

Any hints at this?
 
The Axis is a respectable table. If you believe you can do the tone arm repair I would spend the money for the Discovery tone arm wire in the second list, especially since it looks local to you. $20 for wiring isn't horribly expensive in the grand scheme of things. If you want to go inexpensive then do the Connex in house brand. I would personally be leery of using mouse wire, as its sonic properties are unknown. Sure you get sound from A to B. But how often should a tone arm be disassembled if you don't like the wiring? My own opinion is to do something once, and do it right...or to the best of your ability.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Welcome to the forum. Looking down into the connector at the base of the tonearm, the pins are, from left to right: red, green, black, blue, white.

However, before you spend money and time on the rewiring, check if the bearings are still good. Your previous owner may have wrecked them, too.
 
I use the 1877 litz copper wire for my builds. I like it , very flexible and great sounding.

On my next AR XA project i plan to try the silver 1877.

Nashou
 
zoombrewer77 said:
Tons of TA wiring info in this thread. Much of it WAY over my head at this juncture.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/headshells-leads-ta-wiring.872655/

Myself, if I'm working on something that was cheap to me, I start cheap. My vote is mouse wire. If you hate it, replace it with one of the not free options.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I read through but this is mostly for headshells and cartridge wires...

Mister Pig said:
The Axis is a respectable table. If you believe you can do the tone arm repair I would spend the money for the Discovery tone arm wire in the second list, especially since it looks local to you. $20 for wiring isn't horribly expensive in the grand scheme of things. If you want to go inexpensive then do the Connex in house brand. I would personally be leery of using mouse wire, as its sonic properties are unknown. Sure you get sound from A to B. But how often should a tone arm be disassembled if you don't like the wiring? My own opinion is to do something once, and do it right...or to the best of your ability.

Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Do you think that cryo treated wire should be better sonically then regular Discovery?

bang4buck said:
Welcome to the forum. Looking down into the connector at the base of the tonearm, the pins are, from left to right: red, green, black, blue, white.

However, before you spend money and time on the rewiring, check if the bearings are still good. Your previous owner may have wrecked them, too.
Click to expand...

How do you check for bearings tolerance or if they are damaged? At the beginning i just had the arm free floating and when turned on anti skate it was moving right away very smoothly to starting point. I also tried when arm was resting on the arm elevator and also slid right away when i was turning anti-skate. I also checked very, very gently if there is some arm movement if I pushed/pulled the arm and there was none...

Thanks! That's what I was thinking too. Regular DIN coding. Do you know where was black wire connected on this particular TT as I was unable to find other connection point as the previous owner discarded wires from the pin leading to tonearm?

Nashou66 said:
I use the 1877 litz copper wire for my builds. I like it , very flexible and great sounding.

On my next AR XA project i plan to try the silver 1877.

Nashou
Click to expand...

I am tempted to go with silver Zavfino 1877 wire but at this point I am not sure if this is worthwhile doing for this TT.
 
RAART said:
Thank you! I read through but this is mostly for headshells and cartridge wires...



Do you think that cryo treated wire should be better sonically then regular Discovery?



How do you check for bearings tolerance or if they are damaged? At the beginning i just had the arm free floating and when turned on anti skate it was moving right away very smoothly to starting point. I also tried when arm was resting on the arm elevator and also slid right away when i was turning anti-skate. I also checked very, very gently if there is some arm movement if I pushed/pulled the arm and there was none...

Thanks! That's what I was thinking too. Regular DIN coding. Do you know where was black wire connected on this particular TT as I was unable to find other connection point as the previous owner discarded wires from the pin leading to tonearm?



I am tempted to go with silver Zavfino 1877 wire but at this point I am not sure if this is worthwhile doing for this TT.
Click to expand...

In my experiences cryo treatment shows an incremental improvement, but its not going to be a night and day difference. I figured that one you can pick up local, and is of relatively modest price. The Basik is a decent arm, but nothing I would go overboard on.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
RAART said:
How do you check for bearings tolerance or if they are damaged? At the beginning i just had the arm free floating and when turned on anti skate it was moving right away very smoothly to starting point. I also tried when arm was resting on the arm elevator and also slid right away when i was turning anti-skate. I also checked very, very gently if there is some arm movement if I pushed/pulled the arm and there was none...
Click to expand...

That sounds good. I think there is a semi-official Linn specification floating around but I can't remember where I saw it. Possibly on the old Linn factory forum which is now gone. From memory, when you have the arm "floating," place a very small weight (a piece of thin paper about the size of a postage stamp) on the headshell. It should visibly move down. For the horizontal bearings, here's a video (not mine). The arm is hanging down vertically, like a clock pendulum, and you count how many times it will swing back and forth. Again, I don't know the original spec, and that's an Ekos in the video, which is many times more expensive than the Basik.


RAART said:
Do you know where was black wire connected on this particular TT as I was unable to find other connection point as the previous owner discarded wires from the pin leading to tonearm?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean. Where the ground wire connects internally, inside the tonearm? No idea, I've never had mine apart.
 
Mister Pig said:
In my experiences cryo treatment shows an incremental improvement, but its not going to be a night and day difference. I figured that one you can pick up local, and is of relatively modest price. The Basik is a decent arm, but nothing I would go overboard on.

Cheers
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Just asking... the other retailer has for almost same price cryo treated Discovery (0.70$ difference), speak the postage should be very low even may match gas price I will be using to get to store and back... :)
 
Just figured out how to disassemble Cue Lever as it drops the needle down, not gentle lowering... Just a quick question, what viscosity I need to look for dampening fluid?
 
I found this after reading online resources for cuing lever damping fluid: https://amazingrcstore-shop.com/product/team-associated-silicone-differential-fluid-2oz/
Everyone was talking about 300K viscosity but since they do not have it I think 200K will suffice. Any opinions in terms of 200K vs 300K viscosity?

For those in GTA, here is the address: Google Maps

The only thing now I cannot figure out is where is the ground internally (inside the tube arm???) connected (black wire)... hope will find this soon.
 
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