STACK AUDIO SERENE II ALTO LP12 UPGRADES

John Scott says goodbye to an old much-loved friend and hello to a new one thanks to Stack Audio’s Alto suite of Linn LP12 upgrades at £1400

The Linn LP12 “Sondek” turntable has many fans and possibly as many detractors but there is no denying its place as an iconic and groundbreaking piece of British audio equipment. My own LP12 dates from the early 1980s and has always been at the heart of my HiFi system, even though I found myself inevitably being drawn to CD, and more recently streaming, as a primary source. There have, I must confess, been several times over the last decade when I flirted briefly with the idea of selling my LP12, but sentimentality and the lasting lure of the LP format prevailed.

That sentimentality also held sway during my discussions with Theo Stack, Stack Audio’s head honcho, regarding the possibility of upgrading my LP12 with his Serene upgrades; I was certainly intrigued by the possibility of improving the sound of my deck, but the knowledge that it would no longer really be the LP12 that I knew and loved was a tough obstacle to overcome. Fortunately, while I was prevaricating and procrastinating (quite some time), Theo was working away at refining his range of Serene products, developing a range of upgrades at a variety of price points. The latest versions of the Serene upgrades – now branded as Serene II –  are available in entry-level Tenor, mid-level Alto, and top-level Soprano iterations. Finally, it seemed, the time was right for me to take the plunge and we agreed that I would upgrade my LP12 with the Alto suite of upgrades.

OVERVIEW

Whether you opt for the Tenor, Alto or Soprano range, each is available as either individually-priced components or as a single-priced bundle. This allows you, should you wish, to take a modular approach to upgrading your LP12; you could, for example, choose to replace the baseboard before moving on to replace other elements at a later stage.

The Alto bundle I opted for comprises a baseboard, cross-brace, top plate, sub-chassis and arm board. With the exception of the stainless steel cross-brace, each of these elements is machined from aluminium billets and features honeycomb “cells” which Stack Audio claim improves rigidity and vibration dissipation. Each element of the Alto bundle also features Stack Audio’s Advanced Vibration Dissipation Compound (AVDC) technology which aims to reduce vibration across a wide range of frequencies.

BUILD QUALITY AND SETUP

Rigidity and vibration reduction are at the heart of what the Serene modifications aim to achieve. On examining each element of the Alto bundle it was evident that they had been machined to extremely high tolerances and that a great deal of thought had been put into their design. It was easy to imagine that the Alto baseplate, being manufactured from aluminium, would bring added rigidity to an LP12 compared to the fibreboard base of my LP12, but would there actually be a tangible improvement?  Only one way to find out!

I was aware that fitting the Alto modifications was going to involve stripping down my beloved LP12 and virtually rebuilding it again from scratch; not a job for the faint-hearted. If the thought of doing this doesn’t make you break out in a cold sweat and have sleepless nights then feel free to go ahead and get stuck in yourself. Personally, being fully aware of my own capabilities, I had no intention of even contemplating doing the work myself.  Fortunately, my local audio dealer, Audio-philia in Edinburgh is a Stack Audio stockist and Carlo from Audio-philia was happy to take on the work on my behalf. Stack Audio has a number of dealers around the country who can deliver a fitting service and is able to point you in the direction of the one nearest to you. It is probably also worth pointing out that while the Serene modifications are modular and can be installed individually and if you are considering installing more than one modification, you probably want to minimise the number of times that you have to take your LP12 apart and put it together again.

Given my sentimental attachment to my LP12, it was with somewhat mixed feelings that I handed it over to Carlo but having seen for myself the quality of the Alto modifications, I can’t deny that I was intrigued and excited to see how it would turn out. As a bit of a bonus, I had never really been all that keen on my LP12’s black plinth and as Carlo had a very early wood plinth lying around that he had no use for, he agreed to swap it over.

OUTCOME AND SOUND QUALITY

Carlo had kept me supplied with teaser photographs of the installation in progress but they didn’t quite prepare me for how good the finished deck looked. Obviously, the sub-chassis and cross-brace are internal and therefore not visible but the top plate, arm board and baseboard all looked first-class and the deck as a whole both looked and felt more solid and substantial than it had previously.

Given that my LP12 had been with Carlo for a couple of weeks while he fitted the modifications, any before and after comparison was going to be subjective as it would be impossible to compare them side by side.

Having lived with my LP12 for so long though, I know its sound inside out. To say that I was surprised by the sound of the upgraded deck would be an understatement, it literally had been given a new lease of life. Listening to the title track from Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat album of Leonard Cohen covers, bass was more extended but remained tightly controlled, cymbals and hi-hat more detailed and the overall soundstage more solid.  These attributes were demonstrated across a range of different genres of music, with hitherto unheard musical information being revealed time and again.

One of the qualities I particularly enjoyed when I first heard an LP12 all those years ago was hearing how some tracks would continue playing in the fade-out after the point at which I had previously thought they had ended. I didn’t expect to experience this again but to my surprise, the modified LP12 was evidently capable of digging out even more previously-unheard information.

CONCLUSION

Whether or not you have the same degree of sentimental attachment to your LP12 that I had to mine, there is no denying that major modifications such as those offered by Stack Audio will be a significant undertaking. Careful consideration will need to be given to whether a full fit is the way to go, or whether you only want to install specific modifications and, if so, which.

Consideration also needs to be given as to whether you will do this work yourself or enlist a dealer to do it for you. You will also need to think about whether you wish to opt for the Tenor, Alto or Soprano modifications. The Stack Audio website has a wealth of information to help with these considerations and an online chat service is also available.

In my experience, if you love what the LP12 does and are the owner of an elderly deck, then investing in Stack Audio’s Serene modifications will bring tangible improvements that will remind you of why you fell in love with your LP12 in the first place.  And you really can’t ask for better than that!

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Pristine machining and attention to detail

A bit of careful Googling will enable you to compare the quality of the Stack Audio modifications to the parts in your own LP12 without taking it to bits

Sound Quality:

Having lived with my LP12 for over thirty-five years, I thought I knew its signature sound inside out and didn’t think that it could be improved without buying a new, considerably more expensive model. These modifications offer an effective, much more affordable upgrade path

Value for Money:

Stack Audio offer modifications at three different price points. I can only comment on the Alto range but I feel that it offers excellent value for money, particularly when purchased as a bundle and compared to the cost of a replacement turntable as an alternative

We Loved:

The excellent build quality resulted in a turntable that looked not only brand new but better than ever

Sound quality was much improved across the board

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Self-installation is not recommended unless you really know what you are doing and feel totally confident about it

Price:

Alto bundle: £1400 inc VAT. Products are also sold separately.

Elevator Pitch Review: The Stack Audio Serene II Alto bundle gave my old LP12 a brand new lease of life. There have been times in the past when I have considered giving up on vinyl and moving to a purely digital system but the Alto modifications made me fall in love with vinyl all over again.

SUPPLIED BY STACK AUDIO

Review Equipment: Linn LP12 turntable, Ittok LVII tonearm, Hana SL cartridge; Etalon SuprA, Audiolab A8000 and A&R A60 amplifiers; Roon Nucleus+ server; Stack Audio Link II, Raspberry Pi and Logitech Squeezetouch endpoints; NextDrive Spectra, Audioquest Cobalt and VAD 10 DACs; Audio GE Sincerus 80,  Linn Keilidh and Linn Kan loudspeakers, AFAudio and Audioquest interconnects; Black Rhodium speaker cable.