Linn K9 Cartridge body

Two hundred and forty-nine pounds for an old Linn K9 body!  Hasn't just about everyone who ever owned a Linn turntable got an old K9 body in the back of a drawer somewhere?  

Are you joking about the price?  

Well; yes and no.  Read on:

The Linn K9 was made for them by Audio Technica and featured their well-established 'VM' MM generator and a precision-made metal body; hard anodised in black. 

We absolutely love Audio Technica Products; they’ve been making phono cartridges since the 1960's and have perfected it to a fine art.  Everything they make impresses at its price point and the stuff is built to last.

When it comes to phono cartridges, stylus profile is the thing which has more bearing on performance than anything else in our experience.

Today, if you want an exceptionally well made metal bodied MM cartridge with a top stylus on it the brand new AT-VM750SH will give you just that with its gold anodised metal body and nude mounted Shibata stylus.  It is well worth the £375 list price. I have them in stock and with free shipping  -  please feel free to buy one.

But back to the K9; same ‘VM’ MM generator arrangement, well made metal body (on close inspection, it looks like an even more expensively made body than the new VM range).  The K9 stylus assemblies (which originally had a nude mounted ‘vital’ stylus) have not been available for many years now; but our own ‘95P’ Paratrace stylus (which is made from a brand new AT95E stylus assembly, onto which we have a new Paratrace stylus mounted) is available here on Ebay for £205.  In listening tests, we have found that a K9 with a 95P is significantly better than microline tipped MM cartridges and on a par with the Shibata equipped model described above.

This raises a few questions:

Does an old K9 body with a new 95P stylus perform as well a £389 cartridge? Emphatically yes!

Is it the best MM you can buy?  No; that accolade goes to the fabulous AT-VM760SLC. If you can stretch to the £620 price, get one! please ask us to demonstrate it to you.

Doesn’t the fact that a K9 body is now around 30 years old affect things?  Well, not really; all the moving and wearing parts are in the stylus assembly which gets replaced with the ‘95P’

Doesn’t the new stylus assembly look a bit odd mounted on a K9 body?  Frankly yes; the plastic moulding projects forward of the body  (see final picture). However, the mechanical fit is perfect as it slots into the hole in the cartridge body and the effect is purely cosmetic.  If your eyesight is as good as mine, you won’t notice at all once you step back from the turntable and at the end of the day it’s the sound and performance which counts isn’t it?

So come on; get that K9 body out of the drawer and see what a 95P paratrace stylus will do for it.  If you don't have a K9 body, make me an offer for one of these ones.  Ask me to include a brand new 95P stylus if you wish, all sensible offers will be considered and responded to. In fact, even the non-sensible offers will be politely and helpfully responded to.