The ultimate LP12 upgrades – Keel SE & Klimax Radikal

9 October 2025

Sondek LP12 sits at the summit of turntable performance, and as technologies and processes improve, Linn is determined to innovate to keep it there.

Building on 50+ years of LP12 production, Linn’s drive to continue it’s improvement sees the arrival this week of two new components that raise the flagship Klimax LP12 to an exhilarating, new, reference benchmark.

Introducing Klimax Radikal power supply and Keel SE subchassis: let’s take a look at the two new upgrades and what they do.

Klimax Radikal – £11500

This is the turntable’s power supply that controls motor speed and consistency and powers the Urika phono preamplifier. It’s a critical part of any turntable system.

The main upgrade here is a bespoke Utopik power supply, in an improved chassis, with exceptional electrical and mechanical isolation. This new Utopik has separate, dedicated output voltage rails for each of Radikal’s two tasks – motor control and preamplifier power – which are self-regulating; any sudden draws in power from the motor or controller don’t affect the rails supplying Urika, and vice versa, ensuring consistency and quality of power supplied to the motor and phono stage, improving the performance of each. In addition:

• This Utopik is mounted inside its own self-contained, machined sarcophagus. The combination of its thick aluminium walls and the relative distance between it and the main Radikal board makes for superior electrical isolation.
• Enhanced mechanical isolation (Klimax Radikal weighs in at almost 14kg), machined from three pieces of solid aluminium and mounted on high-mass stainless steel feet with rubber ring inserts. The casework is robust in the face of external
  influences, matching the aesthetics of Klimax DSM and the rest of Linn’s Klimax range.

Keel SE – £4250
As the name suggests, the Keel is the turntable’s ‘rudder’, upon which everything is mounted and depends for stability. First launched back in 2006 as an upgrade to the standard 3-piece subchassis, Keel is a one-piece, machined from solid slab of aluminium, precision-engineered to minimise all-important vibration. And it was a massive improvement.

20 years on, technology and processing have improved greatly, as well as Linn’s own in-house machining capabilities, and so Keel has been re-engineered and Keel SE (super evolution) is the result.

Using revolutionary Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Linn evaluated all limitations of existing Keel and through cutting edge virtual prototyping and machining, produced a subchassis with superior stiffness, optimised resonant behaviour and ideal distribution of mass – Keel SE. Without reciting a white paper on the geometrical and physical properties of aluminium, some of these improvements are:

• Refinements to the underside bracing structure gives Keel SE  300% more stiffness than original Keel
• That stiffness means any vibrations that do get through have their frequencies forced higher and their amplitudes substantially lowered.
• Keel SE’s first mode of resonance has been engineered to sit at 500Hz (versus 180Hz in Keel) and specific bracing addresses several modes above this to break up and dissipate problematic acoustic energy across the spectrum, reducing its potential impact on
  the delicate music signal.
• Rigidity and mass increased precisely where needed, and in particular at the vital path between the bearing mounting point and tonearm collar which in turn greatly reduces stylus tracking distortion.
• Material has been extracted from calculated areas to give Keel SE abetter-balanced centre of mass, reducing inertia and improving the acoustic isolation of the suspension as a whole.
• The tonearm collar is now machined separately and affixed later (with no impact on performance), allowing the armboard to be face-milled in-house and anodised to a pure black sheen, upon which the Linn logo and Keel SE name is laser-etched.

A top of the range LP12 turntable already costs in excess of £25k; these two upgrades take the reference deck up to a whopping £32,200!

Of course, not many will reach the dizzy heights of full Klimax level LP12 and even fewer will splash out on this in one go. Most LP12s begin as something a lot more modest and are updated and upgraded throughout their (long) lifespans; reaching whatever level of performance their owner is happy with – or can afford 😂

Both innovations though cement Linn’s commitment to continuous improvement across the board and drive to keep it’s products at the pinnacle of audio quality.