Systemdek IIX or linn axis?

both come up fairly regularly in the second hand market and fairly cheaply but how do they rate?
i was going to get a new ( second hand) cdp shortly but im thinking a turntable would be a better option.
ive seen both these decks come up and just wondered if any one could give me a rundown on them.
other decks ive been looking at were the rega 2 , both old wooden surround type and the newer type ( rb200 / rb250 / acos lusture ) and the rega planet ( three legged platter type ). my last deck was a rega three / rb300 and i was impressed with it but i dont really want to go down the rega path if i can get something both tweakable / upgradable and a bit smarter looking.
other options were the thorens td 150 mk 1 and mk 2 and the td 160 mk 2 / mk 5 options.
so guys , a lot of turntables in or around the same price bracket ( under 200 squids ) but which to choose eh?
so what do you all recon?


cheers ,

Rob.


ps , my kit at the moment is a pair of celestion ditton 15's , a wharfedale duel mono 2050a amp and for a cdp im using my dvd player ( does the trick until i get a cdp )
all my cables are cheapo crappy but i want to get my sources sorted out first before sorting out cables.

 

I've had my Systemdek IIX for, what, 17 or 18 years now, with an RB250 arm. I remember comparing it with my brother's Rega Planar 2 many moons back, and we both agreed it was clearly better. I recently changed the cartridge from a Goldring 1012 to the Denon 110, and the performance has gone up another notch or two.

It's solidly built and doesn't require much attendance beyond initial set-up. However, it is suspended, so be careful if you have bouncy floors. All in all, it's easy to use and easy to love, and I wouldn't consider upgrading unless I had around a grand to throw at it (the Nottingham Analogue decks and higher Rega numbers have caught my eye on occasion).

I can't be sure, but I may have demo'd it against a Linn Axis all those years ago when I bought it.

 

I think that you will always pay a slight premium for the Linn badge, especially on e-bay. Most of the Linn Axis TT's i've seen on e-bay go for about £250 which is a bargain only if fitted with the Akito tonearm, i think there are quite a few folk who buy an Axis for the arm and then fit a Basik LVX or Basik plus in its place and sell it on.

I have owned a Systemdek iiX prior to my LP12 and have to say that i really liked it. I only swapped it for the Linn as the Linn was so cheap (£150 from local paper classifieds), if i hadn't happened across that bargain i would still have my Systemdek. The older iiX with the teardrop armboard are usually cut for a Linn arm geometery whereas the newer decks with the Rectangular armboards are usually cut for Rega arms. The later deck plinths are usually covered in that ghastly 90's black ash vinyl wrap whereas the earlier decks usually have light Oak or Walnut real wood veneer, A bit of beeswax or wood oil and the grain really shines through.

The only really major flaw with the iiX that i can see is that they can suffer slightly from motor vibration. This is easily remedied with a bit of tweaking, meddling and fiddling ( Blu-Tac, sorbothane, deflex...you get the picture).

Edited to add: I'll retract my major flaw, it isn't major at all, mine didn't suffer but some decks can if not tweaked. You do want something to play with don't you- just playing music can be boring sometimes

A linn Axis is pretty much a set up cartridge, fit and forget item a Systemdek is more of a hands on fiddlers dream, if you are that way inclined. The suspension hardware is really easy to fine tune on the iiX too as the adjusters are accessable from the top of the plinth. Obviously both of your choices have 33 and 45 rpm facility , the iiX via moving the belt on the pulley manually.

The System deck also has the same type ( and possibly same mos del no ?) of AC syncro motor as a lot of other decks eg LP12, Rega. This opens up another route of tweaking in that you can try out different PSU's including Systemdeks own Electronic PSU or how about a Geddon clone or a TAP's ?

All in all I would be inclined to go for The Systendek. One went on e-bay this morning for just £135 Buy-it-now a steal with a Linn LVX arm and can't remember which cartridge.

As far as sh prices go i think i personally wouldn't pay any more than £200 for a mint , boxed, Sytemdek iiX. At that price i would want either a Rega RB250 or a Linn LVX/Plus tonearm ( the Sytemdek 'Profile' arm sounded great to my ears too although the 'self appointed experts' will disagree ) . Possibly a bit more if it was an iiX E model with electronic PSU.
For a Linn AXIS i reckon that £250 would be my max and again i would want a boxed minter with Akito tonearm.

These are just my idea's others may disagree. HTH.

 

I used to have a Linn Axis/Akito combo, which I used to test against a mate's Systemdeck.
To tell the truth, we found them surprisingly similar sounding - with perhaps a slight preference for the Linn (we found the bass just that little bit more believable).