touch of hyperbole) of being doctrinaire, prone to "propaganda, brainwashing, historical revisionism and other ways of interpreting reality". As such, and because Linn supposedly design their products within the context of an all-Linn system, they try to ensure that all the variables are covered in a "proper demonstration". Sondek LP12 The Sondek LP12 is a suspended sub-chassis turntable with a single-point platter bearing. From its introduction in 1973, there have not been any radical changes to the turntable design, which remains in production. However, the LP12's sound quality has been improved through retrofittable upgrade kits. The successive upgrades consist mostly of refinements in materials used and improved manufacturing tolerances. In 2011, some thirty years after the birth of the compact disc, sales of the LP12 and accessories still accounted for 10 percent of the company's turnover. Initially Linn manufactured the LP12 itself, but not any other components such as tonearms and cartridges. This gap was filled with a largely complementary range from, amongst others, Supex cartridges, Grace and Sumiko tonearms, and Naim Audio amplification. 1975 Speaker In 1975, Linn patented its isobaric loading principle, and launched the Linn Isobarik loudspeaker. 1993 Digital compact disc Linn's first CD player, the Karik, was released in 1993 – 11 years after the CD format itself. The Sondek CD12, pioneered by Alan Clark, was launched in 1997. In 2005 it was discontinued when Philips ended production of the laser around which the player was designed. On 20 November 2009, Linn said it would stop making CD players to focus on digital streaming products instead. 2006 crisis In May 2006, Linn announced that founder Ivor Tiefenbrun would relinquish the position of Linn's managing director in favour of finance director and company secretary Peter Murphy, an 8-year veteran of the firm. As part of his succession planning, Tiefenbrun had appointed him to the Linn board in November 2004 as "the obvious successor in the short term", along with his elder son Natan. Ivor's other son, Gilad, had already joined the company in 2002 and had, perhaps contentiously, quickly risen to become head of R&D. At around that time, Tiefenbrun executed a share swap with his brother Marcus in exchange for his shares in Castle Precision Engineering, consolidating his stake in Linn to 60%. Marcus was to remain a non-executive director. Ivor Tiefenbrun had given up executive duties after being diagnosed with a serious illness. The company