The story of Linn

...or how I got infected by the Linn-seed and spent all my money on expensive hifi-equipment from Scotland.

Background

Linn is a hifi-company located in Scottland. Linn was founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun in 1972. Their first product was the now legendary LP12 Sondek Turntable. They later expanded their productline with amplifiers, loudspeakers, cd-players and tuners. They now also have a home-cinema line of products including a 0,20 m^3 active sub-bass. If you are more interested, check out their homepage at www.linn.co.uk.

 

Why Linn?

One of my greatest interests is music, and because I'm not that good at playing it myself, I prefer listening to it. And to listen to music you need to have a good-sounding stereo-equipment.

Well, I bought my first stereo in 1989 (or was it 1990, I don't remember exactly) It consisted of a Pioneer integrated amplifier (a 50W, reference-something, big and 15 kg) and a SONY cd-player and a pair of JBL loudspeakers. For turntable I used my dadīs old Technics (you know the one with the curved tonearm and an oscilloscope at the side to check if the direct-driven platter had the right rpm's. I considered this a good-sounding system. However, I was soon to find out that I had a lot to learn about hi-fi.

 

The Linn-seed

The Linn-seed, you ask, what's that? Well it's easy. Once you have been to a good hifi-store and listened to a really good hifi-system (that is somewhat too expensive), you are likely to get infected. Your concience tells you that you shouldn't spend that much money on hi-fi, but the Linn seed breaks that mental barrier, just like a virus breaks the immune system. After a while, when the seed has begun to develop, you begin to wonder if that piece of equipment shouldn't fit better in your livingroom. And after perhaps a month or two (if the subject has been infected by the Linn-seed before, this time falls dramatically) the Linn-seed has taken over your entire being, and it leads you to the Hi-fi store once again, but this time you don't leave without a package under your arm.

Needless to say, I got infected by this dreadful dicease during summer 1991.

 

Upgrade Time #1, the Linn Intek and the Linn Basik.

My first Linn product was the Linn Intek integrated amplifier. I bought it on the 25th of June, 1991. It gave (sorry, it still gives) 50W at 8 ohm impedance. It was somewhat thin (opposed to my BIG Pioneer) but it played music like a dream. It had no Bass, treble or loudness buttons. It just played music. The biggest difference from my Pioneer amplifier was that I could play really loud and I could still find the tune.

Together with the Linn Intek, my brother bought a Basik Turntable. This was the entry-level turntable from Linn. It had a on/off button on on the underside of the table, and you could change from 33 rpm to 45 rpm by removing the platter and switch the belt.

I had prior to this upgraded my Sony cd-player to an equally sounding player (but this had 18 bit DA converters instead of 16 bit, and I thought at the time that more bits meant more sound) and my JBL-boxes. The JBL-boxes sounded a lot better with a pair of socks inserted in the bass-reflex holes.

I now considered myself to have a really good-sounding system.

My system:

 

Upgrade Time #2, the Linn Nexus

In the fall of 1992 I bough a pair of Linn Nexus loudspeakers. There was a price-reduction on them (due to the introduction of the Linn Keilidth, which at the present time I had no idea) I thought the speaker-stands were too expensive, so I placed them on a table with four M10 nuts in each corner. I also bough a new speaker cable, Linn K20 and biwired the Nexuses.

The bass was much, much faster making the music more melodic.

I now considered myself to have a good-sounding system.

My system:

 

Upgrade Time #3, The Linn Mimik.

1991 Linn introduced their first cd-player called the Karik. This was way too expensive and I had to wait until spring 1994 to buy my first Linn cd-player. The Linn Mimik,which was introduced in 1993.

Image from Linn's Homepage

The Mimik was still very expensive and I borrowed it for a week before I decided if I should buy it. But there was no turning back after that. I just had to have it.

I now had a complete Linn system for cd's and lp's. And there was a huge improvement in sound quality over the Sony player. (Even though it just had one bit DA, but I had stopped counting bits then...)

I now considered myself to have a good-sounding system.

Later that summer my brother upgraded his Basik for a full LP12 Sondek turntable. He bought it used with a Valhalla motor and kept his Akito/K5 tonearm/pickup-combo from his Basik.

I now considered myself to have a really good-sounding system.


Image from Linn's Homepage

My system:

 

Upgrade Time #4, the Linn Kabers.

Christmas 1996 it was time again. I had been wondering some time to upgrade my speakers for a pair of Keilidth and I paid a visit to my hifi-shop.

Gosh, the Kelidth were much more expensive than I had thought. But they had a pair of used Linn Kaber speakers in the used section. They costed 1000 skr more than a pair of new Keilidth and I had to listen to them and check how to so on the outside nearly identical speakers could differ so much in price (the Kabers cost twice as much as the Kelidth new). I meant, the Keilidth was introduced three years later than the Kaber so they had to sound almost as good. But they didn't. The Kabers were much more melodic than the Keilidth's and compared to other speakers in the same pricerange as the used Kaber's there wasn't much of a competition. Anyhow, I borrowed the Kabers for two weeks before going to the bank. As I didn't have the money, I biwired the Kabers although they were capable of tri-wiring. I now considered myself to have a really good-sounding system.

Image from Linn's Homepage

 

My system:

 

Upgrade Time #5, the Maijik and the LK100's.

My Kabers needed more juice. What else to do than buy more power. I searched around for used Linn equipment, preferably a Linn LK100 poweramp (or two?) or a Linn Majik integrated amplifier with a phono-stage. I was really lucky when I found two LK100 and a Linn Majik WITH a phono-stage for sale in a nearby Linn-shop. I knew that it was really hard to find used Linn hifi, and preferably LK100's used so I had to shell out really quick. And I was not sorry I did.

Image from Linn's Homepage.

 

 

I could now bi-amp my Kabers, using the Majik as a pre-amplifier only (my Linn dealer adviced me to not to tri-amp as the Majik had only 33W and the LK100's 50W. I had to have active crossovers fitted to the Kabers before using my Majik's powerstage with the two LK100's. I still don't know why)

Image from Linn's Homepage.

 

I now considered myself to have a really good-sounding system

My system:

 

Upgrade Time #6, the active crossovers.

But the latest upgrade was just around the corner. At my local linn dealer a used tune-box fitted with Kaber Aktiv active crossovers for my Kabers turned up. At less than 2/3 of the price new and including 2 pair of Linn Interconnects, I bought them. My dealer disconnected the passive crossovers in my Kabers, and I bought some new speaker-cables to be able to connect my Majik to the speakers in an active configuration, with the Majik driving treble and the two LK100 driving mid/bass and bass elements.

My system:

I now consider myself to have a really great-sounding system and my latest upgrade has to wait until this christmas or perhaps longer. I don't know if it's going to be a Karik cd-player or a sneaky module tuner for my Majik.