Klimbing The Produkt Ladder at Linn

December 2016 - and its 12 degrees C in Waterfoot, the location of the Linn factory near Glasgow - the locals are confused by the soaring Summer temperature.  Its also grey and damp outside, but dry and lifestylie in the Linn Home demonstration suite. Alloy ingots and folded aluminium boxes are arranged on shelving, but there's too many to fit so they're decorating the floor too.  We're faced (literally) with a pair of rather imposing and "high tech" looking KEF Reference 5 loudspeakers - the competition are in the house. This is probably the best place to hear the Linn hierarchy above Majik - the factory being able to supply such goodies as 8 Solo power amplifiers, several different streamers and speakers that allow conversion from passive to active in less than a minute.

So we'll come to that lot a bit later. This year, Linn didn't have a "factory event" arranged for the autumn / early Winter like they sometimes do - even though they've just launched Katalyst on the public - a major DAC architecture upgrade for the Klimax DS and DSM streamers. So a group of forum members built a demo wishlist and asked Linn very politely if we could come and have a listen. Which was the loose basis upon which an "annual event" was created for those invited along. In other words, a bunch of mates getting together to catch up, drink beer and listen to stuff they aspire to owning.

Whilst most of the group were local (meaning UK), we did have a forum member from Canada joining us on his personal crusade across Europe, so there was an international flavour to the group (being Scottish, English, Irish and Canadian). The night before was a curry followed by beer and lots of natter about what we might hear, what people have done to their music listening gear recently, what they might do next, a bit of politics around the forum etc. etc. In other words, geeky, alcohol fuelled natter. Our Canadian friend's recent tour of Linn systems in Europe was a constant thread returned to throughout the evening and how Linn can make their SPACE Optimisation tool easier for customers to get the best from - when done well it takes a Linn system several levels of performance higher, but sadly it is not often done well.

Visitors' Book

After reasonable restraint in the pub the night before, we gathered at the factory ready for a 10:00 start - with everyone looking healthy enough to handle reasonably loud music. And here its worth mentioning Linn's choice of speaker for this event - the KEF Reference 5 floorstanders.  A decent bit of kit, but not exactly big on bass, or at least not on this experience. Perhaps Linn had heard about the pub the night before and had selected these speakers in deference to delicate heads, or they'd deliberately set up SPACE to take bass energy out. But no, apparently not.  As usual the welcome at Linn was warm, friendly and informal. Craig of marketing was looking after us, clearly now somewhat more confident meeting a bunch of forum diehards compared to last year, having got over a year of experience in the meantime. Teas / coffees and then off into one of the dem rooms (for those who know the place, the one on the right at the back of Linn Home).

A vast array of kit was laid out in the room, some on the equipment rack (extended by an extra 4 shelves for today) and some on the floor waiting its turn to perform.  We had suggested some ideas on demos in advance and Linn had set up all of them for us, except the cheeky requests to hear products yet to be announced. Of course. A printed list of demos and list prices of each demo were made available to us. Probably not good to look at the list prices on the second page! We were hosted by a couple of senior guys from R&D - Ian who looks after circuit design and layout and Phil who takes the lead on speaker design. So why no Linn speakers? It was explained that there are only 2 pairs of speakers in the factory with externalised passive crossovers - something that helps with speedy system configuration changes. As all of us in the room are already at Akurate or Klimax level in the Linn hierarchy, Ian and Phil had decided that one of those pairs of speakers - Majik 140s - probably wasn't going to give us the insight into the upgrades we were hoping for, and the other pair - the KEFs - would be more appropriate in terms of price and performance. I guess there's also benefit in reminding the audience that Exakt filters are available for non-Linn speakers, in addition to those from Linn. Anyway, the KEFs did an admirable job during the morning to give a clear insight on the upgrades in the electronics. The KEF's passive crossovers have been removed from the cabinets and are housed in Akurate size cases with perspex tops.  Consistency of speaker throughout the demo was appreciated by the group.

Dem Room

DEMO 1:

Klimax DSM/1 (KDSM/1)  which has a pre-Katalyst DAC and was, up until 6 weeks ago, Linn's top performing streamer/pre-amp against Klimax DSM/2 (KDSM/2) which is the newest version and includes the Katalyst DAC architecture. The Katalyst is a new DAC from a different manufacturer which allows for multiple separate power supplies to different functional parts of the DAC (e.g. clock, digital circuits, analogue circuits etc.). In addition to this, Linn altered some of the other areas of the circuit board layout whilst they had the opportunity to improve these too.  The rest of the system was a Klimax Twin/Dynamik power amp and the KEFs in passive configuration. Interconnects throughout the day were Linn silvers, speaker cables the recently released K200. Ethernet cables and Exaktlink cables were not declared - but Linn likes to use pretty standard stuff here.

First a couple of tracks were played on the KDSM/1 and sounded very enjoyable, until we then heard them on the Katalyst equipped KDSM/2. Which is a very significant step forward. The music seems more joined up in terms of timing - instruments, voices etc., seeming better aligned. There's more texture and believability in vocals - they're more expressive. At first it seems a little bass light, but really its just a tightening up of control, perhaps the removal of some harmonics that shouldn't be there. In more hifi related terms there's more detail in the treble and imaging is sharper, but still not up there with the kind of imaging provided by an Exakt system. Going back to the KDSM/1 (which is still a very fine player) is like going from a full fat FLAC file down to a 192 MP3 - the difference is quite stark. A great achievement.

DEMO 2:

So is this new Klimax Katalyst equipped DSM with Klimax amplification better than an Akurate level Exakt system? This, for me, was probably one of the more significant demos of the day, and one that we'd eagerly anticipated and discussed at length in the pub the night before (and, strangely enough, the evening after).
The comparison was between the KDSM/2 (i.e. Katalyst equipped) with Klimax Twin versus Akurate Exakt DSM (AEDSM) with Akurate Exaktbox 10 DAC/Processor (AEBOX10) and 2x Akurate 4200/1 power amps. So a step down in hierarchy in Linn terms and a significantly lower overall cost of the electronics feeding the KEFs.

And this was quite some contrast. I felt that the presentation of the 2 systems was very different. But let's get one thing out of the way first - both of these options are very musical indeed, with, for me, little to differentiate them in musicality - ie the ability to play the tune and carry the emotion. However, in almost every other way, the Exakt system was better. Better separation of instruments and therefore clarity of the contribution from each, vastly better imaging, tighter more controlled bass lines and therefore ability to follow these lines and real coherence in the timing. The one area where I felt the Katalyst might just edge ahead was the expressiveness and "reality" of the vocals. But an easy choice - the cheaper Exakt system would be my choice without hesitation. For those who like vinyl, I can see the Katalyst passive might be very attractive - relative to Exakt it has that less precise, more smoothed together kind of sound.

Its interesting that, for me, the magnitude of the end to end system errors corrected by Exakt are more fundamental than the DAC architecture itsself. Given the step change going from Klimax DSM to Klimax DSM with Katalyst, I really didn't expect the non-Katalyst DACs in the Exaktboxes to give a better result. But they do, and its significant.

Katalyst is on the way for Exakt - first at Klimax level - and I suspect that is going to be astonishing. The Klimax Tunebox circuitry has been squeezed into the box and is going through final revisions just now. Katalyst for Akurate level is at the design stage and will be available in 6 and 10 channel versions.  One of the benefits of the upgrade to Katalyst in the Klimax range is that the Exakt engine will be more powerful than the current version and will allow the running of dual-mono Exakt filters inside the 6 channel Klimax Exaktbox - great news indeed for those with only 3 drivers per speaker as it will be possible to get Linn's best performance from one KEBOX rather than needing 2. So the impossible for many could become aspirational for some.

DEMO 3:

Akurate Exakt DSM with Akurate Exaktbox 10 into Akurate 4200/1 amps and the KEFs versus exactly the same system but with the Exaktbox 10 swapped for 2x Akurate Exaktbox 6s.  What's the difference? Well not a lot - except to say that the Exaktbox 6 has a better optimised circuit layout on the boards (which also allows a slightly different approach to the power supplies to the DACs). But the same circuit topographies.

I think all would agree that this was a bigger upgrade than we were expecting. It is more significant that you'd think was reasonable or even logical.  I don't think there were only one or two parameters that improved - rather there was an all-round improvement in everything be that musicality or any of the more hifi-like terms you care to mention. A nice one this, and worth having, particularly if you have speakers that have better dual-mono Exakt filters than the stereo filters.

DEMO 4:

Replacing the 2x Akurate 4200/1 amplifiers with 8x Klimax Solo/Dynamiks.

Gulp.  The single biggest price jump of today's demos - 60,000 gbp.  Was it the single biggest difference?  Probably not. That was either from non-Katalyst DSM to Katalyst DSM, or possibly from Akurate Exaktbox to Klimax Exaktbox (see below). But what do the Solos bring?  Well, this is always one I feel is difficult to describe. What does the Solo do?  Well there's this whole kind of feeling of effortlessness to the sound.  The amps just flow the music through and make it louder.  Sure, there's more detail, more slam / control in the bass and better image stability. But its the way it does what it does rather than the what. And that's hard to describe - perhaps its the difference between a piece of tech that sounds like its responding to the incoming signal, and one that works with that signal? More fluid, more organic, more believable.  Very nice indeed.

DEMO 5:

Replacing the 2x Akurate Exaktbox 6s replaced by their (not yet Katalyst) Klimax equivalents. The rest of the system remaining as AEDSM streamer/pre-amp, 8x Solo amps and the KEFs.

Unlike the move from Klimax to Klimax with Katalyst in the DSMs - which made the former sound rather less than satisfactory - upgrading an Exaktbox from Akurate to Klimax level (and back again), didn't give that same type of difference. Rather the Klimax is a refinement and improvement on what the Akurate box was doing - its just all-round better on detail / resolution, separation of instruments and emotional content of the vocals. It will be interesting to hear the Klimax Exaktbox when it gets the Katalyst upgrade in the Spring.

DEMO 6:

As above, but the AEDSM was replaced by a Klimax Exakt DSM (KEDSM).

A small difference in the sound here - a touch more detail, a little more space between instruments.  Really, this is just a very thin layer of icing on the cake and only really something to do if the aesthetics of the kit is important, or if you've done everything else possible in terms of the rest of the Exakt / amplification equipment. Nice but not necessary and really emphasises how good the AEDSM is in terms of price / performance.  Just one caveat on that - if you're heavily into playing vinyl then the KEDSM has a better ADC stage which would possibly be important to you, and justify the extra cost.  We didn't have the ADC comparison in the demos today.

DEMO 7:

Is a Klimax DS/2 a better source for an Exakt system than an AEDSM?

So these sources were swapped back and forth - and rather like the AEDSM vs KEDSM comparison above - not much in it - perhaps the KDS/2 edged it a little, but this is really about where are you starting from in terms of your current kit - if you have a KDS/2 and don't need the inputs of a DSM, then it works very well.  However, if you need inputs and want to go Exakt, then moving from KDS/2 to AEDSM is not really an issue.

DEMO 8:

Klimax DS/3 (ie Katalyst equipped) vs KEDSM as an Exakt source - here there's an even smaller difference and really not much to discuss.  Either is good, but it would be strange to choose KDS/3 and then shortly afterwards move to Exakt.

DEMO 9:

Akurate Exaktbox 10 vs 2x Klimax Exaktboxes.

See DEMO 5 above - exactly this, but slightly more so.

So overall, what did we learn?

- Katalyst is a fantastic step forward
- Katalyst in Exakt is likely to be something extraordinary
- Katalyst in Akurate (and the Exaktbox) is very much anticipated
- For me, the sweet spot in terms of price vs performance is currently with AEDSM and 2x Akurate Exaktbox 6 and 4200/1 amplifiers (possibly with Twins rather than 4200/1, but we didn't hear that exact combination)

With many thanks to Ian and Philbo who put so much effort into putting these demos together and running through them all - there are very few (if any) other places we could've had such a comprehensive set of demos - the team built exactly what was asked for by the attendees. All these changes went extremely smoothly with no gitches with any of the kit and that helps to demonstrate that this streaming, networking and Exakt stuff is now very mature indeed.

A Night In An Abandoned Power Station - Yello Go Live

Yello. What’s that all about?

Electronic. Experimental. Pioneering. Eclectic. Humorous. Niche. Unique. Acquired taste. Quirky. Arty.
Does that help? To an extent it probably does. But add another few important descriptors to that list.
Shy. Studio bound. Publicity avoiding. Aloof, even?

Where to start with Yello? For me it goes back to 1988 on the Isle of Man. As you might expect (weird), or not (much more likely). With a bunch of good mates, we’d just seen 3 days of the best tarmac rallying you can imagine. This guy called Snijers had popped over from Belgium in his BMW M3 seeking European championship points. He’s never going to beat the established Brits and Irish who’ve dominated the event for years – surely he had no chance against the likes of Jimmy McRae? And yet there we were watching this M3 dance over the roads of Man – perfectly placed, power sliding spectacularly, pushing the limits at every opportunity, flying flat and landing squarely ready for the next bit of aggressive driving. To win by a margin of over 30 seconds on a debut on the island is unprecedented. Have a look at this YouTube video to get a flavour.

We turn up at the massive prize giving ceremony venue and the podium placed cars are in the room, arranged in front of the stage. The lights go down and we’re treated to a 4 minute highlights video on the big screen – 4 minutes of incredibly aggressive yet controlled and spectacular driving from Snijers in the BMW. Those of you who know Yello will have guessed where this is going – the backing track was “The Race” and I guess the whole atmosphere and spectacle meant I was hooked on Yello from then onwards.

Fast forward somewhat across the decades since 1988 and I’ve a fair collection of Yello albums – mostly from that period onwards. Boris Blank and Dieter Meier have been working together on the Yello project on and off for 38 years at the time of writing. Quite some career. Based out of Switzerland, they’re a niche band in the UK – their new album launched in September 2016 did pretty well by Yello standards, peaking at number 84 in the chart.  They have a very loyal but thinly spread fan base across the globe. In 2013, you can read what we did at the Scalford Hifi Show when we played a Yello DVD all day on a loop with a projector and a Sony / Linn / Rotel / Mission based system. It drew praise and disdain in fairly equal measure, to be fair – but fun to do something different at the show.

Its often not long before a Yello track is played when I’m sitting down in front of the Musings system. It helps that the music is produced with great care and attention to sound quality. My 15 year old daughter’s caught the bug too – we both really looked forward to the new album this year.
So 38 years, and yet never a live show. There’s some debate about that “fact”. Apparently they played in Zurich a good few years back, but its unclear if there was anything “live” about the performance, beyond the vocals. Either way, they’ve never done a real “gig” and most of us expected it would never happen. Boris is now 64 and Dieter 72, so what are the chances?

Rumours of a new album kicked off in mid-2015, and would be their first together since Touch in 2009.  That’s how long this loyal fanbase has to wait! The album was “coming soon” for a very long time. Then suddenly, this summer, a few rumours started circulating about a couple of one-off gigs, late in 2016.  Seemed implausible to impossible. And why would they do it after all this time? A couple of old guys on stage behind synths – what kind of show would that be? But its never straightforward with Yello – their videos are often quirky, use interesting and contemporary techniques and they apply as much attention to this and the album artwork as they do to the music. May be this could work. May be it would never happen.

Bang! It happened – I can’t remember which way around it happened, but I think it was the gig announcement first, then the definitive release date of the new album – to be called Toy. As you can imagine, the excitement about the gigs set that tiny corner of t’internet that concerns itself with electronic music on fire. But no clue as to location, number of gigs, was it a tour, etc. etc. Shortly the information came clear – 2 gigs in Berlin. That was it. How could I resist? Then it became clear that the dates were in the school holidays. I spend quite a bit of time with my son who’s also into cars and we go mountain biking together but here was a chance to spend some time with my daughter which would be great. We even managed to get tix to the first of the 2 live gigs. Making it a weekend (we’ve never been to Berlin before) flights and hotels were sorted.


When Yello released the first single from the Toy album – Limbo – the video was filmed in a concrete former power station building in Berlin called Kraftwerk – some might find that a little ironic. Its all very robust, industrial, brutal and with the fog and lighting in the video it created a very atmospheric backdrop, and this was to be the venue for the gig.  Mixed feelings about that. Standing, in an old power station, pretty unusual way to go about it. How the gig would be staged, what tracks would be played, would the venue work – all of these things were hot topics of on line discussion. After the first 2 gigs were sold out – 2 more were added, one before the one we had booked so ours was no longer the first gig. The new first gig was to be seated which I initially thought would be better, but it turns out I was wrong about that one.

The Toy album was released and it’s a fantastic piece of work – musically and physically, particularly in the CD format which is a small hardback book of images, lyrics, artwork etc. Musically I find 80% of it very listenable and there are 4 outstanding tracks – 30,000 days, Dark Side, Blue Biscuit and Electrified II. It bodes well for the gig as there’s bound to be a good few new tracks on the set list. Guest vocals from Malia (who collaborated with Boris Blank a few years ago to create the excellent Convergence album) and newcomer Fifi Rong from London complement the music very well and contrast starkly with Dieter Meier’s robust bass ramblings.

Berlin is a great place for a visit, but we’ll not concern ourselves with the rest of the city here.  Let’s get on with the gig. My 15 year old daughter’s first experience of a proper rock/pop event, and an interesting place to start. Let’s also cut to the chase – this evening was a fantastic experience – I really did have concerns about “never meet your heros” and would the whole thing work as a concept and would it feel like a live gig, given the very electronic nature of the music. So how come it was such a great experience? People, music, visuals, atmosphere, buzz, anticipation, seeing something that you never thought would happen, sharing the experience with my daughter who was equally thrilled, it all gelled together so well.

The gig and the use of the venue was extremely well thought through. After meeting up with some fellow concert goers in a bar 2 mins walk from the venue, we discussed what we thought the gig would be like, if we needed to be in early or not, etc. Information before hand has been distinctly sketchy, although it was very clear that doors open at 7pm and the band would be on stage at 9pm. We headed round the corner and entered the anonymous looking building through what looked like a side door. No grand venue entrance or branding here. Adds nicely to the sense of mystery and anticipation.

Specially commissioned beer glasses contributed to making a gig into an event -

Kraftwerk is split into 2 levels. Entering on the ground floor we found a few of the usual things you expect – a bar with overpriced beers and a merch stall with overpriced t-shirts, beanie hats and some signed vinyl albums. Beer was served in plastic glasses unique to the event – combining the latest Yello logo with a graphic of the TV tower of Berlin – a nice touch. But really we were already into the gig. Arranged all around the lower floor were large old skool CRT monitors, playing classic Yello videos and there were instrumental Yello tracks washing around the venue.  This, combined with the stage smoke and shafts of light cutting through, had already created the atmosphere and it was still 90 mins before the start of the show.  We mingled downstairs for a while, then made our way to the performance area on the upper floor.  Here the sheer scale of the building became clear – the place is massive – a high roof supported on rugged concrete pillars, the original gantry cranes still up there to add to the authenticity. Again the lighting up here was clever, emphasising the vastness of the space, creating long dark shadows and the choice of background music was dark, bass driven and of the menacing variety. Large cut-out areas in the floor allow views to the gathering area below and the gentle fade changes of colour in the mist were very effective.

Downstairs amidst the videos and the mist

Looking down into the pre-gig gathering area

Looking towards the stage - here you can see the old factory cranes still suspended from the ceiling

Looking away from the stage into Kraftwerk's vast space

The stage is at one end of the hall and has a vast array of electronic “stuff” arranged in a horseshoe to the right, but we also get a clue about the approach tonight – there are 2 drum kits on stage and there’s clearly going to be a good few people up there with Boris and Dieter. As a backdrop there’s a vast screen of the type normally seen at big sporting events. 20 minutes or so before 9pm, a tiny blurred yellow set of letters appear on the vast screen – and they’re rotating as individual letters.  Over the 20 minutes the letters gradually get larger – soon its clear that the 5 letters are YELLO – they rotate as individual letters and their place within the word – sometimes spelling OYELL, LOYEL etc. And they become clearer too.  At pretty much exactly 9pm they are fully resolved and fill the complete screen. Backed by the intro to the track Takla Malan, this is a great way to build up the intro and grab the attention of the crowd.

Build up

A view of and from the desk

A long long wait (decades!) finally ends as “Magma” plays and the band emerge onto stage. Boris takes up station behind the horseshoe of gear and Dieter takes centre stage. The first full tracks are "Do It" and “The Evening's Young” and there’s a hint of stiffness on stage – this is only the second night and to start with, that shows. Dieter spends the evening reading his lyrics from a prompt, Boris looks like he’s playing perhaps a lead melody over the top of the rest of the electronic sounds. That might sound like it wasn’t going to be a good night, but that’s not the case. The visuals behind the stage were spectacular – mixing clips from classic Yello videos, new patterns and graphics, vivid colours and well matched to the mood of each track. But what really brought the performance to life, for me, were 2 things – the live musicians and the extension of the light show into the entire arena.

With 2 drummers and kits and a lead guitarist to the left, a trio of backing singers right of centre and a 5 piece horn section arranged to the right, their playing and on-stage animation and activities brought life and enthusiasm to the gig. And by about 3 or 4 tracks in, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere on stage – everyone seemed to get relaxed into their roles and from that point on, it really looked like the whole ensemble were enjoying what they were doing. And its fair to say the audience followed suit – standing became the right way to arrange a Yello gig as the tracks ramped up in pace and familiarity.

Brass section gets animated

What about the building? The robust “architecture” worked well for this gig. The lighting techs did a great job of lighting the whole environment – shafts of light piercing through the mist, emphasising the size of the venue and adding to the feel of some of the more ethereal and moody tracks. Sequenced to work with the music the lights switched between low level mood colours, seemingly random dancing and chasing around the building in sequence. This all underpinned by the openings in the floor that exposed the floor below and emphasised the space even further.

Percussion

There’s some brief introductions to songs and a little banter from Dieter – most of it in English, some in German, and a warm welcome to the gig. But in the main, the focus is on the music – a set list which blended some early tracks, some greatest hits and, of course, a number of tracks from the new album “Toy”. Dieter’s largely spoken vocals were well delivered at the right time and I didn’t notice any fluffing, if any happened.  Each track from the “Toy” album was played pretty much as per the studio version, the older tracks get a little new flavouring or twists, but they were all very easily recognised and comfortingly familiar. Like most of the audience, we talked and sang along with the lyrics, but luckily for those around us, the PA easily drowned out my bad singing. There’s been quite a bit of discussion of the setlist – quite a few were looking for more of the “classic” tracks and, inevitably with such a long back catalogue, it was impossible to cover everyone’s favourite track. Here’s what Boris and Dieter chose to run with:


Pre-show background: Intro to Takla Makan
Magma during walk-on
Do It
The Evening Is Young
Limbo
Bostich
Electrified II (with Malia)
Cold Flame (with Malia)
30,000 Days
Time Tunnel
Kiss The Cloud (with Fifi Rong)
Lost In Motion (with Fifi Rong)
Tied Up
Liquid Lies
Starlight Scene (with Malia)
Tool Of Love
Oh Yeah
Blue Biscuit
Si Senor The Hairy Grille

Visuals for "Time Tunnel" - Boris Blank just visible behind his rig on the right

The boys were joined on the stage by guest vocalists Malia and Fifi Rong to perform songs from “Toy”. Malia was introduced to me through the “Convergence” collaboration with Boris Blank – she has a fabulously smokey smooth jazz voice that works so well with Blank’s very sophisticated tunes and soundscapes. On that album is a track called “Smoldering Ashes” which is a smooth melodic and dark song. For “Toy”, Yello have re-worked the track into a more electronic, rhythmic vibe – renamed it "Cold Flame" - and I have to say I prefer the original when listening at home. But on stage in a live setting, the "Cold Flame" version worked very well indeed – a real drive to groove along to. Fifi Rong is a very young artist from London who is starting to make way in the music business. Her vocals are a contrast to Malia, skilfully applied to exactly the right music flavours by Boris, a sound that’s more ethereal, spooky if you like. Both ladies added significantly to the success of the evening and performed flawlessly – they added to the visuals too with spectacular clothing and Rong’s extreme eyelashes!  The camera work was great here too – blending close-ups of the singers over the top of the main video / graphics showing on the big screen at the back of the stage. Its worth mentioning the horn section here too – they really contributed to the tracks you would expect – adding impact, dynamics and a visual aspect to the music.

Dieter is joined on stage by Malia

Visually and vocally, Fifi Rong stunned the crowd

The sound wasn’t perfect – using the now common curved arrays suspended from the ceiling either side of the stage and then at 2 further points down the length of the venue. We were positioned just right of centre, about 20 rows back and mid-way between the stage side arrays and the first set of reinforcements down the length of the hall. There was plenty of power and all the hard surfaces of the venue didn’t, for us at least, give an empty echoing acoustic, thankfully. The music was a touch muffled – it could of done with more clarity and slam – and for some of the tracks the vocals could have been higher in the mix. It wasn’t bad, it worked better than I expected given the type of venue, but I’ve heard better and much much worse of course.

Given that the track “The Race” hadn’t been part of the main set, it was pretty obvious what was going to feature in the encore – which, equally obviously, was demanded by the audience. But there was another treat first – something which seems to have been added compared the first show. Boris launched a smartphone app a few years back called Yellofier. It’s worth looking up, but I always thought it was a toy rather than a way to produce music. So the boys brought a smartphone on stage, plugged it into the PA and took us through developing a track, supposedly “live”. I suspect the creating of the track probably was “live” but seems to have been a repeat of creating an existing track to show how that can be captured and then developed. I say this because what followed on from the basics of the track was a fully developed version that really bounced along and got the audience animated again. Dieter vocalised over the top in his familiar style. Good fun.

And so to the final track of the night – of course, “The Race”. More great visuals mixing parts of the original video with new content, the audience in motion and joining in with the choruses. Part way through, the track backed off a little and Rush, Push, Cash was skilfully inter-weaved with The Race as Dieter introduced the whole 15 piece band. “The Race” was a great (if predictable) way to finish the show – great stuff.

Yellofier - live

The Race

Taking a bow

Then back downstairs to the free aftershow party – glasses refreshed and we revisited the CRT videos and listened to the tracks being spun by the DJ in the dark misty and atmospheric venue. Here Malia, Fifi and the backing singers mingled (maybe some of the musicians too, but I didn’t see them myself) with the crowd, posing for photos, signing autographs etc. A really nice touch and so refreshing to see band members making themselves available.

And there’s further good news. As the Berlin gigs worked so well, Yello have announced that they’ll take the show on the road. Its not clear what that means, but I think we can expect a small number of gigs in a very select number of cities worldwide.  Plus, Yellosphere at the Ministry of Sound in London on 24th November 2016 - an evening of electronic music with Dieter and Boris playing some of their classic tracks and some recordings and visuals from Berlin. With the 3rd and 4th gigs being recorded, there's hope for a DVD in the near future too.



An aside:
If you make a bit of effort, as we did when going to Berlin, and get dressed up in something appropriate and unique for the gig, you might just get a round of applause on entering the gig, pictures with the guest singers, a chat with the album cover photographer, a chat with the band's sound / mastering engineer, and if you're extremely lucky, the chance to go backstage to meet the band. An excellent weekend became something to exceptional and treasure for a long time to come...

The power station's control room (and, indeed, the rest of the Kraftwerk venue) where we met up with Dieter and Boris, is featured in the Limbo video:

Project Red (plus, anatomy of Linn's Ninka and Katan)

In the extremely extensive category of 'daft things I've done' there is, in the same building, an expensive Summer toy and an entertainment system to help with making hours on the Winter turbo trainer somewhat more palatable.

The entertainment system features 5 old skool Linn speakers, the main left and right pair being a near mint set of Cherry finish Linn Ninkas. They're wasted in their current surroundings and deserve to be in someone's living or listening room. So I've been looking around for something less smart for sometime.  A chance visit to a Linn forum member's house gave me some Ninka scale inspiration, in addition to some Katans I've seen pictures of, belonging to another forum member I know.  So a plan was hatched to create something unique.

To paint a pair of Ninkas, it's easiest to start with Maple or Cherry finishes, as they don't have any physical grain like the other finishes. But it would seem wrong to paint the cherry speakers I have, they're just too good for that. Something else to consider is value - Cherry Ninkas sell for much higher prices than Maple. So the best starting point would be a slightly scruffy Maple pair. Finding stuff before it reaches the lottery of ebay is usually good, on the fee occasions it happens.

So the donor pair were secured, then the finish had to be decided. Furniture and kitchen refinishers in my area generally fall into one of, or both of these camps: they won't touch speakers or they only do a standard palette of colours. Fortunately I found a company that would take on the speakers and would paint from a sample. Given that the speakers I've been inspired by were both red, and that they would be occupying the same space as the red Summer toy, then the choice was made to match the car - in this case, Austin Rover Targa Red.

PREP

The starting point - rear of Maple Ninkas

Starting point - front of Maple Ninkas

Removing the drivers - all the bolts are the same size Torx fitting. I remove the tweeter first as its the most delicate

The top mid-bass driver and tweeter removed - note the mid-bass driver magnet looks massive - largely due to the magnetic shielding - a reminder of the days of CRT televisions

Each component was wrapped up for protection - here a mid-bass driver

All the drivers out - time to dig down to the crossover

Roll of fibre removed from behind the upper mid-bass driver - just to show the internal construction - there was no need to remove this upper roll

One roll removed immediately behind the lower mid-bass driver, then another roll below that and you can see the crossover

Looking directly down from the lower mid-bass driver into the base of the cabinet.  Its not entirely obvious from this photo, but that bracing with the 4 round holes lies run front (top of picture) to back (bottom of the picture) about 300 mm up from the base of the cabinet. Also not obvious is that this bracing piece is at an angle to all four sides - presumably to help with reducing standing waves inside the cabinet.

Working from the back of the cabinet, its necessary to remove all the collars from the connections.  First, the white plastic blanking plugs are removed

Choice of collar removing and refitting tools. The round handled one is the nicer to look at, the plain steel bar is much the stronger

The removal tool slots into each side of the collar

All the collars removed - under the collars are the 2 plates that allow easy reconfiguration between various passive and active connection options

Both the connection plates removed. In the centre there is a single crossheaded screw that holds the crossover in place.  This was removed to allow this area to be masked off for painting

Here's the connector side of the crossover

Once the crossover was released from the back panel, it was held in place inside the cabinet with a cable tie to stop it rattling around in the cab

Whilst the speaker was on its back, time to take off the badge.  The edge of the wood was protected by 2 layers of insulation tape

Then a very thin flat blade screwdriver was used to lever the badge up.  Really worth taking care here - some badges are extremely well stuck down and its easy to damage the badge or the wood. If its hard, best to put 2 layers of tape on all 4 edges of the badge and work around it gently.

Badge removed

Turned back over, the now connectionless connector panel is masked up.  I didn't mask off the black model and serial number panel - I asked the paintshop to do that as it required some accuracy. As it happens, when the speakers came back, I could probably have done an equally not-quite-right job myself

The 4 M5 allen bolts that hold on the (optional upgrade) polymer bases.  These four bolts are removed to remove the bases. I took the M8 spikes out of the four corners first - its a bit safer that way.

After removing the polymer bases I added 4x M5 bolts and locknuts so that the speaker could still be stood on its base without damaging the cabinet finish

Now with all the fibre re-inserted cardboard circles were cut to cover the driver holes. Masking tape hold them in place

Before prep and after prep - time to work on speaker 2

 

Both cabs prepped

Box full of carefully wrapped and padded bits

Sample colour panel - provided by the auto bodyshop the last time the Sunbeam was in for body work

Just after I'd finished prepping the Ninkas, at set of 5 Maple Katans popped up on ebay.  It seems a set of 5 is not a popular number of speakers, meaning their cost per speaker was a good bit lower that it would be when just buying a pair.  One pair went to a new home, the single speaker will be good for spares and the other pair joined the Ninkas in being prepped for painting. The Katans will replace a black pair I have which get used from time to time (for example, the Scalford Hifi Show 2015).

Maple Katan ready for stripping

Drivers out - their connections need to be unsoldered - I use a 40 watt iron. Unsoldering or soldering wires to the tweeter needs great care as its possible to melt the plastic around the connection tabs

Inside view of the Katan crossover

Inside view of the Katan's rear port - before existing the port the soundwaves have to get through the felt on each side of this box and then through 90 degrees into the port itsself (just visible as a black tube below the box)

Katan connection panel with plastic blanking plugs and all collars removed

Both connection panels removed - the connectors and crossover are held in place by a single screw, just like the Ninkas

Katan crossover removed from the back panel

Connection side of the Katan crossover

Crossover removed

Badge removed and cardboard masking discs in place

Masked connection panel

I don't know where this particular Katan has spent its life - perhaps on its back on the top of a cabinet or something? Its only dust, lots of it, so cleaned off very easily with a very lightly dampened cloth

REBUILD

6 weeks of waiting later...the boxes were back. The finish is OK, but rather dull - I was expecting a deep lustre to the finish.  I suppose the very reasonable price I paid to have them painted didn't include the labour to make them shiny!  Using Zymol - a high quality car cleaner polish - each Katan took a good 2 hours of polishing to get them looking good - 4 times around each cabinet. Boring, but effective.  Of course, the Ninkas took around 3 hours each.

Upwrapped - the finish direct from the furniture refinishers

 

Here, its easy to see the dullness of the finish, and a little "orange peel" effect.

Here its clear that the label had been masked - but its not perfect

Crossover, connection panels, collars and plastic blanking plugs refitted

Refitting drive units - a cloth covers the new paintwork whilst the cables are resoldered. I did the mid-bass first to avoid damaging a re-installed tweeter.

Drivers reinstalled (this is the one shown covered in dust in the prep pictures above), just before refitting the rubber trim ring around the mid-bass driver

The first of the Ninkas to be rebuilt

Before polishing

Car polish

Re-installing a Ninka tweeter

Refitting the 4x M5 mounting bolts for the polymer stands. To allow for moving the speakers around safely, M7 allen bolts are fitted to the spike mounts at this point.  The masking tape on the top side of the polymer stands prevented the car polish having any effect on their finish

RESULTS

Looking good in the workshop

With the inspiration for the colour

Its fair to say that the finish looks better in the photos than it is in the flesh - although you have to get up really close to see the occasional pitting and orange peel effect.  I think the quality of the job reflects the reasonable cost of the work

Now with a decent shine

I don't have a set of the correct stands yet - here they're sitting on Atacama SE24s - the right height, but the top plate is too big

The flash is distorting the colour here - if you look down near the floor, that's more realistic representation of the true colour and the closeness of the colour match to the car

A better idea of the real colour in natural light

Pretty pleased with the final result