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Friday 6 April 2018

Inside Linn's Akurate Exaktbox - With and Without Katalyst

Photos below of the boards inside Linn Akurate Exaktbox10.  Click on an image for a larger version.

First the original version...

An extremely busy board with 10x mono DACs and (top left) 3x Exakt processors





3x Exakt processors (1 Master, 2x Slaves)



DAC layout - staggered on the circuitboard to fit them all in


Boards back to back and empty chassis...

New board at the bottom - a much simpler and clearer layout, but 5x stereo DACs rather than the original 10x mono DACs

Bare Chassis


Then the upgraded "Katalyst" versions (Akurate Exaktbox10/1)...

Much more spacious layout - 5x DACs in stereo mode.  Remembering, also, that Linn has just invested in a new board populating machine that places even tinier surface mount components.

Smaller board, less clutter


New, single, much more powerfull Exakt processor


Less crowding, but stereo rather than mono DACs
The proof is in the sticker.

EDIT 16 June 2018.

And here are the Akurate Exaktbox 6 equivalent photos:

The original Akurate Exaktbox 6 board in situ.  Note 6x individual DACs
Another view of the original board

The original board removed from the casework - the Exakt master and slave processors are bottom right


 Below you can see how much simpler the board layout has become.  There many fewer components mainly due to the use of 3x stereo DACs rather than 6x monos DACs.  Also, there is now only one Exakt processor which is more powerful than the previous 2 processors combined.
Of course, Linn's new board populating machines also place much smaller surface mount components which adds further to the spacious layout of the board.

New single, more powerful, Exakt processor top left

The 3 stereo DAC circuits are clear to see here, arranged top to bottom from just left of centre over to the right.


2 comments:

  1. Interesting to see how much more sparse the new board looks.

    MickC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, half as many stereo DACs rather than monos and 1x Exakt processor rather than 3.

    ReplyDelete