Today's TLA Report: KCT, TST, KDS and DVC. Linn and Lejonklou Content.

TLAs?  Three Letter Acronyms.  There's a lot of them about.  Do they sound any good?  I spent an evening chez Whizz to find out.

Here's an itch that's been scratched at last - how does a Lejonklou Tundra Stereo 2 (TST) stack up against the Linn Klimax Chakra Twin (KTC), both in their latest, up to date 2015 configs?

Much has been written on the Linn forum, the Lejonklou forum and probably in other places too, about the giant killing abilities of the £2.5k Tundra Stereo - now in, I think, its fourth iteration - v1, 1.1, 1.2 and now v2.  As is usual, the inside of the Lejonklou and the design science that goes into it is less than accessible than it might be.  Lejonklou put a lot of effort into the design, focussing primarily on sound quality, encompassing all aspects right down to the torque settings for the outer sleeve (you're not supposted to change these, hence there's not much information about what goes inside the box).  The KCT has also evolved over time, the biggest change of note being the Dynamik power supply and a new main board layout - but it is an old design now - based on Chakra circuitry, its a bit like an Linn Akurate amp on steroids.

Previously...

Given that the KCT is based on Akurate design, I need to put some cards on the table - I don't like the current Akurate amps - to me they sound like hifi.  I've had Akurate in my system and went back to Majik as, although Majik amps don't extract as much information from the signal, they do, to me, sound more musical.  To use Linn's terminology, the Majik amps Tune-dem better, at least to me.  And when you can't afford Klimax amps, then its Majik or something non-Linn.  Talking of which, I've heard only one Lejonklou product to date - the original Tundra Stereo (it wasn't called Stereo then, as there wasn't a Mono version) in a system with Linn KDS/0 Renew and Linn Katans (note, no pre-amp in that system).  You can see my notes on that here: http://audiophilemusings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/toms-system-linn-klimax-lejonklu-tundra.html   As you will see, it worked well within the limits of physically small speakers, I did appreciate the imaging (a Katan strength) and subtle finess within the music.  Lejonklou doesn't use Tune-dem to evaluate their products, they use Tune-method - subtle eh?

Also in the "previously..." category is the KDS/1 which is the streamer I use in the main system at home.  To date, its the best digital source I've heard, that's why its in the system.  Recently, it was superceded by (imaginatively), the KDS/2 which has a new clock and revised circuit layouts, in addition to Linn's Exakt outputs.  With the launch of KDS/2 (streamer) and the sister KDSM/1 (streamer and pre-amp), Linn also stopped producing analogue pre-amps - they say the Digital Volume Control (DVC) now outperforms the analogue volume control in their previous top-or-the-range pre-amp, the Klimax Kontrol/1/D (also in my system).  This has caused some controversy on the forums (forums like that, don't they?) too, with some pro- (they're the quiet ones, if they exist) and some anti- (they're the vociferous ones) the DVC.  So, is set, the background to the evening's listening.

I suppose that I also ought to say at this point that I'm not a fan of the Linn Klimax 350 speakers - I've yet to really enjoy them either passive (with their active servo bass system of course), internally active nor Exakt internally active.  I find their bass challenging - its deep enough and there's plenty of it, it just sounds a bit detached from the rest of the music, somehow.

Expectation bias - yep, I guess we all suffer from that, in my case, this time, I was expecting it to be very difficult to choose between the amps.  This is based on reviews on forums that claim the Tundra is close to Linn's Klimax Solos, never mind the Klimax Twin.  I was prepared for having to pick out small nuances and to have to think about the character of the sound rather than the musicality or detail presented.

Bistro

I met Whizz in a bistro.  Very nice it was too - decent  food and a glass of wine.  We headed off to Whizz HQ and settled down with a cuppa, looking at the following, very simple looking, system:

Linn KDS/2 (DVC in use)

Linn Silver Interconnect

Lejonklou Tundra Stereo 2

Linn K200 speaker cable

Linn Klimax 350 passive speakers in Cherry with black arrays

Quadraspire Evo rack

No fancy mains treatment, room treatment nor cable lifters in sight...

Most of the music we used came from Tidal (a few tracks from the local laptop) and included Malia, Eagle Eye Cherry, Deadmau5, Ficci, Felix Laband and Tina Doci.  Control was via a laptop running Kinsky (for ease of use) and Kazoo (for access to Tidal).  The KDS/2 was using SPACE room optimization, set up by Whizz when using the KCT power amp.

DVC

Let's get this one out of the way to start with, but first a qualifier.  This is the first KDS/2 I've heard, I've not yet compared it to the KDS/1 back to back in the same system, nor have I had the chance to compare one using the DVC versus feeding it through the analogue volume control of a KK/1 - that's the subject of a near future post.  We used volume levels of between 58 and 62 (for the Linn power amp) and between 66 and 72 (for the Tundra, which has 8dB less gain than the Linn).  So we didn't try the DVC at lower listening levels.

  

Across both the Tundra and Klimax power amps, I can't say that I heard anything that made me think there was any problem at all with the DVC.  With the Klimax amp, there was occasionally an "edge" to the lead of some instruments and voices, but that could be the KDS/2 or the Klimax Twin amp, as I've not heard either of these in their current configs.  Interesting that the Tundra didn't reveal these edges, so maybe it was the amp...  Anyway, at these volume levels, there wasn't even a hint of the "horrendous" nor the "unlistenable" comments I've read elsewhere.

Sweden

So kicking off with the Tundra Stereo 2 - an unassuming little black box - this one being just a few weeks old and only with about 10 hours use.  It was warmed up though, having been switched on and used a couple of hours earlier.  And what a polite little box it is.  Goes plenty loud enough, at least for me, but its really rather soft in its presentation - almost valve-like (and that's not really a complement from me, but I know many will like this kind of presentation).  The top-end doesn't sparkle, the imaging is flat and rather narrow but vocals (particularly female vocals) are sweet and clear.  Not sure why Tori Amos sounded about as wide as the window between the speakers though.  

What of the bass?  Well, it was difficult for me to tell as the 350s were sounding very different when driven with this amp - the usual slightly detached bass issue was not very easy to distinguish because it was all rather loose.  Bass notes started OK, but they don't stop too well.  Its not boomy as such, it just kind of happens then takes its time to stop again. Deadmau5 didn't have me tapping my foot or wanting to dance, which is an usual experience - even on my much more modest Majik amp and speakers, the track we used drives hard and always gets me foot tapping or jigging in the seat (so to speak).  Another favourite is Blues Company's Dark Day - a track full of sparkling cymbals, triangles and snappy rimshots, along with some extremely deep electronic drum effects.  Whilst the vocals were good and the track flowed along, the cymbals, which should be distinct, clear, individually identifiable in space and shimmering as they are struck and fade away, well, they're just underwhelming and ill-defined - some of them being very indistinct.  The electronic bass drums impacted well, but then kind of flapped about a bit - it really had me wondering if developing a power amp through the little Linn Majik 109 standmounts makes sense, or are the 350s just too demanding?  Maybe Lejonklou used other speakers too, but I understand the 109 was the most frequently used in development.  

It was all OK, but we tended to talk over the music, or move onto the next track before the existing one was finished.  I've never heard the Klimax 350 powered by anything less than its internal amps or external Klimax amps before, so I have no idea how they sound when powered with something less exotic and more affordable.  So maybe this is how a £2.5k power amp sounds with these speakers, I just don't know.  And maybe something more expensive doesn't do a better job either?

Scotland

After about 50 minutes of Sweden, we moved onto Scottish power.  The KCT had been switched off for about 3 weeks, so was going to be fired up and used from cold.  Swap over only took a few minutes and the music was up and running pretty quickly - Whizz had the amps back to front on the rack to provide quick access to the connections.  And whoa!  Even from completely cold this amp was a revelation in comparison to the previous hour or so of listening.  The 350 bass timing "characteristics" were back, because now the amp was gripping these speakers much much better - you could hear bass notes starting and stopping.  And the room got bigger - not the actual room, but the room in which music was recorded - Fink were in a proper venue, not the front room.  Tori Amos's voice is now a much more sensible size - and absolutely locked to the centre.  

And detail - there's more coming through from the recording, instruments that were indistinct or not even noticable with the TST are much more obvious and finely etched.  We play Dark Day again, and we listen to the whole track in silence to the end - captivated by what we were hearing.  There is a down side - there is now, an occasional "edge" to some instruments and vocals - but get this into perspective - its a tiny criticism compared with the Tundra's compromises.  As the KCT warmed up, within 20 minutes it was doing a great job.  Tight rhythms, deep bass, clear space between instruments, the atmosphere of the venue much more obvious, sparkly cymbals.  Foot tapping?  Yep, its back - good.  Perhaps this is the best I've heard the 350p, but I can't get away from that slightly weird bass timing issue.

 

Conclusion

DVC - still more investigation to do, but no obvious issues at all tonight, unless its that edginess heard through the KCT, but not through the Lejonklou.  If it is down to the DVC, its a fairly minor issue - not enough to want to listen to something different.

Tundra vs KCT - this was not what I was expecting at all.  Soft, loose and a bit vague, the Tundra was out of its depth here.  Would still like to hear it with other, lets say, more conventional - less challenging, speakers - I'm almost sure that the 350s are not its ideal partner.  No doubt there will be some who say that it needs 6 weeks to be at its best or similar - if that's the case, then they need to play for whatever length of time is required for them to work properly before they leave for their owners. Maybe the Tundra was disadvantaged by the SPACE settings being set up with the KCT - another reason to try to find the opportunity to listen again under different circumstances. I was expecting a difficult choice - to need to swap back and forth between amps to try and fathom subtle differences in presentation or character.  Nope, in this system, in this room, this was an easy, no-contest win for the KCT in my opinion. 

What about the cost - the Tundra is very much cheaper than the KCT. And that's a very important point here, and why I would like to hear the comparison again with more normal speakers - maybe my Majik 140s, maybe some PMC Twenty.26s, or Kudos Super 20s would be a fairer load for it to deal with.  But as a giant killer against the KCT?  No, its just not close on this evidence in this system.  A secondhand KCT would be a better way to go, for me at least.

Thanks to Whizz for his hospitality and the opportunity to listen to this kit, a good way to spend an evening.

A View From The Top?

Where is the top?  Well, if I climb Moel Famau a few miles from home I'm pretty sure I know when I've got to the top of that particular hill.  It has a small pseudo castle on top and the views from there across the Clwydian hills are either spectacular, or invisible, depending up on the weather.

Moel Famau (photo courtesy of www.visitclwydianrange.co.uk)

 
But, in audio terms, where exactly is the top?

You'll know that my system is heavily Linn, and until Q4 last year (2013), the top in Linn terms would've been Klimax DS/1, Klimax Kontrol/2, Klimax Tunebox crossovers, 8 Klimax Solo mono power amps and Klimax 350p speakers.  That lot adds up to about £93k, give or take.  Add cables and that gets you to about £95k.  You'd think that'd be pretty near the top wouldn't you.  But rather like those hill walks you go on that have a number of false summits, there's still a whole bunch more money you could spend on audio gear, should you have the means and the inclination.  By way of example, on 7 January 2014 at CES in the US, Naim Audio launched a new pre-amp and 2 x mono-block powers amps.  This "Statement" amp is listed at $120k.  So it would be fairly easy (on a price list browsing basis, not on an affordability basis) to build a system in excess of £300k.  Yet another (probably false) summit. Probably.

Now Linn introduces the Klimax Exakt DS and 350 speaker combination for £50k.  But Exakt can be had as a Tunebox too, feeding Solo power amps into 350 speakers, or the older Komri speaker, or the even older Keltik speaker.  With more options to come soon. Exakt, Solos and 350p are probably in the region of £90k too.

Which brings me to the subject of this review.  Sort of.  Because regardless of Exakt, or not, I don't consider the Klimax 350 speaker (in passive or active form), Linn's current top of the price list speaker as either their most musical current speaker (that's the Akubarik) nor their finest achievement to date.  For me, their finest achievement to date goes to the long discontinued Komri.  Last seen at £32k list price, they were superseded by the 350 around 5 or 6 years ago.  I've heard them a couple of times before.  The most recent was on one of my earliest visits to the House of Linn when they were being driven by a top of the line LP12 and the original Klimax DS with 4 Klimax Twin stereo power amps.

Linn Komri.  On the rear there are 4 pairs of speaker cable connections for super tweeter / tweeter / mid and upper bass. Alongside is the XLR low level connection to feed the onboard power amps for the bass drivers.  Top half of the back panel are the heatsinks for the bass power amps.  Photo from blog.daum.net

I've never heard a pair of Linn Klimax 350 speakers come close to the enjoyment provided by that system including the Komris.  Even Exakt 350s.

But then an invitation arrived, a bit out of the blue, on the Linn forum.  I'd been in touch with Pablo before, as I knew he lived only 15 miles or so from home and that he had a pretty good Linn system.  We'd agreed to meet up sometime, but never really got around to it.  But then this latest communication said that Pablo was expecting his Klimax Exakt DSM and Komri Exakt Tuneboxes to arrive just before Christmas, and would I like to go for a listen?  That's not really a tough one to answer and we soon sorted out a time, slotting into the holiday period between Christmas and New Year.  The time also worked for another forum member "To Be A Rock And Not A Roll" (referred to as Rock from here onwards) so we were set for a small forum get together o give these Exakt Komris a listen.

After a bit of a challenge finding Pablo's lair (its hidden down a side road in what used to be the neighbour's back garden), we settled in with a cuppa to some tracks.  Rock already had some Pink Floyd playing, but it wasn't one of my favourite albums and tends to the harsh.  Pablo went to load up some tracks I'd brought with me and we got going.  The first thing I noticed, and we discussed, is just how tidy Pablo's system is - all you can see is the Komris - there are no electronics in the room.  There are wide pipes buried into the walls through which the 2 x K400 speaker cables and 1 x Linn Silver balanced interconnects per speaker disappear.  These are connected to the 8 x Klimax Solo/Dynamik mono power amps and Exakt Komri Tuneboxes up in the loft space and in turn the Tuneboxes are connected by Exakt Links down to the Klimax Exakt DS in the dining room, just behind the wall where the speakers are located.  This is all super neat, but I can't help thinking that personally, I'd really like to see all that beautifully crafted Klimax hardware out in the open, something a bit like this:

Klimax Electronics.  Photo from www.linn-prestige.ru

As it is, this is what you see in Pablo's listening room, just the cherry veneered Komris:

So how does all this lot sound?  Well, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the top of the hill for an all-Linn system.  The 350 Exakt is just not in the same league as the Komris.  Apparently production was stopped due to some difficult to source parts.  That's a shame because they really are a big step up from the 350 - there is no doubt about what they're doing with the music - no hint of that strangely disconnected bass in the 350.  The first thing that struck me was the masses of detail in the upper ranges - but this has no hint whatsoever of being "in your face" or at all aggressive - its sweet, smooth and sparkly, all at the same time.  What's more, it doesn't seem to originate from the speakers at all - instruments hanging in space, rock steady in location, regardless of what else comes along in the music.  Vocals are outstanding too - there's so much expression, nuance and feeling in what we're hearing and this system doesn't favour male over female or vice-versa, its all there in spades.

What about the weight and dynamics?  Well, whatever you want is there without being overwhelming.  I find it very difficult to describe very weightly, deep deep deep and super solid in nature but not hung over, no boom etc.  Its an amazing mix of capabilities.  So often I read about oodles of boominess and swamping bass or hear it in some systems, but this is completely different to that.  Its hard to comprehend that so much complexity and so many rhythms are hidden in those bass lines from the likes of Yello and Trentemoller.  But here they all are - and fully part of the complete make-up and flow of the music.  How to describe instruments that stand so clearly apart and distinct yet they're so much part of the emotional presentation of a tune?  I don't know, but here it all happens.

We chat for a while then play some more tunes.  Rock and I are constantly smiling, shaking heads and tapping our feet.  We're both wrapped up in the music and we're both late to leave as its so difficult to drag ourselves away from what this system is doing.  We try and describe what we're hearing but (as you'll see above) its really difficult to describe.  We eventually settle on a feeling (note that its a feeling, not a technical description) of completely effortless presentation of music, flow and emotion.  Stunningly effortless.

There, that's the verdict.  I'm not sure here if we're at the top of the hifi hill - perhaps Pablo's system is another of those false summits, but there's no doubt that this is my new reference.  When I think back to some of the frankly music-free and un-enjoyable high-end systems I've heard at hifi shows that cost as much and more than this system (including a pair of speakers alone that cost 50% more than this complete system and were incapable of carrying any musical emotion), its great to know that there is something truly high end that can really play music.  Komri's aren't for me - they need a bigger room in which to work, but if I had that kind of cash and a room to put them in, they'd be worth seeking out.  And great that Linn continues to support its customers who have made such an investment in their products - offering their latest Exakt system approach to work with these out of production speakers.

So there we have it.  Great to meet Rock and many thanks to Pablo for his hospitality.  We've been invited back - there's no doubt that's an invitation I'll be keen to follow up.

Marvellous.

How Good Can It Be?

I've now had my current system config for about 12 months, and we seem to be getting on well together.  I feel as though the upgraditis of the previous 18 months was worth all the box shuffling and uncertaintity has paid off.  In that time I've also made a few friends along the way through the forums, at House of Linn and with some local audiophiliacs.  Good stuff.  Music has not been so addictive before and I truly relish and look forward to the few hours I can find each week to sit down and get immersed into the music and play "just one more track".

So, lots of self-contratulations there - perhaps I should get into the theatre and the award ceremony merry-go-round.  Perhaps not.

So this means all is good and no further upgrades are required, right?  Yes.  For now.  But I work in a strategy role, and that occasionally kind of spills over into non-work time.  Plus, any significant changes are going to take equally significant chunks of cash.  So a plan needs to be worked on so next steps can be planned out and funds saved over time.  If you don't know where you're going its difficult to know which way to go, how long its going to take to get there: you might end up in the wrong place and get lost along the way.

Way back, when I'd decided that the Marantz CD40 wasn't the best CD player out there (this kind of decision is usually linked to availability of cash), I could've taken a number of steps over time and worked my way up the CD player hierarchy.  But I chose not too - deciding to save over a period of time and go straight to where I thought I wanted to get to - the Meridian 508.  Perhaps that also saved some cash due to less depreciation steps along the way. And maybe that's what I should think about now.  Indeed, the 508.20 worked well for me and actually did end up being my last serious CD player, so the wait was worthwhile and I didn't hear anything in the 10 years it was in my system that convinced me there was a need to move on.  Plus, it sold for a reasonable price and, along with letting the LP12 go to a new home, gave me the opportunity to go into streaming at a reasonable high level of quality.

So does that mean it'll be straight to the top with Klimax DS, Klimax Kontrol, lots of Klimax Solos and a pair of 350s in active config then?  Errr, no, not really.  The end game doesn't need to be the ultimate possible, but a balance of what's best within a budget and a time frame.  If you aim too high, there's a very real possibility that you'll never get there.  And I've heard the 350s, and I don't think they're as good as the Komris they replaced.  Timing can also allow for the secondhand market and when the products currently available might reach a more acceptable price point.

So there's the usual bit of pre-amble and positioning stuff out of the way, now lets get down to the content of this post.  And its more on the Akubariks.

House of Linn ran an Akubarik open couple of days recently, so having booked into an evening session, I took local Roksan owning neighbour Chris along to listen and get a second opinion.  In typical HoL style we were welcomed with cups of tea / coffee, a bit of a chat and introduction to Chris before moving into the front listening room where we found a pair of Oak active Akubariks, Klimax DS/1 and Klimax Kontrol all hooked up and ready to go, powered by PS Audio mains regenerators.  HoL know that the LP12 doesn't interest me these days, so vinyl was off the menu.  We loaded up my list of demo tracks (see here for clues) and got stuck into listening to some music.  The demo tracks are chosen for the following reasons, in order of priority: emotionally involving; excellent songwriting and/or musicianship; excellent recording quality; something that would test at least one aspect of what a system can do, such as bass depth, slam, delicacy of the treble, female vocals, imaging etc. etc.

If you've read the post below, you'll know that I found it difficult to concentrate on the sound being produced last time I heard the Akubariks - as hard as I was trying, I kept getting distracted by the music and forgot about the sound quality.  Well, as we were using music I'm very familiar with this time, perhaps it was a touch easier to focus on the system, yet still I struggled to find a flavour, or character for this system.  For sure, the bass goes deep - deeper than the Majik 140s - but there's something there that just doesn't happen with the 140s, Majik Isos, 242s, 350p, 350a and many other non-Linn speakers such as those from Wilson Benesch, Kudos, Vienna Acoustics and many others on which I've listened to the same tracks.  And that's the tune.  There is so much more tune going on in the bass that I've not heard on any other system before.  I know some systems can differentiate bass notes better than others, and can remove some of apparent monotonic bass lines presented by other systems (such as moving from Linn Keilidhs to Majik 140), but this combination of components really plays a tune in the bass - its quite a remarkable revelation and one I encourage you to seek out.  I found myself wrapped up in following this aspect of the music - to the point where I was smiling involuntarily at the revelation.  Marvellous.

Elsewhere, the 3K array seems to integrate very well with the lower mid-range driver - in other Linn designs with the 3K array it's often discernable where this unit finishes and the lower frequency drivers take over - if there is a problem with that in the Akubarik, I need better ears to detect it.  There's been a change to the phasing of the crossovers for the 3K array itsself and, as noted in the earlier report below, this seems to have driven out a step change in the ability of a Linn speaker to image properly.  L to R, front to back and up & down, this system images extremely well - little to no vagueness, realistic instrument sizing (where the recording allows of course) and rock solid in the soundstage (but see the next posting above about other observations on this particular aspect).  I expect that the tuning of the crossover to match the actual drive units installed in each speaker (to the point that the crossovers in a pair of speakers may be very slightly different between left and right speakers) to eliminate any differences that manufacturing tolerances may have introduced could well be a contributor to this new found imaging performance.  The other characteristics of the array remain intact - such as the very clear highest frequencies with no edginess - good news.

And that's about all I can say about this system (I know this is primarily about the active Akubariks as they are the new bit here, but they can't perform unless they're given a good signal).  Acoustic music, bass heavy electronica, happy dance music, female vocals covering depressing scenarios, all came across with heaps of emotion, extensive detail, rock solid imaging and lots and lots of tune laden attitude.

You might've detected that I'm a fan.  I've heard systems that can do that last nth level of deeper bass, I've heard those that can perhaps slam a touch harder, I've heard systems that cost twice as much and were abysmal and I've heard Linn's current top of the range speaker system.  All of them have compromises that tend to outweigh the benefits of that little thing they do just that little bit better. You can read about many of those experiences elsewhere in the blog, but for me, this is the most tuneful, enjoyable, uncompromised system I've heard to date.

I think I see some clarity of direction emerging.

Thanks to B & T at HoL for hosting and Chris for looking a bit gobsmacked (by the music and the list prices!).

Akurately Kontrolled Klimax

One of the best sounding systems I've heard over the years was a Linn LP12 with Naim electronics (135 mono power amps in particular) driving active Linn Isobarik speakers.  It must have been 25 years ago, but I still remember being stunned by the musicality of it all - although coloured in a charismatic way, the uneven tonal balance of the system became irrelevant because it just allowed the music to flow.

So what?  Why am I recounting a 25 year old experience from a time when telephones had just become pretty much standard in our houses (not in our hands) and the nearest you got to an audio blog was the letters page of the monthly HiFi Answers magazine?  Because an experience listening to a fellow Linn Forum member's system earlier this week had some distinct parallels.  Number one - it was Linn's top of the current range (like the Isobarik was all those years ago) 350 loudspeaker.  Number two - both were in rooms that, at first glance, seemed unfeasibly small for such large speakers.  25 years ago I was in a room that was about 12ft x 10ft with the speakers on the longer wall, hence they were about 7ft in front of me.  Earlier this week it wasn't quite so extreme, but it did bring the 'bariks in a corrugated iron shack on the top of a moor in Kent to mind again.

After a number of interchanges on the Linn Forum, I met one of the forum members (let's call him Andrew) at the recent Scalford Hifi Show where he visited our room a couple of times to both enjoy the system, but also to provide him with a "Linn sound" reference point against which to baseline the other systems at the show.  He made some very complementary comments about my system too, which was much appreciated.  As it happens, through a number of coincidences of location and timing, I was in the right part of the South East of England earlier this week when Andrew had a free evening, so a listening session was set up.  As a consequence, Andrew has kindly agreed to let me write a few words about the evening and my thoughts on his system.  A brave man.

So let's start with a few pictures plagerised from the Linn Forum (note that the system now has a Pioneer Blu-ray on the top shelf and the Akurate DS has been replaced by a Renew DS since these pictures were taken).  The centre speaker really is THAT big and really is THAT close to where you sit.  In the middle picture in the bottom left hand corner you can seen the main listening seat - a reasonable distance from the main stereo speakers, but the centre speaker kind of dominates the room and is very much "in your face".  Also changed since these pictures is that the centre speaker is fitted with a full frontal black grille now, which does tone down the effect a little - at least it doesn't feel like you're being stared at by this speaker.  I have to say though, hats off to Andrew for not letting anything as trivial as room size from stopping him having the system he really wanted:

And a kit list:

Linn Klimax Renew DS streamer
Linn Akurate Kontrol/0/D pre-pro
Linn Klimax Twin (non D) to drive the 3K array in the 350p speakers
Linn 350p main speakers (in-built Akurate amps for the bass drivers)
Linn 340a active centre speaker (in-built Akurate amps)
Linn 345 active subwoofer
Linn Majik 2100 amp for rear speakers
Linn Akurate 212 rear speakers
Hutter rack
Linn K20 speaker cables
Linn Silver interconnects


Let's not talk too much about prices here, as that would be tasteless at this level.  However, Andrew was wise enough to find many of his speakers just as Linn were ending the Maple finish, so end of line pricing helped put this system into this room, which is a great result.

Andrew is a big advocate of the opening sequence from Quantum of Solace, so that was my first experience of this system.  I guess its probably also worth mentioning that I'm going to describe what I heard relative to my own Akurate / Majik active system at home, although I will try and describe what I heard in absolute terms where I can.  I know its a bit of a cliche now, but I think I understand the origins of the term "shock and awe" now.  My own system can go pretty loud, but once passed about 65 on the volume control with music (which is pretty loud already) you can start to tell that its working hard - normal serious listening is usually between 55 and 60 volume levels.  Andrew's system is still cruising at volume levels of 71-75.  It's just astonishing how loud it goes, yet somehow you're no more aware of the system working hard than you are at more sane volume levels.  Even at these volumes, there is absolutely no sense of strain, distortion or any other nasties.  I've also heard, but never experienced, "trouser flapping bass" before.  Now I have - the lower fronts of my chinos were literally flapping in the bass - astonishing. Good job the house is well built.  How you can get such steering, impact and power in such a small room without it sounding OTT is beyond me, but Andrew's system manages it with ease.  And you know what?  That centre speaker works really well - you don't notice it's existence in the soundfield that envelopes you - whilst it's visually right there, in terms of sound, all the speakers disappear - you're just not aware of them as point sources.  We watched the last song from a live Shakira concert too - the welly available in this system made for a very realistic concert experience - that thumping you get from a PA system, but without the grittiness that you get higher up the frequency.  Made Shakira's music enjoyable, which is not something I'd normally say.

After recovering from the introduction, we turned the volume down somewhat and started listening to some music - the system defaulting to the 350s for L and R and the 345 sub for music.  We used Yello (The Race, Otto Di Catania from Flag), Kiki Dee (Don't Go Breaking My Heart from Almost Naked), Fleetwood Mac (Go Your Own Way from Rumours 24/96) and a couple of other tracks that slip my mind.  During these tracks we briefly listened to just the stereo speakers, taking the sub out of the equation.  First of all lets get the musicality out of the way - this system delivers.  Toe tapping is impossible to avoid, be it on music or music videos.  In more "hifi" terms then clarity and effortlessness are probably reasonably good descriptions.  Oh, and I'm not sure what the techie term is, but the system's ability to do starting and stopping is stunning.  I think my own system is good at this, but the separation of instruments and understanding when they start and stop is in a different league altogether (but you can, of course, have my entire system for the price of the 350 speakers), and I'm pretty sure that its this aspect that makes the system so tuneful and easy to toe-tap along to.  I can't really emphasise enough how easy this system is to listen to - not in the sense that its inoffensive or easy going, but that attacking cymbals attack but don't mug you, bass slams but doesn't wallow (when not using the subwoofer - goes deeper still with the subwoofer, but becomes a little too dominant for my taste) and voices are as natural as you could hope for.  We listened to a Seal track from a HDTracks 24bit download (it may have been "Prayer For The Dying") in which the singer's voice had real three dimensional character and texture, in addition to being rock solid centre in the soundstage.

The only real criticism I would have is probably more down to Andrew's set up of the system than the system itsself.  I really enjoyed the system for music without the subwoofer and feel that the sub becomes too dominant at times, detracting from the rest of the mix.  It's great for movies, I think dialling it out altogether or experimenting with turning down its influence on the music side would bring some benefits.  To be fair, Andrew did mention this and I'd encourage him to experiment a bit more with that.  Along with the 350's occasionally slightly "detached" sounding bass.

Then Andrew's mate turned up - he's much more into the movies side of things with his own system, so we put my copy of Yello's Touch Virtual Concert DVD into the Pioneer's drive to give it a quick whirl.  With the sofa kicked back into lounger mode, we just let the whole DVD play through - transfixed by the visuals and the music.  Brilliant - there was a bit of stunned silence as the film came to an end, then Andrew's mate immediately got online and ordered 2 copies of the disc - one each for the locals.  One thing that has given me food for thought for quite some time is the lack of a pre-pro in Linn's current line-up.  On this evidence, it seems that the Akurate Kontrol/0/D is quite capable of holding its own in a Klimax sandwich.  Good, because I just don't have the cash or the room to have separate stereo and cinema systems - it seems that the AK is well up to much further upgrading of the system around it.

So my thanks go to Andrew for his hospitality and friendly welcome (and also thanks to Andrew's wife and daughter for letting us play!).  It was a most enjoyable evening.  I hope Andrew will be up in my neck of the woods sometime so he can call in to hear my system in its natural habitat where it sounds a bit better than it did at Scalford.

Now, how long will it take for 350 speakers to get down to about £3k???