LINN Upgrade Their Flagship 360 Loudspeaker - World First Demo

Linn's 360 speaker was introduced in 2023, heralded as their best ever speaker product. It was certainly a huge step in the right direction after the somewhat long in the tooth 350. It features some interesting technology, particularly in the fully active version - such as Organik DAC / power amp modules with adaptive bias amplifiers, Exakt phase correction / time alignment and the cabinet that features no flat panels - improving dispersion and imaging.

Within about 6 months of its introduction Linn quietly dropped the beryllium tweeter in favour of a less toxic material - other than that little has changed in the 3 years since.

However, today, Linn launched an upgraded version with new upper bass and bass drivers - Audiophile Musings was invited along to the product launch at House of Linn in Manchester for the first ever demonstration of the product outside the Linn factory. 

Those of you who know a little about the 360 will also notice another change - the availability of a full cabinet walnut veneer - a no cost option alongside the existing paint finishes.

Talking of cost - this new version has upped the list price of the fully integrated active version from £87.5k to £99.5k.  The passive with active bass version sees a similar uplift of around £12k.  Existing owners can upgrade for £16k but if you bought within the last 6 months the upgrade is the same as the uplift in the list price - £12k.

Linn's ambassador Paul was on hand to explain the differences in the drivers between the original version of the 360 and this latest iteration.  In brief:

- the original used "off the shelf modified" drivers from a well-known driver provider

- the new version uses all-new Linn designed drivers built exclusively for them

- these are the first ever "designed from scratch" Linn drivers

- they're dubbed Pistonik - the design features in the upper bass and bass drivers

- they feature a large motor structure, an aluminium cone which is almost flat, a double layer suspension system and enormous linear (front to back) excursion

- they are claimed to reduce distortion

- are said to be designed to suit the 360 cabinet

More information and pictures on Linn's website here: https://www.linn.co.uk/uk/speakers/upgrades/linn-drive-units

DEMO

Audiophile Musings was invited to the first ever demo of these upgraded speakers outside the Linn factory.  Thanks to Brian and Trevor at House of Linn for hosting the session.

The system tonight:

Turntable: Linn LP12 with Bedrock plinth, Keel SE subchassis, Ekos SE arm, Ekstatic cartridge, Urika II phono stage

Streamer / Pre-amp: Linn Klimax DSM/3 with Utopik PSU

Loudspeakers: fully integrated Exakt active original 360 with Utopik PSU and fully integrated Exakt active upgraded 360 with Utopik PSU

We started with a couple of tracks from Qobuz - which included some electronic, jazz and female vocals.  As ever with the 360, I get a feeling of clarity and technical accomplishment, but not so much feeling nor emotion from the music.  Good to get familar with the product again.

"This Is What You Are" by Mario Biondi And The High Five Quintet

"I Can't Stand the Rain" by Beverley Knight

"End of the Road" by Infected Mushroom

We then had a 10-15 minute break whist the team swapped over the 360s to the upgraded version.  When going back into the dem room there was a 3 or 4 minute video explaining the driver upgrades and the technology within them - some nice graphics etc.

Then we went back to the same tracks and the difference in the bass was immediate and obvious - the new drivers clearly exposed the old drivers as somewhat woolly and vague (in absolute terms) -  not just in terms of articulating the sounds of the instruments, but more obviously in the clarity of when the note(s) start and when they stop.  This was not a subtle upgrade, but something quite clearly worthwhile.  The solidity and punch on the Infected Mushroom track was a particularly good way to bring out the capabilities of the new drivers.  There's also more texture and detail in the bass lines, more insight is perhaps a good way to describe this.

A few more tracks were selected by Linn including some on the LP12:

"What I Am (Album Version)" by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

"You Look Good To Me" by Oscar Peterson (on the LP12)

"Satisfied Mind" by Mavis Staples

"Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93: II. Allegro" by Philharmonia Orchestra - The Simon Rattle Album (on the LP12)

"Secret Heart (Album Version)" by Ron Sexsmith

"Penpals" by The Stan Tracey Quartet

"Who'll Stop The Rain (John's Version)" by John Fogerty

Then the track choice was handed over to the attendees at which point we enjoyed the following:

"Kiss the Sky" by Tash Sultana

"Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer

"Yamore (feat. Cesaria Evora, Benja (NL)" by Moblack and Salif Keita

"A Plea" by Flea

"Counting (Remastered)" by The Motels

"And They All Came Marching Out of the Woods" by Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan & Jon Christensen

"Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor: I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenen Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt" Sir John Barbirolli

All of the above cemented the initial impressions - great tightly controlled bass (possibly one of the bess bass performances of any system I've heard) and that extremely clear but unemotional overall presentation.  If you have 360 and the wherewithal to have the upgrade, its pretty obvious that its something worth considering.  If you have mostly liked the 360 but you felt the bass could be tighter, punchier, more revealing or all 3, now's the time to go take another listen.  It will be interesting to see if Pistonik (3 years in the making) will filter down to the by-now-inevitable 2nn series speakers from Linn - that's the gap that needs plugging as soon as possible.

Building a Nindex Speaker - Part 1 The Idea

At AudiophileMusings there is an almost constant turnover of speakers passing through the place. Sometimes for review, sometimes to consider retro products to find out if they're as good now as they were then, but often due to designing Exakt digital filters for them as part of SpeakerFilters activities.

There's a fair amount of cannibalisation going on too. Pick up some tatty but working speakers, a pair of equivalent, immaculate, but not working speakers and create an immaculate working pair, to keep them going - upcycling perhaps? So sometimes that produces empty but OK cabinets, spare drivers etc.  Usually these are sold as spares, but sometimes a daft idea comes along and a project is born. One of those has been in the making for over 2 years so far...but that one is for another day, month or even year!

This one, however, has been particularly speedy in comparison, with a gestation period of just over 12 months.  There's always something else to listen to, a show to go to, another Exakt design commission to enjoy to delay progress.

Over 3 parts I'll take you through the timeline of this, my first ever completed speaker build and the results.  There's the back of a fag packet involved, some kinda cheating (my woodworking skills are atrocious), the application of some ideas I've had for a while and some drivers that are familiar to many but very familiar to me.  I've chucked some ideas at this that I've not really understood why they're not used more extensively, until I tried to achieve them, and there's some very traditional elements too. And some bodging along the way - so don't expect this to be ultra precise, nor particularly pretty.

Starting Point

A need for some drivers to fix a pair of Linn speakers lead to the purchase of a pair of Linn Index II speakers that were extremely good value for money - being in decent condition and fully working. The mid-bass drivers went to the repair job and the tweeters and crossovers went off to a new home, leaving me with a pair of Kustone stands and a pair of empty Index II cabinets.  Given the relatively low quality of the cabinets themselves - chipboard shells, mdf baffle, vinyl wrap and essentially nothing more, they languished in the corner for a while, under threat of a trip to the local recycling centre.  A different project had left me with some Linn Ninka (040/2) mid-bass drivers in stock too and it seemed a shame not to bring the two together to see if something could be created.

Linn Index II as Standard (library picture)

Tweeter Pair Went To A New Home

Driver Selection

The Index II is around 20 litres in internal volume.  The Ninka, which has 2x mid-bass drivers, is around 40 litres in internal volume. So the availability of a single Ninka driver, with some kind of back of a fag packet logic, in half the volume of the pair of drivers, seemed as though it might just work. Not a sophisticated way of making a decision, but this is a pretty low budget build, so not exactly a lot at risk.

Also sitting around in stock are a pair of Linn 3K arrays - initially I thought about putting these in the mix, but laying the drivers out on cardboard roughly the size of the baffle showed up a couple of things - there wasn't really space, and the traditional way of a 3K overlapping an upper bass or bass driver just isn't possible with the Ninka driver. I was trying to convince myself that the 3K would work, so an extra 4 binding post holes were drilled in the back of each cabinet, but no worries, even though eventually only an extra 2 were required. The obvious thing would be to go with Ninka tweeters - the 038/2 Linn unit is sweet enough, but it didn't seem very adventurous.

So something else would need to be found. Shortly afterwards I saw a post on a forum somewhere about a 2 dome driver array - mid and tweeter - that was extremely good value for money, and remember hearing them in a pair of large floor standing speakers at the Cranage Show a couple of years back.  I remember them being full of detail but without being harsh, edgy nor shouty. A bit of further research revealled that they're not that easy to find, but a pair was soon on its way from Germany to the UK. The HiVi Swan TM1-A is ridiculously good value for money - a couple of sophistcated looking drivers on a very solid all metal chassis.  They come with plenty of information too on their Thiel-Small parameters, recommended crossover points etc.  One thing that appealled was their independence from each other - although they're in the same chassis, they don't have any crossover, they're electrically independent.

Baffled

Back to the donor cabinets. Now the drivers are chosen, it was pretty obvious that the (pretty substantial) original mdf baffles are no longer of use.  But the Index II is essentially a sealed box, from a cabinet construction point of view - everything being glued together.  So onto the circular table saw they went and the baffle was sliced off, revealling the contruction of the cabinets, which includes a ring type stiffening element. The baffle is rebated and sits partially within the cabinet, partially proud. So the circular saw took away a few millimeters of the side and top panels too.

Cabinet with baffle still in place

Cabinets with baffles removed, the strengthening element clear to see

So this is the basis of the cheating in the project - no need to build the main cabinet element, which, with my very rudimentary woodworking skills, meant a much greater chance of success.  I'm going to play the upcycling card again too! More environmentally friendly this way.

Standard crossover removed and additional binding post holes drilled

 Also lying around in the garage were some pine scraps that were cut down to the correct size and the drivers were laid on to check alignment / positioning.  Plus, I needed to practice with the router - an implement that I've not wielded before, so something new to get to grips with.

Checking baffle for dimensions - this is the practice pinewood

First attempt with the router - radius corners around the baffle edges

Laying the drivers out on the baffle. The practice baffle was cut like this, but the final baffle brings the dome array and bass drivers closer together

So that's the starting point - in part 2 the build gets underway and some of the construction ideas are put into action

PART 2 OF 3 HERE
PART 3 OF 3 HERE