Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England

[infinitely baffled]

The anti-Linn demos were the ones that Wilson ran 15 years ago, using an IPod as source. Ostensibly to show it's: speakers >>...> source, re importance/heirarchy.

I still think the answer lies somewhere between. The front end needs to achieve a certain standard, but from then on it's mainly a case of scale, so bigger rooms require a bigger amp and speakers, and US rooms tend to be consuderably bigger than in the equivalent UK home.
So they're both rightA US system would require a larger share of the total on amp and speakers than you could get away with in the UK

 

[bonzo75]

This thread is seeing a lot more people now that it has moved from Zu to Linn

 

[Lagonda]

This thread is seeing a lot more people now that it has moved from Zu to Linn

Yes you Brits are a nostalgic bunch

 

[howiebrou]

Justin, while US musclemen audiophiles were eyeing up Technics SP10 tts, Krell behemoths and Apogee Scintillas in the 80s, us Brits were camping up at Grahams HiFi in N. London, and being vaccinated into the Linn And Naim Church Of Audio Bliss.

The source is everything, and the only source is the Linn Sondek (pre 1983), amps and spkrs less critical.

And in the days when Linn didn't run to amps and cdp's, the brands cross pollination of Linn and Naim led to some truly heavyweight systems.

Aspiring to an LP12, Ekos, Troika, Naim x4 or 6, and Isobarik- or DBL-actives was the source of much daydreaming during my A-Level exams classes.

Imagine the disgust when Naim launched their first cdp.

When i was at school in the UK in the 80's I used to dream about the LP12 and the new Valhalla power supply. Alas my budget was not even enough to dare to me to touch a cartridge during those days...

 

[XV-1]

Justin, while US musclemen audiophiles were eyeing up Technics SP10 tts, Krell behemoths and Apogee Scintillas in the 80s, us Brits were camping up at Grahams HiFi in N. London, and being vaccinated into the Linn And Naim Church Of Audio Bliss.

The source is everything, and the only source is the Linn Sondek (pre 1983), amps and spkrs less critical.

And in the days when Linn didn't run to amps and cdp's, the brands cross pollination of Linn and Naim led to some truly heavyweight systems.

Aspiring to an LP12, Ekos, Troika, Naim x 6, and Isobarik- or DBL-actives was the source of much daydreaming during my A-Level exams classes.

Imagine the disgust when Naim launched their first cdp.

replace Ekos with ARO tonearm. I used to own 135 x 4 / 52 active Naim SBL's - awesome system for a medium room and I also daydreamed about DBL's. Unfortunately we moved and the room was considerably larger and the SBL's started struggling.

 

[bonzo75]

The Linn Akubarik Exakt is still a very good musical system for someone who is not a gear shifting audiophile. It is very good plug and play for normal people who would like to pay

 

[spiritofmusic]

This thread is seeing a lot more people now that it has moved from Zu to Linn

Don't kill it again by relating your dozen visits to evaluate Linn.

 

[spiritofmusic]

replace Ekos with ARO tonearm. I used to own 135 x 4 / 52 active Naim SBL's - awesome system for a medium room and I also daydreamed about DBL's. Unfortunately we moved and the room was considerably larger and the SBL's started struggling.

XV, that was a very typical path in the early 90s. The DBL was a true aspirational product, and as someone still studying, £6k for the pair seemed a long way off.

 

[Zero000]

The only Linn product I ever owned was a pair of Linn Nexus. Martin Colloms gave them an average review but I quite liked them. Kept them a few years.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Yes you Brits are a nostalgic bunch

Yep. I often dream about the time before I discovered WBF...

 

[spiritofmusic]

The moment Linn broke the partnership to produce their own amps, a beautiful thing was gone. Now Naim and Linn swapped synergy for competition, but no Linn amp or early digital source could match Naim.

Additionally, Naim poisoned the water w Linn when they introduced the Aro unipivot tonearm.

LP12/Ekos or Aro/Troika, Naim 6-pack DBL active, Naim cdp, on Mana stands, Naim DIN cbls, in early 90s, was the epitome of this approach, £40k the damage 25 years ago.

 

[spiritofmusic]

The biggest thing to shatter the illusion of Linn supremacy in all things analog came along in early to mid 90s.

SME 20 and 30. At a stroke, the real daddy in vinyl spinners appeared. And Linn never regained the high ground.

 

[infinitely baffled]

For me it was The Rock.
First Cranfield, then Elite, finally Townshend. I bought mine direct from the designer, John Bugee.
With a name like that was destined to go into music production or repoduction

Mind boggling bass, absolutely top of the pile, with layers of imagery stacked above, superb dynamics and tonality. That would be my favouritest tt of all time, until i got my Artisan Fidelity 301, and in a totally different league as far as value for money. If i were building a budget system, I'd likely use a Rock as vinyl source, ideally with the exact same cartridge, Reson Rica, a heavily tweaked Goldring 1042 that just rocked, pumped, and slammed, while also shimmering, engaging snd delicately singing

They say Ivor was genuinely worried about the Rock


Aaah...nostalgia ain't what it used to be

 

[infinitely baffled]

Don't kill it again by relating your dozen visits to evaluate Linn.

Man you two crack me up. Like the bickering old couple of WBF

 

[spiritofmusic]

For me it was The Rock.
First Cranfield, then Elite, finally Townshend. I bought mine direct from the designer, John Bugee.
With a name like that was destined to go into music production or repoduction

Mind boggling bass, absolutely top of the pile, with layers of imagery stacked above, superb dynamics and tonality. That would be my favouritest tt of all time, until i got my Artisan Fidelity 301, and in a totally different league as far as value for money. If i were building a budget system, I'd likely use a Rock as vinyl source, ideally with the exact same cartridge, Reson Rica, a heavily tweaked Goldring 1042 that just rocked, pumped, and slammed, while also shimmering, engaging snd delicately singing

They say Ivor was genuinely worried about the Rock


Aaah...nostalgia ain't what it used to be

Quite possibly Gavin.
Am I right in thinking Max Townshend only took the idea, and added the legendary silicone fluid damping trough idea? The actual tt was already invented as a science project by John Bugee, Max bought him out and refined the design avec trough for the mass market?
---
True to my contrary nature, having been innoculated w the LP12 for 15 years, what did I end up doing when it came to buy my first high end tt?

Yes, I bought a...Roksan Xerxes X lol.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Man you two crack me up. Like the bickering old couple of WBF

Netflix series? Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas to play the leads?

 

[infinitely baffled]

Netflix series? Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas to play the leads?

More like the chuckle bothers

 

[spiritofmusic]

Just no chuckling
No lol

 

[howiebrou]

More like the chuckle bothers

Freebie and Bean

 

[christoph]

Netflix series? Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas to play the leads?

Rather Waldorf and Statler