Conference hips::uk_audioo

    
    
    Is there ever any good new kit announced that costs less than 2 grand
    Rik?!!  Or don't you bother with menial items like that?!
    
    
    
    =;*)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))0
    
    Chris.

    One of the nicest, most balenced systems I've heard was -
    
    	Rega-3		130-00
    	Rega RB100	 40-00
    	Nytech CA252	100-00 (Second Hand)
    	Linn Kans	 free  (Well 200-00, but I gave them to her)
    			------
    			270-00
    
    This belonged to my wife (Jan Leigh to you Chris) when she was at
    university.
    
    This was quite fun as people would pop in for a drink / chat, then be
    amazed at the quality of sound you could get from such a small pair of
    speakers...They were even more amazed when I would sugest popping next
    door to listen to ``my'' system - Isobariks in a 10x8 student room !
    
    	Rik
    
    These days you can get a pretty good sound for a resonable price -
    especially if you go second hand.
    
    	Rega-3 (Or Rotel CD)
    	Naim Nait / Ion amp / ...
    	2nd hand Kans / Something by Royd
    
    Should leave you with change from the price of a decent cartridge :-)

    
    
    Er...I was thinking of somewhere in the region of a fiver, but that'll
    do for now! =;*)
    
    
    Chris.
    
    p.s. You had a 10x8 student room?!  Lucky git... =;*)  (scuse all the
         ratholing!)

Might I suggest:

REGA Planar 2
REGA Bias
ONIX OA21S (A little expensive)
and Wharfedale Diamonds.

A lovely little system, even though I say so myself.

Mark.

    The Sound Org in York have a pre-production Optik for dem. Must go have
    a listen between Xmas and New Year.
    
    I'll post a review in here, unless Rik beats me to it.
    
    Dave
               

    I've been hankering after a new pair of speakers for years now. Every
    time I get enough loot together, Linn come up with some improvement
    nearer or at the source which gives a better improvement in more areas
    than speakers alone would do. Consequently I ended up with what I
    thought was a fully configured LP12. 
    
    Back in the summer, after borrowing a
    Kairn preamp for a home dem, I replaced my LK1 with this new wonder box
    from Linn. I won't explain about the Kairn unless anyone wants me to,
    as it has been extensively reviewed in the UK, and JA at Stereophile
    must've covered it by now.  So now I am looking for those
    new speakers.
    
    Until last Tuesday, that is. It turns out that in the last two years
    the LP12 has been improved several times - new inner platter/bearing
    assembly (again), new outer platter, new motor/pulley assembly. All
    these are retrofittable, but the cost to do all these to my 5-years old
    Linn means it is more cost effective for me to just buy a new one and sell
    mine. Having heard what these changes can do, the speakers will have to
    wait a little longer.
    
    The manufacture of most of these items used to be contracted out, but
    now Linn do everything in-house. The Eaglesham factory is far enough from
    the vibration caused by passing traffic and other industries for Linn
    to engineer to closer tolerances than ever. In addition to the above,
    they have upgraded the bearings to the Ekos tonearm to tighter
    tolerances in Linn's new clean room; these were already in the areospace
    category, so they must be getting close to what is achievable anywhere,
    unless they send someone with a lathe up in the next space shuttle. I
    wouldn't put that past them, given their commitment to continuous
    improvement to vinyl recording and playback. The Ekos mod costs �400
    ($750?).
    
    Also new from Linn is the Kremlin tuner, the Karik CD transport, the
    Numerik DAC (Micromega already have the rights to Optic/Optik), the Keltik
    active-only speaker (covered elsewhere), and a clutch of mid-fi seperates
    based on the Intek integrated amp's electronics. 
    
    There is also a new power amp called the Klout. The Klou's specs look
    similar to the LK280 and the photo I have seen shows a single humungous
    transformer (bigger than the 280's); I get the impression the Klout is
    designed to do what the LK280+SPARK does, but in one box. The box back
    and sides/heat sinks appear to be hewn from the same lump of aluminium,
    and heat sink fins extend along the whole sides, not just the middle
    two thirds as per the LK280. Inputs are phono and it has a line
    ouput(? - curiouser and curiouser). It also has three sets of 4 mm
    speaker sockets for tri wiring (hurrah!).
                                              
    I'm hoping to try a Kremlin, Karik and Numerik at home this weekend, so
    I'll post a review in here next week if it all happens.
    
    Dave
                                             

Dave,

This is the first I've heard about these improvements to the LP12. Have they 
been released over the last 6 months or so ? (News usually filters down this 
part of the world pretty slowly).

As an Ekos owner, I'd be interested in your thoughts about the new bearings...

Although I subscribe to the source-first school of thought, there must come a
point where spending money on the speakers first gives better returns.

This list of products doesn make you wonder what they've put in the water at
the Linn factory don't it ?

As a Naim owner, I hope that Naim are going to try and keep pace. I must say 
that I was pretty disappointed with their CD player. Contrary to most of the
reviews I've read- but I was dem'ing it against my own turntable setup.

-Dave.

    Linn tend �to play this sort of thing very close, so as not to cheese
    off recent buyers! Also, compared to what they do announce (Lingo,
    Valhalla,� etc.) the change to the sound is pretty small and the cost
    of �retrofitting therefore hard to justify - the new bearing/inner
    platter costs ar�ound 200 pounds sterling fitted for a small
    improvement on some records�. Worthwhile enough to incorporate into new
    models�, but not always for old ones whose bearings are still good.
    Also there is no e�xchange payback for the old bearing!
    
    It is the sum total of the changes� that makes the big difference,
    though. . I don't know about the Ekos changes�; given at it always
    was a tight tolerance high-end armm maybe the LP12 changes are needed
    to get the benefit of the new bearings. The guys i�n the shop have all
    had their Ekos's modded and replaced their LP12's, a�nd if the people
    who sell them think it's worth *their* money, well.....
    
    Dave

    The think to look at is the ``Linn Service Manual''. This weighty toomb
    contains detailed product history so that given a serial number it is
    possible to determin exactly which mods need to be done to bring it up
    to current spec.
    
    	Rik.
    
    PS I'm on my 4th LP-12 now !
    
    	1. LP-12/Ittok/RB100
    	2. LP-12/RB-300/Asak-T
    	3. LP-12/Ittok/Karma
    	4. LP-12/Lingo/Ekos/Troika
    
    ... but only my second pair of speakers (Kans then 'briks)

    Forgot to add, the afore mentioned book deals with all Linns products,
    not just the LP-12 so Kaber / Kan / Isobarik mods are all detailed.
    
    	Rik

    Dave,
    
    If you aren't going to shell out for new speakers now, you may want to
    try the new Linn K400 speakers cable (are your Kans bi-wireable?). 
    I've just replaced my Naim NAC A5 with K400, having also tried the old
    K20 cable.
    
    The K20 (very well known) gives a round fuller sound than the A5, but
    with rather less HF.  The A5 does sound very lean in comparison, but
    _very_ precise.  K400 seems to give the best of both worlds, much of
    the A5 HF (but smoother) and is even more full bodied in the bass than
    K20.  I'm still not sure if the bass is overblown, but I am very happy
    with K400.
    
    Considering K400 uses the same copper as K20, the changes are
    surprising, the massive insulation must be playing a significant role. 
    This is cable to tie supertankers to quay sides!

    
    I was in the Sound Gallery on Saturday, and they had Linn's new
    midi-system system set up in the lobby area (well, the components are
    the right width for that description, anyway):
    
    In two stacks there were
    
    K					K
    E	LK280		KAIRN		E
    L   LK280  		KREMLIN		L
    T   LK280		CD TRANSPORT 	T
    I   SPARK		NUMERIK		I
    C			ACTIV		C
    
    It didn't really sound like >10Ks worth of kit, but maybe that's the
    point ?
    
    Trevor

    I don't know why dealers insist on  displaying the CD player with
    Keltics. I know they're both new, but the Keltics �seem to be b******s
    to get working properly, and never show themselves, or connected kit,
    very well in casual display de�ms.
    
    I'm not surprised it didn't sound like 10K's worth; I haven't heard
    Keltics outperform my olfd Kans yet, though I've no doubt they could in
    appropriate circumstances.            �
    
    Dave