akamatsu

@frans5508, A Linnie since 1987. The only system I’ve heard that perhaps sounded better than mine was a full Klimax system at the Tokyo International Audio Show. That was when I realized that Exakt was in my future. You are right. Since the pandemic I haven’t been able to listen to any other Linn system. Since I can’t go to Canada, perhaps the next time I’m in Seattle I’ll have a listen at the dealer. Shared knowledge is so valuable. It’s people like you for whom I have concern. I want the knowledge you gain here to be sound knowledge. I’m far enough along the curve that I won’t fall for snake oil tweaks. The misinformation on the old Linn forum got to be so bad that Linn shut it down. That should tell you something. cheers, Michael

That’s the only one I’ve heard also. But placing components on a lightweight rigid stand helps as an open frame design has no “sound boards” to pick up airborne vibrations (music) and propagate them to the equipment. Again, this is just proper set up. You have to use some sort of furniture. You may as well use something that doesn’t degrade the music.

I didn’t know that Linn had said that. I never considered proper furniture a tweak, rather part of a proper set up. My LP12 is on an Audiotech stand. It sounds better than it would on a heavy piece of furniture. Linn recommend lightweight and rigid. Also, I bought a lightweight and rigid stand for my DSM and Radikal. There was definitely an improvement in sound quality over the heavy furniture they were sitting on before. Again, no harm done.

Perhaps we should take a Hippocratic oath. That is, do no harm. E.g. Linn recommend that speakers be level and stable. Advice from @Johannes was to level each speaker with the other. It makes sense that this would help, and is above and beyond what Linn recommend. It may or may not have helped. But for sure it did no harm. An example of potentially doing harm would to go against Linn’s recommendation of using only Cat 5 or 6 as exaktlinks. Perhaps the sound changed, but was not more musical. Some seem to have gone so far down the harmful tweak tunnel that the tune was lost long ago.

I’m so tired of posts about tweaks that are not specific to Linn and actually go against Linn’s recommendations. Guess what? The engineers at Linn know more than all of us put together. I’ve heard a few Linn systems lately that are so underperforming due to improper set up. My system is one of the best I’ve ever heard not because I possess superior knowledge. But because I know that the people who designed this stuff know far more than I do. I just do what they say. It works.

In my experience, the recording quality has the most impact on what comes out of the speakers. I’ve listened to CD quality albums on Tidal that sounded quite good and acceptably musical. E.g. Marillion, Live at Cadogan Hall.

Meanwhile, back on topic. Since Linn are offering more colours for speakers and for the LP12, perhaps they will offer the Series 3 in different colours with matching stands.

I agree. Buy from the artists’ online stores. It just feels right. I’ve ordered from Marillion’s online store many times with shipment from the UK to the USA with no problem and a good price ex VAT.

Yes. Series 3 are Exakt devices, all digital. I agree. Analogue is a different story.

I wasn’t able to force a change in sound by attaching an unshielded mains lead to an unshielded exaktlink cable. I’m not concerned. Any noise imparted was handled at the connected device. The engineers know what they are doing.

I’m confident that the engineers at Linn have designed the stand to accommodate the required cables without negative effects.

I can always count on you David. Especially when I’m too lazy to look things up myself.

I believe I read that the stands have provisions to route cables through them.

Okay. So the problem hasn’t been isolated to the source, as the turntable sounded better but not good. Your kit, properly set up should be very musical. We standby awaiting further data.

Perhaps I misunderstood the problem here. I’m under the impression that the only difference was the source. The exaktlinks were the same playing the turntable and playing Tidal. So those exaktlinks sounded good playing the turntable. Therefore, the problem isn’t in the cables. Did I miss something?