Only in my personal opinion there will not be Utopik in Solo and Solo will be discontinued I don't know but I think that Utopik is too expensive to Linn for 500w power amplifier and for Linn now one channel power amplifier is anacronistic.
Linn did focus on active speakers and found their speaker sales dwindled, hence the return to passive speakers. The lack of passive speakers didn't help the sales of their other products either. For many Linn became a source manufacturer - LP12s and streamers.
In the day of the Ninkas and Katans those were our best selling speakers and we sold tons of them. Combine either of them with a Classik Music and you had a reasonably priced entry into Linn that musically outperformed anything else you could get for near the money. It is no exaggeration to call the Classik Music with Katans or Ninkas as a gateway drug as many who bought those systems ended up getting better and more expensive Linn gear when they had more money or wanted to upgrade their sound. Often the original system was moved into the office or another room.
The Majik 109 was also originally a very good seller as it was an excellent speaker for the money. However, it was released in 2009 and hasn't had any substantive upgrades in that time. Same with it's floorstanding brother, the Majik 140. While they are still good speakers they no longer rule the roost as competitors have come out with 2, 3 or 4 new generations in that time frame. The 109 no longer beats up on anything else in the price range and other speakers sell more often.
So I think it is a very good idea for Linn to go back to making passive speakers. It allows people to buy or upgrade speakers without having to purchase an entire Linn system and positions Linn back as a full on Hi-Fi products company and not just a competitor to Bang & Olufsen. (Let's face it, when it comes to how stylish the gear is, they are just not in the same league. Sound is another matter.) Some moderate price passive speakers that work well with the MDSM would go a long way to allowing Linn to sell complete systems at a more reasonable starting price, giving customers options to upgrade over time. I look forward to hearing what they can come up with after 15 years.
That is me. My Classik purchase in 1999 replaced years of mid-range HiFi, such as Technics, Kef, Pioneer., etc. What followed was several years of buying second hand Linn ( mainly from a friend who kept buying new gear). Then I paid off the mortgage, my son flew the nest and trips to HiFi dealers became frequent. My Classik is indeed in another room (my study) and still going strong with a pair of second hand Kan II’s Purchased from said friend.
The gateway drug analogy is a good one. I often visit my dealer to see what gear he has.
I agree, though I’ve just finished reading the Naim NAP350 review in November 2023 edition of Hifi News, and find myself interested to hear some!
They are monoblocks at a hefty £13k for a pair.
An over-50% price increase in just 2-3 years cannot have helped either. I was shocked just how much they've gone up.
The other nice thing about Katan/Ninka was that it was much cheaper to go active later on with just the addition of one more 2-channel amp.
Yes I was surprised by the price increase as well, I bought my 109’s in March 22 for £1200 which hurt a bit as they were just under £1000 until January 22. Still I spent a few thousand £’s upgrading my system with new LP12 and Hifi rack so the extra £200 was lost in that amount. I am looking to get a new amp in the future to replace my Rega Brio and as l have little/no interest in serious streaming I feel linn’s current line up of amps would be a waste of money in my case because a lot of the tech inside is for streaming.
That said the concept of the Selekt appeals to me.
Who knows maybe they will go back to old school retro with a range of analogue amps like many other hifi manufacturers are at present.
I'd still be surprised, but maybe a little less so. Klimax being top of the line should get top of the line treatment. Akurate I think represents a lot of units in the field, which means a lot of customers being served and a lot of upgrades being sold.
A CD module for Selekt would be a nice touch but can't see that happening.
Similarly, I can't see Linn doing retro analogue either. Although Naim sold 1,973 limited edition Nait 50s, I doubt even they would bring back a permanent vintage product.
What about a Rega system since they still make CD players? New speakers out too.
Always been a Rega fan and they make some good Intergrated amplifiers as I am sure we all know. Also like Naim and had the original Nait back in the eighties, along with my first LP12 and and pair of Kans.
Never really took to CD’s even though I have several hundred stored away in the loft. Tried it in the 90’s then lost interest as vinyl has always been my preferred format.
Linn seems to be treading very much a digital audio/visual path at the moment which is clearly what people want and having heard some of their DSM’s they are very good.
I am just more old school, not because I think it’s necessarily better I just get more from the whole ritual of vinyl.
Anyway drifting a bit off topic, just have to wait and see what Linn does with it’s line up of past and present amps
Never really took to CD’s even though I have several hundred stored away in the loft. Tried it in the 90’s then lost interest as vinyl has always been my preferred format.
Linn seems to be treading very much a digital audio/visual path at the moment which is clearly what people want and having heard some of their DSM’s they are very good.
I am just more old school, not because I think it’s necessarily better I just get more from the whole ritual of vinyl.
Anyway drifting a bit off topic, just have to wait and see what Linn does with it’s line up of past and present amps
Why the sad face? Perhaps my reply was confusing. I meant I'd be surprised if Akurate didn't get the Utopik treatment.
Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Linn all analog system. They are headed up by digital engineers.
Although Rega still makes CD players they have discontinued the Apollo some time ago with no replacement planned. Sad as it was one of my favorite units and their only one under the $3400 Saturn Mk3. You have to put a fair bit of money into one of their CD players nowadays.
If Linn was to do anything retro they should bring back their second most iconic product, and one that would scream retro: the Isobarik DMS! I think people would be shocked at how much it would go for, but since Falcon has put the drivers back into production it would be possible. There are still many things about the original Isobarik that are hard to beat. I think next year would be 50 years since it came out so it would be good timing as well.
I think your confidence could be further boosted since a dealer (@ThomasOK ) seems to agree. Certainly more in the know than I.Oh good. Legacy and "Linn is for Life" and all that...
No apologies necessary, glad to hear you’re a vinyl fan as well. All formats have their place and I certainly gave CD a good go. I just didn’t connect with it like I do with vinyl.Apologies, I assumed you listened to CD. I'm vinyl-only too
One great advantage of streaming is that it solves the storage issues associated with Cd's/Vinyl/etc. People just do not have the space today to store shelves of music. A few people on this thread mention "boxes of Cd's in the loft/garage/etc.". I saw a video recently of a man with 22,000 jazz albums in his home. It looked like a cross between a record shop/hoarding situation and seemed not to have been dusted for decades.
Totally agree, even though I am a die hard vinylist it is a complete faff. I have a modest vinyl collection of about 1k stored on a shelving unit in different room to my hifi. You have to handle them more carefully than a new born baby, it’s the most expensive music format when buying albums etc etc. But if vinyl is under your skin then you put up with all it’s warts for the pleasure it brings you. I so wish as does the wife, I was into streaming instead, 1 box on a stylish sideboard (instead of a not so stylish purpose build hifi rack)plus some speakers and all the music I could wish for stored on some internet cloud thingy.
Why am I into vinyl? Not so sure now, ah wait just listening to John Coltrane ‘Blue Train’ that’s why.
Maybe I will dip my toes into the streaming world in the future as it’s very convenient, and I like using Spotify to find new music which often isn’t available on vinyl.
Anyway back on track again and saving up for my next amp which may or may not be a Linn
my personal opinion is that Akurate is finished for the Linn market. I had this thought the day I listened to Selekt with amplifier module and standard DAC for the first and only time 2 years ago in a Milan store, that day I was on my own and calm. The sound was fantastic for an "all-in-one" unit; I say this shyly because as I have already written I don't like comparing two devices that I have listened to in different places and at different times but compared to the Akurate the Selekt is more precise. And then you can see from the Linn policy that theyr is having with the Majik and Akurate amplifiers... complete disinterest.
I bought a Kindle and got rid of nearly all the books. The space it freed up enabled me to store more gramophone records and CDs. I got rid of the CD jewel cases and put the CDs and artwork in thin plastic wallets so I could get four times as many on a shelf. I don’t often play a CD, I play a rip. I don’t use Internet streaming, but now much faster broadband has come to the village I may give Qobuz a go, which seems to be the best option.
Heard Qobuz on a Linn Selekt and it changed my view as previous encounters with Tidal and Spotify made me think streaming was not for me. I‘m surprised some folk hereon like Spotify, but perhaps they don’t use it for critical listening and are not worried by its security issues.
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