Linn has launched a range of loudspeakers for music lovers who don’t like speakers. The 5 series consists of two fully active Exakt models that come sheathed in Linn Fabrik, a textile designed for minimum compromise and ease of customisation. The interchangeable covers will initially be released in 11 standard colours but in the new year alternatives such as Harris tweed and designs from Timorous Beasties (shown above) will be made available. The idea is that you can change the appearance of the speaker to suit your interior design whims.
Linn has addressed the two issues that usually make fabric an unsuitable grille material, the first is that it filters higher frequencies and the second that it vibrates and adds to the output of the speaker. To combat the former there is an EQ profile for each fabric type that you enact within the Exakt software, the second is eliminated with specially designed Fabrik that’s attached to a ring system that stretches it and clips onto the drive unit chassis.
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Gilad Tiefenbrun (above left) Linn MD and sometime head of couture. Above right, what this year's well dressed Linn speaker will be wearing.
There are two models, the 530 (£12,000) has 300 Watts onboard and an isobarik bass system in its base and the more compact 520 (£9,250, 200W), both are supplied with an Akurate Exakt DSM streamer/preamplifier (usually £2,500). They feature custom designed drive units and full Exakt operation which means that that output from each driver and the system as a whole is linear phase.
Linn also launched three new Exakt products, the Akurate Exaktbox (£3,500) is a digital crossover for any two- or three-way loudspeaker and can be used individually or in pairs. Exaktbox Sub (£1,250) is the same thing for any subwoofer and is claimed to bring linear phase and time alignment to up to two subwoofers placed anywhere in the room, a potential boon for anyone who has tried to integrated subs with serious stereo systems. Finally the Majik Exaktbox-I (£3,950) is an eight channel crossover with as many channels of 100 Watt Chakra amplification.
Exakt operation support will be rolled out to three new speakers in November: PMC Twenty.26, JBL K2 S9900 and KEF Reference 5.