Any experience of Linn Activ anyone?

coticcotic
in Systems
I have been offered the chance to buy a Linn 5125 5 channel amp, with bass and treble Activ cards and a pair of keilidh speakers, for what seems a very good price. I've looked on the Linn forum and people seem to like this set up, but it is a Linn forum so I assume it is a least a little biased. So just wondered if any of you knowledgable people has heard a Linn system similar to this. This would be a possible second system for me, but seems a bit weird to me, as I have never had amps and speakers from the same company. Although it would seem to make sense to have both manufactured to work together? I can listen to the system working, but would be a different front end to mine ( a Cyrus cdt and RPi3 through a Chord Hugo ) and would obviously be in a different home/acoustic environment. Also it would be a 400 mile round trip, so wondered if it would be worth the effort? Any thoughts will be much appreciated as always.

Comments

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I can only attempt a reply in a very broad brush stroke kind of way.

    I'm not a fan of many of the big names of UK hi-fi. My ears don't like Linn, Naim etc. Those companies have a very particular view of what constitutes a good sound, and it very seldom meets with my own. So, I guess you need to ask yourself if you've liked what you've heard from Linn systems in the past - have you ever heard an all-Linn system? I can't see this system as having anything but an 'extreme Linn-ness' about it. But I may be wrong.

    Personally, I'd save the petrol and pass on the offer. If you have a more positive view of Linn, then go and listen. 

    In the meantime, there's a lot of stuff out there on the web to read, if you haven't already.
  • cj66cj66
    I think the above pretty much hits the nail square on. Any one make system tends to be too much of the same house sound.
    My experience with Linn (retailed back anon) is that the keilidhs can sound good, ie competitive, but that was with their class B amps. I would, however, say I've heard those speakers sound considerably better with other make amps. Even in a mixed make system the speakers do stamp their house sound. The 5125 is not class B but Linn's twist on class T (class V). The sound is said to be quite different but I have no experience of it.

    My other concern is that there do tend to be many 2nd Hand Linn amps where their switch mode psus give trouble. This was the reason I never purchased a Classik which was otherwise a nice solution for the heart of a second system. Another point, if the speakers don't have their dedicated stands, walk away. (KuStone) They are ESSENTIAL to the keilidh and tough to find separately.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I wondered if you'd be the person to answer this question, Chris. Thanks for putting some detail on the bare bones of my reply.
  • coticcotic
    Thanks very much for your very helpful replies. As I mentioned above, I have never owned a one manufacturer system and wondered if I was missing something? But I had noticed that users of this forum use compononents from various manufacturers, so guessed that it probably wasn't a good idea. Needless to say that I will be passing on this offer. Thanks again for helping me come to the right decision. I'll continue with my 2nd system search!
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