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Linn speakers

I'm currently using Linn Sara's and looking to upgrade. I like the sound of the isobarik woofer(s) and the highs very much. But I'm looking for more detail in the mids and better imaging. The Sara's are a 2-way design. I'm thinking that a 3-way speaker might provide the improvement I'm looking for - but I still want the isobarik design. I know that Linn no longer uses the isobarik design in their current speakers, so I'm obviously looking for something used. I am aware of the Keltik, but that's probably out of my price range (and is active only?). Did Linn make anything else that meets my criteria? -

3-way speaker,
Isobarik woofer design,
Can be driven passively (ability to reconfigure for bi/tri-amping would be nice),
Price range would have to be equivelant to one model down from the Keltik.

Thanks in advance
Don
hessong

Showing 2 responses by lugnut

lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Hessong,

I owned a pair of Sara's for better than 15 years. I loved them in spite of reading all the negative reviews. They deserved the negative reviews when paired with the wrong amplifiers. Difficult load. Anyway, I now own an Aktiv pair of Keilidh's bought used and am more than satisfied. They better the Sara's in every way and when purchased used with all the associated stuff are an incredible bargain. There's magic in active crossovers that go beyond what you hear on a casual listen. You can eamil me directly if you want to discuss these issues.

Patrick
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Sorry for the late reply. I've been out all day. The Keilidh's are two way but have two mid/base drivers. I've only listened to mine in the Aktiv configuration but have heard others run passive. The can be bi-amped, bi-wired passive or just about any configuration I can imagine. You can use either two or three stereo amps when going Aktiv. I'll say this much: the base is just stunning and fast. The midrange is great. There have been some reviews by owners about the highs not being quite satisfactory. In the Aktiv configuration you have 8 DIP switches in the treble cards to boost output for room conditions. They are flat to about 45 cycles Aktiv and 70 cycles passive. You must remove one of the drivers to access the crossovers for converting to Aktiv. The instructions are inside the cabinet. Two LK100's with Aktiv cards, K400 wires and the Keilidh's in black finish with the Kustone bases ran about $1500 used. As a short description of the surprising benefit of Aktiv configuration is that much more of ANY music library is listenable. With my Sara's I loved 10% of my collection of music. Now it's 90%. And, yes I can tell the difference between recordings. It's just that the lesser quality ones are so much more listenable. I hope you get a chance to audition such a system. It just simply blows away the Sara's I had being driven by a pair of LK240's which are superior amps to the LK100's. I couldn't be happier with this setup considering the money invested. Good luck.
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