Linn KUDOS/GENKI/WAKONDA/LK140 system

STRENGTH:One word: involving…

WEAKNESS:The remote… The Tray… I could have gotten the bigger brother for the tray problem but it was a way too steep a price difference.

I had previously used brands such as musical fidelity, naim, wadia, etc, with their larger then life sound, a little bit on the sloppy side with the bass and upper octaves. What i needed all along was this Linn… The first thing you notice about the linn is the incredible width and depth of the soundstage, the incredible solidness, yet smoothness of the bass and upper midrange sounds. Then that’s about it. You don’t notice anything else about the sound od the CD player since you start to forget you are listening to the CD player. You just go into the music. Live, vibrant music that’s “happening” right before your eyes.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Musical fidelity a5, naim, wadia, even cambrdige audio (mid-fi compared to linn)

STRENGTH:Natural, near analogue sound with plenty of details. Almost perfect in balance

WEAKNESS:Bad recordings tense to sound flat; especially in combination with my Dynaudio speakers, Therefore some rock-recordings (like The RHCP), tense to have a lesser kind of soundstage than with my old Marantz. (I will experiment with other (coloured) interlinks) The cheap plastic sound while opening the cd-tray. The remote-control with too many buttons The Linn interlinks: throw them away while opening the box!

So after 13 years it was time to upgrade my old Marantz CD80 player. Reading the reviews on Internet and in the magazines; I had a list of players. Now the question to get one at an affordable price on eBay or so and if I wouldn’t like it, I was intending to re-sell it. Based upon some reviews I read, I was interested in the Creek CD 53, the Marantz CD17 Mk2 KI, Arcam CD92, Naim 3.5, So my second serious bidding was on a Linn Genki and successful. Player was send in almost mint condition to me. I connected it and after a few hours I compared it to my Marantz CD80 and was….. a little disappointed! It sounded a little flat and I missed some depth. So I switched the original Linn interlinks with my Van den Hul “The Source” and……… it was a huge improvement! I even decided to upgrade(?) my interlink too a little to a Van den Hul D 102 Mk3. Before comparing I let the interlink burn in a few days before critical listening. The D 102 Mk3 wasn’t that impressive at first sight, so now I’m still burning in this cable (mail me for my latest notes on that) and also looking for a bargain to obtain a VdH “The First” or a Nordost cable. My conclusion with the VdH “The Source”: the Linn was worth every Euro-penny I paid: better details, very smooth (almost analogue) treble compared to my Marantz, better soundstage and a pretty good (not that aggressive) bass. So I even noticed new details on my recordings. Sound was improving by the day! Note my remark below regarding some “heavy”rock recordings. Even my wife, from a distance(!), noticed the clearer sound and better details! I must admit on some recordings I sometimes miss the more aggressive deep bass-punch of the Maranz, but this player was outperforming my classical Marantz by far. The soundstage is open, natural, more analogue, musical, with enough depth and controlled bass. Player is more capable of producing (complex) details from various instruments playing at the same time (compared to the Marantz). And that all at appr. a third of the weight of my old Marantz! For comparing I mainly listened to recordings of The Nits: Henk/Kilo, Roger Waters: The pros and cons…; Peter Gabriel: Up, Simply Red: Picture book, Talk Talk; It’s my life, Phil Collins: Face value, Paul Simon: Graceland. All original cd’s, didn’t try the HDCD’s yet! So I’ll keep this player for a long time! Amp used: Accuphase E 205 intergrated amp. Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE Interlink: Van den Hul D 102 Mk3 connected to the fixed analogue output Speakercable: Audioquest Type6 Value rating “only” a “4” taking in consideration the price you have to pay for new.

Similar Products Used:

none

STRENGTH:quiet clear mids build quality warm natural sound

WEAKNESS:could use more inputs

Upgraded my majik to the wakonda. This preamp sounds warmer and more defined. The mids are clearer as well. A nice improvement. The wakonda has the latest power supply which may explain the sonic improvments.

Similar Products Used:

majik

STRENGTH:Full featured preamp, neutral sound

WEAKNESS:NONE at the price

A highly neutral full-function preamp that performs to it’s fullest potential in conjunction with other Linn components, as well as with the Slimline Brilliant power supply. Allows you to hear the characteristics of the source, rather than the coloration of the preamp (as it should be). High quality phono stage is the icing on the cake. As with all components, audition in your system before commiting to purchase.

Similar Products Used:

Linn LP-12, LK-85, Genki. Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rod, Tara Master G2

STRENGTH:Excellent sound quality – low noise floor, natural timbres, neutral reproduction; excellent headphone amplifcation; highly flexible – 4 line inputs, phono input, 2 tape loops, 2 line outputs, muting and mono switches, full remote control, accepts add-on tuner module; compact size; excellent build quality.

WEAKNESS:None

This is an excellent preamp – fine, neutral sound; great flexibility and features; top-notch build quality. I had been running a CD player directly into my Pass Labs Aleph 3 amp – an extremely revealing, top-quality component. Adding the Linn Wakonda detracted nothing from the sound of the Aleph 3. Very highly recommended. Needs some break-in before sounding its best.

Similar Products Used:

Linn Majik; Creek OBH-12 passive preamp.

STRENGTH:Has enough power to drive big speakers. Makes a lot of recordings sound better than I had ever expected.

WEAKNESS:Don’t expect the LK140 to make every recording sound great – some of the more compressed disks can sound poor.

Looking for an upgrade to my Cyrus I tried over 20 amps in the 800-1500 price range, including Arcam, Cyrus, Creek, Electrocompaniet, Sugden, Musical Fidelity… and many more. The only amp that came close to the sound I wanted was LK140 and Kolektor Pre-amp. However, don’t expect it to perform right out of the box. I thought I’d made the biggest mistake ever until it started to sing after about a week’s serious music. There aren’t any other Linn products in my setup either – so don’t think it’s just for Linn-o-philes! Anyone thinking of an Arcam/Cyrus or similar amp should listen to the LK140/Kolektor combo.

Similar Products Used:

You name it, I’ve probably auditioned it.

STRENGTH:Build quality quiet enough current to drive most speakers

WEAKNESS:none.

Excellent amp for the money. Nice improvement over my LK100. Quiet, dynamic and trouble free. As part of an all LINN system, this little amp rocks.

Similar Products Used:

adcom, nakamichi,nad,naim, CJ

STRENGTH:Good separation and detail.

WEAKNESS:Maybe more bass responce.

Have two 140’s set up in active configuration. Sound is detailed, smooth, and toe tapping good. I can listen for hours, and do, no fatigue whatsoever. When buying LINN I had my doubts, many times, but all have faded. Have a complete LINN system to include Wokanda, Genki, and some Ninkas. Power conditioner is an AudioPrism and interconnects are all SilverAudio. I have no reason to upgrade for a long time…but probably will anyway…with more LINN. I think I’m hooked. Another note about LINN is customer service. Fried my amps power source when hooking up speakers (yes, very stupid move on my part). LINN was great and replaced the power source of the amp at no charge…should have been a couple hundred dollars. They are great to deal with. This is my first “real” system but I’ve been a musician my whole life. I know what music sounds like, and can say you won’t go wrong with getting a 140 (or two)…or anything else that LINN makes.