Last year, I was hearing rumours of a new Linn speaker in the works, with built in aktiv amplification, in the Akurate Range. I was very interested in getting news on these, and kept searching for information. I even started a thread on what a good name would be for them, more than a year ago.
When the Akubariks were announced, I did a field trip to Seattle to hear them, and was favourably impressed. Now, trying to figure out how to buy them without as much impact on my savings account. Time for wheeling and dealing with my Linn dealer.
Checked with Philbo. My centre channel 112's and 109's will integrate well with the Akubariks in a surround set-up, as they are all voice matched.
On the table for trade in: Majik Isobariks, 2 Linn Majik 5100 power amps, 4 X 8 foot sections of terminated K400, Linn Silvers RCA and a full set of Aktiv cards for the Isobariks.
In addition, for sale, I had one full carbon Specialized Roubaix racing bike and a Trek stationary training stand for sale, Sidewinder power cords, Linn black interconnects and a number of other household items I could sell. Time to crunch the numbers and work out a deal.
The HiFi Gods were in my favour, the numbers looked good, and out comes the credit card. Arrrrgh, what have I done. The Miso's were sounding great. Had I lost my marbles?
Yesterday was the big day when I went to pick up my new Akubariks.
Allansgaard was very kind to go with me, in his vehicle, to help pick them up, deliver them to my home and set them up. He actually seemed as excited about them as I did. So we loaded them up carefully, and brought them up to my apartment. Boxes everywhere, old components and speakers scattered about.
Followed directions, installed the stands, moved them into position, plug in the new XLR connectors and power cords, remove the protective covers off the 3K array, and hold on, what's this. I ordered the 3K array in chrome, but mine were black. Allan and I are looking at them, and going, Hmmm, they look awesome in black, good move, carry on. These speakers are beautiful to look at.
Power switch turned on, red light still on, no sound. Quick programming change on the Classe SSP-800 from RCA connectors to XLR, and we are in business.
Right out of the box, they sounded really good, and would improve very quickly after that.
The first thing we noticed was that there were no room issues at all, the acoustics were perfectly set up for the room, with no bass nodes, in fact, no perceived issues with the room at all. Awesome!!! As my Misos were overly energetic in the bass, for my room set-up, this was a huge delight.
Speaker placement was easy as well. I placed them approximately the same position as the Misos, but with very little toe-in. Again, seamless integration, huge soundstage, very deep, and wide after a few hours of play. Akubariks were made for my apartment, using the default factory settings. Grand!!!
The bass is deep, tight, musical and detailed. The midrange is liquidy smooth, detailed, effortless. The highs are very good, and at this point, with little burn in time, I expect them to open up even more.
I have heard a lot of excellent speakers in the last few months, Criterion 110's, PMC IB1, Top of the Line Quads, Focal Utopias. The Akubariks are easily in the same league as any of them, and give a much better overall sound IMHO, as all of the above speakers were excellent in some areas and missing something in others. The Akubariks sound fantastic throughout the audio spectrum.
In short, these are stunningly great speakers, with seamless integration into my listening room, seamless sound quality from bass to highs. I am a happy camper!!!
My Linn sales guy will be over on Tuesday to integrate my Surround speakers with the Akubariks, Aktiv card swaps and the like
Pictures to be posted at a later time
When the Akubariks were announced, I did a field trip to Seattle to hear them, and was favourably impressed. Now, trying to figure out how to buy them without as much impact on my savings account. Time for wheeling and dealing with my Linn dealer.
Checked with Philbo. My centre channel 112's and 109's will integrate well with the Akubariks in a surround set-up, as they are all voice matched.
On the table for trade in: Majik Isobariks, 2 Linn Majik 5100 power amps, 4 X 8 foot sections of terminated K400, Linn Silvers RCA and a full set of Aktiv cards for the Isobariks.
In addition, for sale, I had one full carbon Specialized Roubaix racing bike and a Trek stationary training stand for sale, Sidewinder power cords, Linn black interconnects and a number of other household items I could sell. Time to crunch the numbers and work out a deal.
The HiFi Gods were in my favour, the numbers looked good, and out comes the credit card. Arrrrgh, what have I done. The Miso's were sounding great. Had I lost my marbles?
Yesterday was the big day when I went to pick up my new Akubariks.
Allansgaard was very kind to go with me, in his vehicle, to help pick them up, deliver them to my home and set them up. He actually seemed as excited about them as I did. So we loaded them up carefully, and brought them up to my apartment. Boxes everywhere, old components and speakers scattered about.
Followed directions, installed the stands, moved them into position, plug in the new XLR connectors and power cords, remove the protective covers off the 3K array, and hold on, what's this. I ordered the 3K array in chrome, but mine were black. Allan and I are looking at them, and going, Hmmm, they look awesome in black, good move, carry on. These speakers are beautiful to look at.
Power switch turned on, red light still on, no sound. Quick programming change on the Classe SSP-800 from RCA connectors to XLR, and we are in business.
Right out of the box, they sounded really good, and would improve very quickly after that.
The first thing we noticed was that there were no room issues at all, the acoustics were perfectly set up for the room, with no bass nodes, in fact, no perceived issues with the room at all. Awesome!!! As my Misos were overly energetic in the bass, for my room set-up, this was a huge delight.
Speaker placement was easy as well. I placed them approximately the same position as the Misos, but with very little toe-in. Again, seamless integration, huge soundstage, very deep, and wide after a few hours of play. Akubariks were made for my apartment, using the default factory settings. Grand!!!
The bass is deep, tight, musical and detailed. The midrange is liquidy smooth, detailed, effortless. The highs are very good, and at this point, with little burn in time, I expect them to open up even more.
I have heard a lot of excellent speakers in the last few months, Criterion 110's, PMC IB1, Top of the Line Quads, Focal Utopias. The Akubariks are easily in the same league as any of them, and give a much better overall sound IMHO, as all of the above speakers were excellent in some areas and missing something in others. The Akubariks sound fantastic throughout the audio spectrum.
In short, these are stunningly great speakers, with seamless integration into my listening room, seamless sound quality from bass to highs. I am a happy camper!!!
My Linn sales guy will be over on Tuesday to integrate my Surround speakers with the Akubariks, Aktiv card swaps and the like
Pictures to be posted at a later time