Linn has introduced a brand new flagship mono energy amplifier that it says can ‘drive any given speaker optimally… beneath any circumstances’.
The Klimax Solo 800 is the Scottish firm’s first giant, passively cooled mono mannequin, taking the reigns because the amplifier range-topper from the way more compact Klimax Solo 500 which has been in Linn’s lineup for the reason that late 90s. However whereas that relative veteran can provide 500 watts of energy into 4 ohms, the brand new Klimax Solo 800 is able to delivering 800 watts (or 400W at eight ohms, or 1.2kW into two ohms).
Linn is assured that the Solo 800 ‘measurably outperforms its bigger rivals’, with CEO Gilad Tiefenbrun claiming that its “distortion and noise measurements are decrease than something the business has seen”.
Tiefenbrun says the objective was to set a brand new normal in audio amplification, and to that finish the Solo 800 advantages from the corporate’s analogue and digital experience.
The Class A/B amplifier utilises Linn’s Adaptive Bias Management expertise, which debuted within the 360 speaker system introduced final yr. It basically works to optimise, dynamically and in real-time, the best bias present for every of the Solo 800’s sixteen output transistors by measuring, sampling and digitising the present fed to them, to eradicate distortion and guarantee optimum efficiency.
Linn says it has chosen solely one of the best transistors obtainable, with the standard of the array permitting for the Solo 800’s output impedance to be divided by eight, thus permitting it to drive even the biggest audio system that current tough hundreds, and with none tail-off at excessive volumes.
Linn has caught with its favoured switch-mode energy provide, although it’s applied right here in progressed type. Utopik, because it’s known as, minimises switching noise and improves effectivity by implementing a circuit that ensures voltage throughout the ability provide change falls to zero earlier than the change is thrown.
It could be remiss of us to miss the Solo 800’s aesthetic, not least due to how a lot it differs from that of earlier Linn amplifiers. Compact this 27kg mono amp just isn’t, neither is it fairly as minimalist-looking.
As seen on later Linn elements such because the Klimax DSM streamer, a jewel-like dial adorns the faceplate (obtainable in both black-anodised or pure silver anodised finishes) to show the amp’s standing. It’s back-lit by an array of 100 LEDs, the brightness of which might be altered in three ranges by a change on the rear panel. As you’d anticipate, that panel additionally accommodates RCA and XLR inputs and outputs plus a set of binding posts.
The Linn Klimax Solo 800 is out there now, bought and shipped as pairs costing £75,000.
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