Possible new Lejonklou products

[Linnofil]

We need a separate subject for this!

I have a suggestion, in light of the new Linn DC motor controlers with power supply for an internal phonostage. Why not make an internal version of the Slipsik 5, for use with the Radikal power supply? I bet you could beat Linn when it comes to market introduction and with the future performance of the Slipsik 5 combined with what probably is a pretty god PS, I'm sure it will be very hard to beat for Linn. That would give you even more head start on the internal MM market.

If you want to go with a K name I suggest Konvenient. But since I like the S names better (Differents you from a known competitor...) I suggest Slinky, which contains both, but with emphasis on the S. Or my personal favorite that combines Slipsik and Kikkin and is very suitable for its application, The Slipin!

Uddevalla could be named Svalla, which I think is a better name as well.

[Charlie1]

Personally, I like the name Slinky best from those you've come up with. There is always Dinky is it's something small.

I think a small power amp to partner the Kikkin would be a good move and a step towards a Lejonklou system. The Majik-I is about £1,500 I think, so plenty of room to produce a sub-£1,000 product with the same design ethos to the Kikkin. Could a power amp fit in the current boxes though?

[ThomasOK]

Anybody for a Kikkin DS? A $1000US unit that streams digital audio, competes sonically with a Sneaky DS, has the same volume control and one external input as the Kikkin (for hooking up your LP12 and phono stage) and has a couple of digital inputs to allow it to work with iPods, Squeezeboxes or other such devices.

It sounds like a winner to me:

LP12/Lingo2/Ekos2/Adikt, Slipsik, Kikkin DS, amp, speakers (or just a pair of active ATCs) and you're all set.

[lejonklou]

Many thanks for your suggestions! I will certainly consider what you're writing here.

The mini series of components will probably continue to expand. It's always a matter of creating something that performs well enough, so I never know in advance which products will be released. I just have to keep working on several projects until one really starts taking off.

A power amplifier can be housed in the mini series box, but heat and space limitations provide an interesting challenge.

[CM]

What about a class D (PWM) amp that performs good according to the tune dem method?

[lejonklou]

Sure, if it can be made to sound good.

I haven't built any PWM amps of my own, but I've listened to a few. They have all had a special kind of sound and so far they haven't made any overwhelming impressions, so to speak.

Technically speaking, there are some limitations to consider. First of all, I'm not sure that the idea of putting all the amplitude and frequency information of the signal into the time domain, which PWM does, will result in the highest possible fidelity. But practical experience (which I don't have) is of course more important here than theories.

The second problem is the filter on the output. I understand that it can be well adapted to a certain load, but to make it transparent to all kinds of loudspeaker load is probably a challenge.

[CM]

What about a chipamp based on LM3886 or TDA7293?
SMSPS or a convetional PS?

[lejonklou]

I'm testing all possible technologies, CM!

Have all that you mention on my desk. :)

[CM]

Nice to hear!

I know that Linn uses the TDA7293 in a lot of there amps so that is probably a good choice.

But what about the LM3886 potential?
Will that chip perform good when it comes to tunedem?

[Broccoli]

So, when you're done constructing a power amp, source selector, a DS and a speaker you can release:

The Lejonklou All-In-One! An active speaker where the customer can add expansion cards with: volume control, source selector, DS, and RIAA.

I would by one :)

[Broccoli]

The Lejonklou All-In-One! An active speaker where the customer can add expansion cards with: volume control, source selector, DS, and RIAA.

I thought this was a brilliant idea (except maybe the name)! Apparently nobody else did :?:

[lejonklou]

It is a brilliant idea. But very complicated!

Many thanks for the suggestion, it gave me something to think about.

[lejonklou]

Will that chip perform good when it comes to tunedem?

I am not sure of this yet. But it does seem like both chips can be made to sound quite good. And both can sound terrible when used in a way it doesn't "like"!

As usual, you don't get anything for free. You have to squeeze and trick the performance out of them.

[ThomasOK]

The Lejonklou All-In-One! An active speaker where the customer can add expansion cards with: volume control, source selector, DS, and RIAA.

I thought this was a brilliant idea (except maybe the name)! Apparently nobody else did :?:

I like parts of the idea but not other parts. If you combine an active speaker with volume control, source selector and a DAC you essentially have an AVI ADM 9.1. Of course, it doesn't stream and that kind of functionality would be a definite step forward. But I have my doubts about the wisdom of trying to put a phono preamplifier inside a speaker! And I'm not wild about the expansion card model - I don't think you can easily get maximum performance out of it and eventually you want to do something that the connection scheme you've chosen doesn't support so compatibility goes out the window.

Overall I think it is probably best to do the all in one system more like a Classik of Unidisk SC where the speakers or amps and speakers are separate form the other parts (which often would not want to perform their best inside a speaker anyway).

So how about a single unit that includes a high quality preamp with phono stage AND DS functionality. Better yet throw in a CD player that can play CDs normally, RIP CDs to the NAS and burn copies of selected playlists to a CD for the car. Add an AM/FM tuner and an iPod connection and you're really cooking with gas. I'm sure, Fredrik, that you could just knock one of these out in a few days. :)

You can call it the Lejonklou Komplete! (I haven't even trademarked the name. )

[Charlie1]

A power amplifier can be housed in the mini series box, but heat and space limitations provide an interesting challenge.

Could you reduce the power output and use two mono blocks instead or would that just be silly?

I really like the idea of a Lejonklou system with good MM LP12 as source and maybe pair of 109s on the end. It would surely outperform the Linn Majik series and no doubt be much cheaper than MK/2100.

[lejonklou]

Could you reduce the power output and use two mono blocks instead or would that just be silly?

That idea is fine. Unless of course there is an even better option, such as housing the power supply in one case and the amp (perhaps with a silent fan) in the other.

I'll just have to try and see what works best.

I really like the idea of a Lejonklou system with good MM LP12 as source and maybe pair of 109s on the end.

Thanks! I will do my best to make it happen: Mini enclosures, great sound quality, lowest possible price, upgradeable, reliable and safe.

[Music Lover]

AND unique design that stand out!!!
Not a box that can be mistaken being a Sony...

[rowlandhills]

My suggestion would be for a Lejonklou Tunebox which will take Chakra Aktiv cards.

Ian Wilson (Linn engineer) has said here http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=2422 that there is no intention to produce a Tunebox for chakra cards.

Since the Chakra cards are felt by many to be an improvement on the old mono cards, there would seem to be a market for a tunebox which will take them, with a good PSU. It would support use of any amps (including ones like the AV5125, Klimax Twin etc.) and provide an upgrade path either for amps (from old Linn amps to newer chakra ones while still staying aktiv) or beyond the Lejonklou tunebox to Kilmax Crossovers.

Conveniently, the crossovers themselves are quite small too, so would be a good fit for the standard Lejoklou enclosure.

[lejonklou]

Thanks for the suggestion, rowlandhills!

Actually, several have asked for this already. I think Linn's plan is to move towards more fully-aktiv speakers and less electronic boxes. Just like with the Ureka, I think we'll see more integrated products in the future. Easier to demonstrate and less problems with the competition.

I really see the point in a tunebox, but my small enclosures won't take more than one or possibly two cards. It needs to be a much larger one as some speakers require ten cards.

[rowlandhills]

I really see the point in a tunebox, but my small enclosures won't take more than one or possibly two cards. It needs to be a much larger one as some speakers require ten cards.

Maybe you need to investigate a double width box? I always liked the way that Naim power supplies were half the width of their CD players and amps, allowing a very nice stack where you could have a couple of PSUs, a preamp and a CD player on three shelves.

Personally, I'd suggest that supporting up to 6 cards in a box would be a good start. That would support Katans, Tukans, Keilidhs, Ninkas and 109s from a single box, and 212s, 242s, 110s and 140s from a pair of boxes.

There's an interesting thought about whether you could offer good internal links, which would help the cost justification for buying a tunebox, as they'd be able to save on silver cables run externally.

[lejonklou]

Some good ideas there, rowlandhills.

Many thanks and I will surely consider it!

[JW]

My suggestion would be for a Lejonklou Tunebox which will take Chakra Aktiv cards.

Now that's something I'd buy straight away. My (probably unattainable, but hey, one can always try...) dream would be to go fully active on my 242s with as many Klimax amps as I can afford. The cost of Klimax Crossovers alone is a big issue in that plan :(

I expect to get another used Twin later this year, and I could use the 2250s from my study system and source another 2250 until I can afford more Twins.... :P

Bloody expensive hobby, this :shock:
But great fun :mrgreen:

JW

[Music Lover]

My suggestion would be for a Lejonklou Tunebox which will take Chakra Aktiv cards.

Now that's something I'd buy straight away.

Same here!

Besides
It's an essential product as the customers then can get an active system using only Lejonklou parts. (assuming a Lejonklou power amp is produced)
Without the Tunebox, it also going to be a LOT harder to convince customers looking at Linn power amps buying lejonklou amps as they can't get active cards working with these...

[Charlie1]

Could you reduce the power output and use two mono blocks instead or would that just be silly?

That idea is fine. Unless of course there is an even better option, such as housing the power supply in one case and the amp (perhaps with a silent fan) in the other.

I'll just have to try and see what works best.

Maybe you could call the amp 'Lion' and PS 'Klaw' :)

Incidentally, how come you adopted the 'K' for a 'C' same as Linn?

[lejonklou]

Incidentally, how come you adopted the 'K' for a 'C' same as Linn?

Glad you brought this up, Charlie. Because I didn't! Strange as it may sound, I never intended to adopt the K-thing. And Kikkin is the only name which has one C replaced by a K.

This is how the currently known names came about:

The first Lejonklou product was the internal phono preamp card for the analog Exotik: Hudik. My wife grew up in the Swedish town Hudiksvall, which everyone calls Hudik. I played the prototype for her and she said "Name it Hudik". I liked the sound of it.

Uddevalla (motor controller project which was put on hold) is another Swedish town. The inventor of a very clever way of more properly controlling AC motors heard about Linn's Valhalla and said "Well, this will be the far mightier Uddevalla!". The joke became the project name.

Slipsik (MM phono preamp released 2006) is the name of a river in the north of Sweden. It runs close to where my wife was born. Once again she came up with that name. I found it was a very unique name worldwide and adopted it.

Kinki (MM phono preamp released 2007) was once again my wife's idea, spelled just like a region in Japan. At this point I thought it was time to start avoiding the K-names. There is also an old alignment tool for the LP12 (to set the distance from spindle to arm pillar with a Cirkus subchassis) that is called the Kinky. But I liked it a lot as it's sort of a word game.

Kikkin (volume control released in 2008) was going to be called something else. But then once again enters - guess who! - my wife into the lab, looks at the box that is changing colours when I control it with the remote and says "Kikkin!". It was such a great name that I simply couldn't resist. I also think it captured the spirit of the product perfectly.

There's currently one project running with a K in the name but I am doing my best to come up with a better name for it. One without a K. :lol: