Breathing new life into Old Linn gear

[Zee9]

In my very few years of experience I’ve realized that I prefer Lejonklou amps over Linn amps. I have tried more than 4/5 brands of speakers but keep coming back to Linn speakers so maybe I like that sound.

From the Linn amps I much prefer the older Linn amp sounds when compared to the newer Linn amps. They sound more engaging to me and that’s that. I’m not claiming they are better but just a different sound and level of engagement that my Ears prefer.

After selling the last pair of non Linn speakers I’m back to my trusty Kabers and wanted to try an experiment that I had imagined a long time ago. My favorite old Linn amp was a Klout but I always felt that the older Linn Majik-i’s (LK style) seemed very very musical. So when I managed to accumulate 3 of them I decided to disconnect the displays and use them as three power amps to drive my aktiv Kabers. I’ve heard aktiv Kabers with three Klouts and they sound fantastic but the 3 majik-i’s are not very far behind.

I do have two tundras and am on the search for a third as I feel that would be the perfect match for aktiv Kabers but I’m still searching for a third one.

Meanwhile the two tundras keep my other passive systems very very happy.

So finally to the point why I’m here?

I was wondering if someone could guide me how rejuvenate my old majik-i’s that might help improve their sound. They have enough grunt to drive the Kabers beautifully but I wish I could find three NOS pieces. Would recapping them help? How does one service an old toroidal PS. Any ideas would be great. I do hear some hiss on my speakers when nothing is playing but that may also be the bad wiring in our apt or the dedicated Kaber tune box.

One of my amps Has a clicking sound when switching on and goes away after a minute but basically I was hoping to see if we can make them sound better with recapping etc. I have no knowledge of this but just bouncing ideas

Regards

Zee

[sunbeamgls]

Not able to answer your precise question, but this does fit into the title of the the thread :)

I have done a couple of streamer projects that "breath new life" into LK boxes which might be of interest under this topic:

https://audiophilemusings.blogspot.com/ ... linns.html

https://audiophilemusings.blogspot.com/ ... elope.html

[xanlin]

Zee, I think you are completly right in that the old majik-is a gem. You dont need to service the toroid. Just recap the Majik-I s and there are quite few components to switch.

A fun fact is that this amplifier is the first
amp that use the chakra design, many years before Linn gave it a name and made a big thing of it.

[lejonklou]

A fun fact is that this amplifier is the first
amp that use the chakra design, many years before Linn gave it a name and made a big thing of it.

This is incorrect. Majik-I used the integrated circuit TDA1514A to drive the speakers.

Chakra is a very old patented circuit by Quad, where an integrated circuit drives the speakers, boosted by one or several pairs of bipolar transistors. When the patent expired, Linn began using it and called it Chakra.

[ThomasOK]

A fun fact is that this amplifier is the first
amp that use the chakra design, many years before Linn gave it a name and made a big thing of it.

This is incorrect. Majik-I used the integrated circuit TDA1514A to drive the speakers.

Chakra is a very old patented circuit by Quad, where an integrated circuit drives the speakers, boosted by one or several pairs of bipolar transistors. When the patent expired, Linn began using it and called it Chakra.

Indeed, Linn used that chip amp design in a few amps before the Chakra amps were introduced. They included the AV5125 5-channel amp and the 2250 stereo unit.

[Zee9]

From what I was told the lk85, lk140 and chakra amps are chip amps but the majik-i, Klout and lk100 are NOT chip amps.

[lejonklou]

Yeah, I’ve been told a lot of things too.

[Spannko]

I believe the Majik-i used paralled chip amps of the type Fredrik referred to.

[tokenbrit]

The Majik-I's power amplifier circuits are based around Linn's Chakra design, where a single chip-amp is used in combination with a number of external tran-sistors, which are used as boosters...

No idea how Akurate that is :?

[markiteight]

The Majik-I's power amplifier circuits are based around Linn's Chakra design, where a single chip-amp is used in combination with a number of external tran-sistors, which are used as boosters...

No idea how Akurate that is :?

Perfectly. Lest we forget, there were two integrated amplifiers from different eras that shared the same name: the improved version of the Majik integrated amplifier (Majik-I), and the integrated amplifier in the Majik product line (Majik-I). In 2008 What Hi-Fi would have been referring to the latter, which did feature Chakra.

This wasn't the first time Linn re-used a product name. But at least in the case of the Numerik digital studio recording system and the Numerik consumer D/A converter, they were so different that most users of the latter didn't even know the former existed.

[Zee9]

To clarify to everybody. I’m talking about the Majik-I in the LK styled body.

NOT THE NEWER MAJIK

[El Mero Mero]

I am really surprised that you like the amplifier section of the old Majik-I. When I had some old gear out of storage I did the comparison between Klimax DSM, LK Majik-I, Kan mk1 and Klimax DSM, LK100, Kan mk1. The LK100 setup is noticably better.

[El Mero Mero]

I have used active Kabers for a long time. First LK100 with external (LK case) Aktiv filters. Later LK100 with internal mono filters. AV5105 amplifiers, Klouts and finally chakra cards with Akurate amplifiers. The biggest improvement is easily from Klouts/mono cards to Akurate/chakra cards.