I'm in the process to 'aktivate' my A242/4200 combination. The installation of the cards is easy (double sided posts, plus screws). I also know the relation between in/output positions and amps. But I forgot whether the 5-wire input cable has to be disconnected from the mainboard and has to be connected to the cards, or in contrast has to be left in place. Any advice available? Thanks!
A second problem is the fact, that a pair of these double sided connector posts is lacking (s/h cards). Are they available as spare parts from Linn?
BR, Klaus
Linn Aktiv card installation question
Moderator: Staff
As a slightly more extended ‘Thank you’ here are some pics of the successful installation. Apart from the thread question, the forum was of great help to find the Aktiv Cards and a A4200 amp, so thanks to everybody involved!
I decided to use ‘K200’ as speaker cables and to route it with as much distance between the channel strands as possible. The latter due to advice from a Linn speaker engineer (in their forum) who tested various distances and reported that improvements continue up to a distance of 10 cm. (I had space for about 5 cm.) The cutting of the K400 was tedious (about 14 m to cut), and this is the method I finally used:
1:1 scale design and production of the installation plate were next:
And on site installation took its time, too:
The result is very beautiful aready now. For some time I thought that ‘aktivation’ was more a kind of a marketing strategy of Linn to sell more amps because a demo with G.T. (aktivated vs passiv M109 with 4200) enirely failed to convince. But a couple of A242 aktiv installations heard privately showed that the perfomance can be great, so I gave it a chance. According to advice here I adjusted the internal phono links to 7.5 turns (they all had more turns) and removed the wake up connection between the two 4200 mainboards. Thanks again,
Klaus
I decided to use ‘K200’ as speaker cables and to route it with as much distance between the channel strands as possible. The latter due to advice from a Linn speaker engineer (in their forum) who tested various distances and reported that improvements continue up to a distance of 10 cm. (I had space for about 5 cm.) The cutting of the K400 was tedious (about 14 m to cut), and this is the method I finally used:
1:1 scale design and production of the installation plate were next:
And on site installation took its time, too:
The result is very beautiful aready now. For some time I thought that ‘aktivation’ was more a kind of a marketing strategy of Linn to sell more amps because a demo with G.T. (aktivated vs passiv M109 with 4200) enirely failed to convince. But a couple of A242 aktiv installations heard privately showed that the perfomance can be great, so I gave it a chance. According to advice here I adjusted the internal phono links to 7.5 turns (they all had more turns) and removed the wake up connection between the two 4200 mainboards. Thanks again,
Klaus
Impressive!
To cut K400, I simply use secateurs. It is important to get the sort with only one sharp blade. That is, they have one sharp blade that strikes against a blunt "finger" which is a few mm wide.
Then it is the case of simply a case of sitting down with the K400 flowing over your lap, and sliding the "finger" of the secateurs down the centre of the K400, gently cutting as you go. Easy.
As a guitarist, I value my fingers too much to put a lot of pressure on a sharp blade.
May I take this opportunity to wish everybody connected with the great forum, a very happy new year, and good listening in 2014.
Best wishes from Sunny downtown York
Don
To cut K400, I simply use secateurs. It is important to get the sort with only one sharp blade. That is, they have one sharp blade that strikes against a blunt "finger" which is a few mm wide.
Then it is the case of simply a case of sitting down with the K400 flowing over your lap, and sliding the "finger" of the secateurs down the centre of the K400, gently cutting as you go. Easy.
As a guitarist, I value my fingers too much to put a lot of pressure on a sharp blade.
May I take this opportunity to wish everybody connected with the great forum, a very happy new year, and good listening in 2014.
Best wishes from Sunny downtown York
Don
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rowlandhills
- Very active member
- Posts: 582
- Joined: 2008-01-27 19:25
- Location: York, UK
Very impressive indeed Klaus. Probably the best speaker cable dressing I've seen for an aktiv system.
Would love to see a few more photos of how the system looks with everything in place, how you manage the cables behind the amps etc. Perhaps you could post something in "Me and My System"?
Would love to see a few more photos of how the system looks with everything in place, how you manage the cables behind the amps etc. Perhaps you could post something in "Me and My System"?
KRDSM, Tundra to 242s
Silvers, K400, Hutter rack
Silvers, K400, Hutter rack
Yes, great work Klaus. Never seen anyone do that before
I know it is always room and speaker model dependant, but have you tried looking for a sweeter spot with your speakers closer together? My listening room looks about the same width as yours and my 140s are much closer together. I've previously tuned them into other sweet spots, but this is the best I've found so far. I expect 242s need a little more space between them than 140s, but would be surprised if it's that much more
I know it is always room and speaker model dependant, but have you tried looking for a sweeter spot with your speakers closer together? My listening room looks about the same width as yours and my 140s are much closer together. I've previously tuned them into other sweet spots, but this is the best I've found so far. I expect 242s need a little more space between them than 140s, but would be surprised if it's that much more
Thanks for comments, and best wishes for the new year, too.
The type of secateur mentioned seems to be common for garden tools, right?, and is at hand here, nice idea. I will have a try when redoing the speaker cables for my mobile system. With respect to cable management – hmm, there’s not really something that could be called like this. It is just common sense used to avoid that a speaker cable runs directly behind a power cord outlet, RCA input socket, etc.. The RCA interconnects (black) are kept at original length and surplus length is stored to the right or left of the amps. With the little space available, the speaker cables must, of course, end at exactly the correct position. The power cords go vertically down to an extension block, which I could not avoid. A few crossings could also not be avoided. The speaker cables run always closest to the wall, and there is enough space for a ‘second layer’ in front of them.
I’m well aware that the entire installation is compromised. The speaker’s position had been determined while running passive crossovers, the amps rest within a type of highboard for which I could not really optimize the boards but only select from a few materials, and there’s certainly less than 10 cm between the speaker cables (btw ,iirc, it had been a person named Hobbs, who gave advice in the Linn forum w/respect to cable separation and promised to show some pictures later, but never came up with them). But it is not as bad as it perhaps looks in the pic: the listening position is 5 to 6 m from the speakers, and the speakers have 2.53 m between them (and almost ‘infinite’ space to the outward side). I’ll be patient and let the stuff run for a while to run in the new cables etc., and check if there is something to improve then.
The type of secateur mentioned seems to be common for garden tools, right?, and is at hand here, nice idea. I will have a try when redoing the speaker cables for my mobile system. With respect to cable management – hmm, there’s not really something that could be called like this. It is just common sense used to avoid that a speaker cable runs directly behind a power cord outlet, RCA input socket, etc.. The RCA interconnects (black) are kept at original length and surplus length is stored to the right or left of the amps. With the little space available, the speaker cables must, of course, end at exactly the correct position. The power cords go vertically down to an extension block, which I could not avoid. A few crossings could also not be avoided. The speaker cables run always closest to the wall, and there is enough space for a ‘second layer’ in front of them.
I’m well aware that the entire installation is compromised. The speaker’s position had been determined while running passive crossovers, the amps rest within a type of highboard for which I could not really optimize the boards but only select from a few materials, and there’s certainly less than 10 cm between the speaker cables (btw ,iirc, it had been a person named Hobbs, who gave advice in the Linn forum w/respect to cable separation and promised to show some pictures later, but never came up with them). But it is not as bad as it perhaps looks in the pic: the listening position is 5 to 6 m from the speakers, and the speakers have 2.53 m between them (and almost ‘infinite’ space to the outward side). I’ll be patient and let the stuff run for a while to run in the new cables etc., and check if there is something to improve then.
Yes - I steal one from my wife - the one she prunes her roses with. Make sure it is the type with only one sharp blade. (Go and look at some in a gardening shop and you will know what I mean.)k_numigl wrote:Thanks for comments, and best wishes for the new year, too.
The type of secateur mentioned seems to be common for garden tools, right?,
Cheers
Don, sunny downtown York.
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rowlandhills
- Very active member
- Posts: 582
- Joined: 2008-01-27 19:25
- Location: York, UK
Slight confusion here, I think. Linn's main speaker designer for a long time was a man called Philip Hobbs. He designed the original Artikulat and Akurate speakers. The current lead speaker designer is called Phil Budd (who posts on the Linn forum as "Philbo"). He designed the Majik series, Akubariks and the updates for 242 mk2 and Klimax speakers. It's Phil Budd who suggested musical gains by separating up to 10cm between cables.k_numigl wrote:... there’s certainly less than 10 cm between the speaker cables (btw ,iirc, it had been a person named Hobbs, who gave advice in the Linn forum w/respect to cable separation and promised to show some pictures later, but never came up with them).
KRDSM, Tundra to 242s
Silvers, K400, Hutter rack
Silvers, K400, Hutter rack
I think Rowland is right and Philip Hobbs now works for Linn Records as their chief producer:
http://www.linnrecords.com/news-Behind- ... Hobbs.aspx
http://www.linnrecords.com/news-Behind- ... Hobbs.aspx