AXPONA 2024

It was great to finally meet Joe Rodger, a member of the young Linn team with whom I coordinated my review of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks ($90,000/pair) that appears in the May 2024 issue.

It was equally great to hear how warm and inviting the Solo 800s sounded in the company of an all-Linn system that also included the Linn Klimax DSM streaming preamp/DAC ($42,000) and Linn 360 (PWAB = passive with active bass) speakers ($66,000/pair). Vinyl was played on a limited production run Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable with Ekstatik cartridge ($60,000) and Radikal Power Supply Akurate. Cabling, grounding, and power conditioning were courtesy of Ansuz.

Most interesting (though hardly surprising) was how different the Linn Solo 800s sounded with equipment very different than my own. Kudos for the music choices: Billie Jean’s “The Civil Wars” and a bit of Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight,” written as an elegy to those who died in the Gulf War.