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The midrange was always very neutral and highly detailed, with vocals being especially well-served. Crispian Mills' passionate singing on Kula Shaker's "Great Hosannah," from Peasants Pigs & Astronauts (CD, Columbia CK 69885), and Diana Krall's mind-foggingly sultry take on "Let's Face the Music and Dance," from When I Look In Your Eyes (CD, Verve IMPD-304), were near-perfect in every respect. Choral music is one of the most demanding tests, and the Focus handled the challenge very well on the Rachmaninoff Vespers (SACD, PentaTone Classics PTC 5186 027). Voices were nicely individualized…
Sidebar 1: Carving Out a Legacy
In mid-September 2003, I paid a visit to the Legacy factory—or, more accurately, the Legacy/Allen Organ Company factory, in the Pennsylvania Dutch country an hour northwest of Philadelphia.
Every Legacy speaker is made on the same assembly line as are Allen's magnificent church and theater organs and supporting sound systems. But "assembly line" doesn't describe Legacy/Allen's manufacturing process. One sees none of the exotic machine tools that term implies, save for a computer-controlled milling machine that turns MDF blanks into the panels used…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: 7-driver, 5-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 4"-long ribbon supertweeter, 1.25" soft-dome tweeter, two 5" Kevlar-cone midrange units, 12" carbon-reinforced-cone "transition" woofer; two 12" carbon-reinforced-cone subwoofers. Low-frequency alignment: B6 assisted. Crossover frequencies: 80Hz, 300Hz, 2.8kHz, 8kHz. Frequency response: 26Hz-20kHz, ±2dB. Sensitivity: 96dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal. Recommended amplification: 10-400Wpc.
Dimensions: 55" H by 15" W by 13" D. Weight: 185 lbs each.
Finishes: Oak, cherry; other…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog source: SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge.
Digital sources: Esoteric DV-50 universal player, Classé Omega SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Aesthetix Rhea phono preamplifiers; VTL TL-7.5, BAT VK51SE, Aesthetix Calypso line stages; Halcro dm10 full-function preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Lamm ML1.1, VTL MB-450 Signature monoblocks; Hovland Radia, Plinius SA-102, Edge NL-12.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2. Interconnect: Acoustic Zen Silver Reference, Nordost Valhalla.…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
At 185 lbs and 55" high, the Legacy Focus 20/20 was too bulky for me to lift into the air for the acoustic measurements, as I usually do. My speaker turntable therefore had to sit on the ground, which meant that the midrange resolution of the farfield measurements was curtailed by the presence of a floor reflection. However, I don't believe this affects the overall validity of the results.
The Legacy's sensitivity was slightly lower than specified, but still a very high 94.5dB(B)/2.83V/m—this speaker will play very loudly even with a low-powered amplifier.…
Audiophiles with budget restrictions (most of us, I imagine) could be forgiven for feeling we're afterthoughts to most manufacturers. Even though we probably keep many companies in business by buying their "entry-" or mid-level products, we're always hearing about products designed "without compromise." Waiter, could you bring the reality check, please?
Even if you design a component without regard to the price tag, you still run into the compromises dictated by material science, or our collective ignorance, or even market pressures. (Although, with Asian economies in serious trouble, I'm…
But Linn isn't selling packaged air; they saw the future coming a long time ago and constructed their Glasgow facility to take advantage of automation and high-quality surface-mount construction. Despite its light weight and empty real estate, there's a lot of technology packed into the Linto. Besides, as Linn points out, a square centimeter of circuit area can pick up more signal as interference than a moving-coil cartridge generates as music.
While many audiophiles swear by loading networks, Linn's reasons for avoiding them are compelling. Linn claims the switches used in most…
The Linn was also superlative in its re-creation of bass. It had remarkable extension and definition. If you believe the bass region is the foundation upon which musical cathedrals are built, then the Linto is your meat. I've never heard Ron Carter's tone possess more heft and character than it did when I played Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage (Blue Note ST-46339) through the Linto. He isn't playing a really mellow-sounding instrument on the album—with some phono sections, I would have wondered whether this perception was colored by the preamp's limitations or whether I was hearing the sound…
Specifications
Linn Linto: Solid-state, direct-coupled MC phono preamplifier with switch-mode power supply. Recommended audio input level: 150uV (high gain), 500uV (low gain). Input impedance: 150 ohms (in parallel with 4.7nF). Voltage gain: 64dB at 1kHz (high gain), 54dB at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum input: 6.7mV at 1kHz (high gain), 19mV at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum output: 10.1V p-p at 1kHz. Power consumption: ca 6W/12VA.
Linn Linto: Solid-state, direct-coupled MC phono preamplifier with switch-mode power supply. Recommended audio input level: 150uV (high gain), 500uV (low gain). Input impedance: 150 ohms (in parallel with 4.7nF). Voltage gain: 64dB at 1kHz (high gain), 54dB at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum input: 6.7mV at 1kHz (high gain), 19mV at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum output: 10.1V p-p at 1kHz. Power consumption: ca 6W/12VA.
Dimensions: 12.5" W by 3" H by 13" D. Weight: 3.5 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 001575 ("Assembled and Tested by David Clyne").
Price: $1500.…
Measurements
As Wes Phillips found, the Linn Linto was astonishingly quiet, with an A-weighted S/N ratio (ref. 500uV input at 1kHz) of 85.3dB. Unweighted, with a broad measurement bandwidth of 10Hz to 500kHz, the S/N ratio dropped to 66.5dB, which is still excellent. Its voltage gain in the high setting (the only one I measured) was 62dB rather than the specified 64dB, probably due to the 25 ohm source impedance of the Audio Precision System One. The difference is negligible.
As Wes Phillips found, the Linn Linto was astonishingly quiet, with an A-weighted S/N ratio (ref. 500uV input at 1kHz) of 85.3dB. Unweighted, with a broad measurement bandwidth of 10Hz to 500kHz, the S/N ratio dropped to 66.5dB, which is still excellent. Its voltage gain in the high setting (the only one I measured) was 62dB rather than the specified 64dB, probably due to the 25 ohm source impedance of the Audio Precision System One. The difference is negligible.
The input impedance measured 165 ohms at 1kHz, slightly higher than spec, while the output impedance was a low…