Linn Klimax 320A - 4x250W
Let me generalize a bit. Audiophiles aren't the greatest believers in active loudspeakers, apart from a few expensive, carefully selected brands. Despite all the potential advantages inherent in the active principle, audiophiles regard active speakers doubtful like they disregard many other products of the pro world. Sometimes for good reasons so.
An example: Sometime ago I auditioned an active speaker with an inbuilt room correction system. The room correction worked fine: viewed from the hot spot, it provided clearly audible help for less than ideal room conditions. The speaker has got many good reviews even in home audio press. And still, I've rarely heard a speaker that sounds equally dead, grey, lifeless, empty rendering the speaker largely uninteresting in audiophilic terms. The pro attitude tends to generate loudspeakers that are free from certain negative properties of the sound, but on the positive side, the same loudspeakers often fail to offer much. This is due to the fact that the pro community does not acknowledge that any positive side exists; the best speaker is a speaker without mistakes. Period.
Linn together with a handful other manufacturers have opted for a cleverer strategy. They do both passive and active loudspeakers. Then literally through the back door they activate their passive speakers by inserting amplifier modules and other active stuff in them.
The Klimax 320A is a good example of such an active speaker. It's a 4-channel fully integrated active standmount loudspeaker. It features Linn's unique 3K Driver Array technology, a machined die-cast array. Each speaker incorporates four 250W Linn Klimax Twin -power amplifiers together with active crossovers. The amp modules have been inserted in the back of the curved, rigid hand-built cabinet.
The pair that I was listening to was additionally equipped with the Linn Dynamik power supply. The front end was the new Linn Akurate. Now, I didn't have much time to stay in the demo venue but based on what I heard during less than ten music samples of varying music, the Klimax 320A definitely has a sound worth checking up. It was smooth, consistent, effortless and yet had good authority over the music - miles away from typical studio monitors. It was by a wide margin the best sound I've heard in that room.
The active Linn Klimax 320A doesn't come cheap. Linn rarely does. The price is 27000 euro per pair plus an extra K for the stands. What explains the price is that amplification inserted in each speaker equals to two Klimax Chakra 500 Twin stereo power amps. The price of one is 9300 euro. Make your own calculations. But rather than the price, I'd be more interested in understanding the true qualities of the sound of this speaker (pros and cons). As I said there was something very positive to it at a quick trial. But what excactly? The task would be to find out more about the genuine ingredients of that sound.