That reminds me. I need to update my system details. I recently had time to compare the Audiolab 6000A with the Cambridge Audio 651A. Although I was gunning for the 6000A since it was a fairly recent purchase, I found the 651A to have more air and presence in the mids and upper mids, as well as plenty of extra headroom. All in all a better pairing with the Lintons, for my tastes.
I tried several amps but none of them were that exotic that I could hear vast differences between them. Of the tree that I tried, the Denon PMA-1510 AE seems to have the boldest and fullest sound. Recently I became interested in the Unico Primo for the same reasons you seem to like the Cambridge Audio 614A. But for that money I rather buy speakers. I love speakers. They change everything.
I mostly listen to recordings from the Fifties and Sixties and I don't agree with your statement. The Lintons are pretty forgiving even with the roughest Blues recordings and sound real smooth and detailed with Opera or Jazz recordings from that era.
Opera, Classical and Jazz recordings usually have a natural sound so that shouldn't be a problem at all with the Lintons. In fact, it's precisely those recordings that I think sound stunningly good. But we were talking about old Classic Rock/Pop. Again, in my experience (you might have different ears or even different Lintons), the Lintons are not an ideal choice for that. It's then when they can occasionally sound a little too forward or simply not recessed in the mid-range. The mid-range is where our ears are the most sensitive so a strong mid-range compression (to compete with other music on the radio) can sound too hot or agressive. I do love them for Classical, Jazz, or anything audiophile really. That being said, and I'm not a Blues man, but can you tell me what brutally recorded Blues albums sound smooth and easy on the Lintons? I will listen to these recordings on Tidal (if Tidal has it) because I love to hear it for myself.
To be clear are you talking about the Animals CD? This is then likely the CD mastering, as you find the original LP sounds fine. Likely the 2016 LP will though it has a brighter balance. Since you have an older Linn and SME would expect any CD to present in a rather different way. Your equipment is quite important as to what you are hearing as well as the mastering quality of media being played.
It probably is, but it's something I didn't notice on other speakers, speakers that I know don't have the mid-range covered as much as the Lintons do, especially when it comes to low mids and central mids. However, the 'original' vinyl of Animals sounds very relaxed and has mild-sounding mids from A to Z. There is however some vinyl distortion towards the end during the apotheosis of Dogs.
I mainly listen to original Blues 78s and 45s, but here are some albums that are not that well recorded, that I would recommend checking out on the Lintons: Howlin Wolf - Moanin In The Moonlight V/A - Sun Records: The Blues Years Joe Hill Louis - Boogie In The Park John Lee Hooker - Vol. 1 (Ace Records) Lightning Slim - Roster Blues All of these recordings were made in small studios with very unsophisticated equipment. A lot of speakers I have tried in the past present these recordings with a harsh and not very enjoyable sound, yet sound very good on my Lintons.
Wow, an updated version from his previous tweak ... wish I could hear it. A demo on youtube isn't very illuminating. I did notice the grille of the right speaker was upside down.
Yeah I don’t agree that the Lintons don’t sound so great with older classic rock recordings either, I played these albums on vinyl recently and they all sounded outstanding: Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality 1973 German R.E.M. - Monster 1994 US Nirvana - In Utero 1993 Euro AC/DC - Back In Black 1980 US The Police - Synchronicity 1983 Australian Paired with my Rotel amp and Technics 1500c turntable these recording were an absolute blast to hear through the Lintons, very warm yet clear sounding, great separation on the instruments, plenty of bass, strong vocals and cymbal flourishes with a full soundstage. Basically everything sounds where it should be to my ears and frankly I want to play more of my old rock records with these speakers..
Try 'Animals Remastered 2011 or Tears for Fears 'Everyone Loves A happy Ending' or Irene Papas/Vangelis 'Odes' ... all on CD. If and when albums on CD do have harsh mids then the Lintons won't hide it. And that's the first time I'm experiencing this. In the past, I've had B&W, IMF, Dynaudio, Pioneer speakers, but with the Lintons some recordings suddenly don't sound so great anymore. Other CDs sound better then ever before, like Paul Bley's Tears (Jazz). Not familiar with the titles above (they are not that old) but Police 'Synchronicity' sounds good indeed. However, Fall Out (The Police) does not, and surprisingly, neither does Can't stand Losing You.
Listened to the whole album on Tidal, and besides the distortion on the voice and sometimes the harmonica (which didn't always sound pleasant to me), it's an honest and natural recording, albeit very primitive. But listen to the drums, the bass, the piano, ... there is no sound manipulation going on. They sound real. It reminded me of the time when I was in a band and we recorded our rehearsals with one microhone in the middle of the room. Even though I'm not a Blues man, it's a genre that I enjoy to see and hear 'live'.
It doesn’t get any more classic rock than AC/DC’s - Back In Black from 1980 which is now 41 years old and the third highest selling album of all time or my Black Sabbath - MOR record, this particular copy being 48 years old. Also I’ve played plenty of classic rock CD’s through them with a Rotel CD player and they’ve all sounded excellent. Maybe you got a dud pair, it happens or it’s just some particular recordings that don’t sound so great. Moral of that story is try not to play sub-par recordings through your speaker pair.. Personally speaking I’m more than happy with mine. Now to crank some more Black Sabbath!
Well, that's what I've been saying all the time. If a recording or remaster (please understand that, due to compression, limiting and EQ, remastered CDs can screw up the original tone big time) has harsh mids, then the Lintons will tell you. Even if a recording sounds great tonally, but has been over-compressed or 'brickwalled', the Lintons will expose this as well. Of course, if everything that you play sounds polite, smooth, relaxed and mellow, even the most ****ed up recordings and remasters, then I'm afraid we don't have the same ears, or, indeed, speakers. I'm not attacking the Lintons. Hearing all these huge differences in recordings and remasters (even between tracks on the same album) is an amazing thing. It means that not every album sounds the same like with some other speakers. They could be the ultimate speakers for mastering, remastering studios (for the mid-range, that is). I do admit that I find it somewhat odd that, except for me, everyone here seems to have a somewhat romantic view of their Lintons, as if the speakers literally make everything sound great. I seems to be the only one here who is occasionally disppointed when playing a golden oldie on CD. Will play AC/DC today on Tidal, hopefully they have it in Master quality.
Listening to AC/DC's Black In Black on Tidal in Master quality, and outside maybe a loud cymbal crash here and there (depends from song to song), the mids of this album sound perfectly fine. No harshness here.
Close, it’s Back In Black. But anyway, thanks for listening to them, good of you to take the time, now you get my point that classic rock played through the Lintons is actually great. So after your conclusions do you like the Lintons or not?
Since these speakers cost 3 times as much as any I've previously owned, I'd be very surprised / unhappy if I wasn't impressed with them. It makes sense that most music sounds better than what I'm used to, and I don't have any comparable speakers to judge them against. I can say though that some streaming music does grate a little bit. I put this down to combination of poor source material and the more revealing nature of these speakers. Plus, my vinyl setup is superior to my digital setup. I'm going to upgrade my DAC in the future but these speakers are now the bedrock of my system. I finally got them to "disappear" last night so I'm in audio heaven.
I like them a lot but I think they are more 'audiophile' than they are a 'fun speaker'. They make me obsess about recording/master quality, which I did not expect. The better the input, the more I like them. Heck, there are even moments when I think, there's no way Harbeth can do this better!
I've heard things on Spotify through the Lintons that make me question if some albums are indeed 360Kbps. Doesn't always sound like it. I prefer the Master quality of Tidal which is up to 9216Kbps or 24-Bit/192 kHz.
I found this Japanese CD Of Animals for 10 Euro, I'm listening right now, and it's a great improvement on the Lintons over the 2011 Remaster.
I don't have a MQA decoder but a desktop via USB should give me 24/96 FLAC. If you want more, you need a MQA decoder.
Was using the Lintons with the Rotel A11 Tribute. Which was pretty good but I had to crank the volume to get them going. My wife got us a Yamaha A-S1100. Holy crap this is a perfect match for the Lintons for me. My system just pours out music now paired withe the Rotel CD11 Tribute.
