Linn; Benefits of Tri-amping an Active System

Jeff's,

The Keilidh is a two way speaker. It does however have two mid/bass drivers in each cabinet. What is described above is indeed an Aktiv system and NOT passive bi-amplified. The Keilidh speakers can be configured for Aktiv use via the jumper plates on the back of the speakers.

My point, and the question above is, what are the benefits of having another LK100 with another Aktiv mid/bass card(s) installed versus a lone LK100 Aktiv?

Patrick

Myles, I have a pair of Linn Keltiks powered by four Aktive
Klouts. The Keltiks have two woofers, the system can be powered using three amps, low, mid & high. I upgraded from a
pair of Aktive AV-5140, so I just changed the Aktive cards
and ran the Keltiks until I got another Klout. In responce to your question, adding another LK100 with a similar bass/mid card will only give you a subtle improvement, not the kind you got when you changed your system to an aktive setup. If you are looking for a "big" improvement I suggest
that you either go with a pair of Ninkas which can be run Aktive with the two amps and cards that you already have or go with a pair of better amps, like used Klouts or LK-240.

Patrick has correctly described the set-up of a bi-amped active Keilidh, and the issue is what happens if you add a third LK 100, with the result that each side of each amp is only driving one driver. In a bi-amped set-up, each side of the treble amp only drives one driver, but each side of the mid-bass amp is driving two drivers.
Marc, the improvement that you are hearing could well be the result of adding a better amp into the mix, rather than as a result of tri-amping. Certainly, in discussions with the dealer, he felt that I would be better off buying two new LK-85s and new active cards, but this was far more expensive and in any event he hadn't heard an LK 100 tri-amp set-up.
To recap, my Keilidhs are bi-amped, tri-wired and active, and the question arose when I saw that there may still be a set of active Keilidh cards for sale on this site, as well as several LK 100s. Many thanks.

B. Myles

Ah! My appologies, I re-read your post. So right about the active bi-amping. The speakers were orignially sold passive, active bi-amp or active tri-amp though. Of course, in typical Linn fashion, the passives could be converted to either bi- or tri-amp active sepeakers .. sorry for the mis-read on the original post.

Looking at an old Linn brochure, they list the frequency response as active: 45Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB and Passive at 65Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB.. this is pretty big. I'm in agreement with the other posts, bass should go lower(of course) but should be tight and controlled as well.
Kind regards

While reading this forum, I am listening a violin LP with my 10 years-old 2-3 k$ system, 10 minutes after a violin CD on my 15 k$ active Linn system.
Oh, the sound is much less proper !
Oh !!! The violin is so much less impressive !
BUT so nice to hear, with so much emotion !
My question is then : what should I improve on my Linn system :
- improve dynamic and bass while adding a new amp ?
- improve tone balance while changing speakers ?
- improve emotion : how can I do ? I heard an EAR valve amp and BW805S that were clearly better than Linn, but only on this criterion. I can't aford for klimax. Used high end Audio research + BW ?
I read some interesting comments about 2 directions of improvement that are perhaps not compatible unless you invest a fortune : choose between Pace/Rythm and Harmonics. The first would be the philosophy of Linn, the second, of valve technology.
It is clear that every time I listen to a better (and more expensive) configuration by my Linn dealer, I find the sound better. But is that what I want ? Will I be satisfied by this new configuration, and how long ? Or can I find another configuration that can bring me a better compromise between proper sound and emotion for the same price, and that could satisfy me totally ?
If you have a brilliant idea, please tell me before I spend 10 k$ more ...
Marc