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Linn Kan lying on shelf?

Espen said:
What is it about their design that make these the ultimate place to put a pair of Kans?
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Like I say, nothing specific. If Linn had designed the speakers using a solid stand they might have voiced them to suit.

They have a very wide base for the size of the stand masking them very rigid with spikes top and bottom. They are heavy enough to be stable without having so much mass that they either store too much energy or over-damp the speakers. Lots of open-frame stands of the day were almost exactly the same. Linn just made ones the right size for the Kans. Or got someone else to make them rather.
 
Mr Pig said:
Like I say, nothing specific. If Linn had designed the speakers using a solid stand they might have voiced them to suit.

They have a very wide base for the size of the stand masking them very rigid with spikes top and bottom. They are heavy enough to be stable without having so much mass that they either store too much energy or over-damp the speakers. Lots of open-frame stands of the day were almost exactly the same. Linn just made ones the right size for the Kans. Or got someone else to make them rather.
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Agreed...amazing how much better most things work when they're designed to work together.

regards,

dave
 
Kan 2s are good little loudspeakers and should be used as intended - on open stands, close to a rear wall and definitely upright.
 
''They have a very wide base for the size of the stand masking them very rigid with spikes top and bottom. They are heavy enough to be stable without having so much mass that they either store too much energy or over-damp the speakers. Lots of open-frame stands of the day were almost exactly the same. Linn just made ones the right size for the Kans. Or got someone else to make them rather.''

Roughly translated means: Everyone was doing the same thing with 3/4 inch square section tubular steel because it was cheap. They were hideously ugly but luckily enough worked.

I should know, mine were wonderful, but I don't buy into the myth that Linn did much R & D with Kan stands.
 
Ginger said:
I don't buy into the myth that Linn did much R & D with Kan stands.
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No, neither do I. They were typical of the type of stand common at the time. The top spikes weren't though, Linn must've been one of the early adopters of those.

Just because something is cheap and simple doesn't mean it's no good. I like the way open-frame stands sound and think that really heavy 'mass-filled' ones rob the sound of too much energy and life. As I say though, it's horses for courses.
 
They were/are good stands for speakerettes.

The sonic difference however has little if anything to do with mass and everything to do with the fact that the stand is open. Heavy stands tend to be wide and solid, which slightly alters the baffle step effect of small loudspeakers. Translated, they produce slightly stronger lower registers.
 
Thank you all for thorough replies. Do you think a similar but smaller (lower) open metal frame with spikes placed on top of a wooden shelf could produce similar results? In effect a Kan stand with shorter legs that rests on top of wooden furniture.
 
Yes, absolutely, I could do you such a stand for, oh, shall we say £400?

I jest of course. Why not try them where you hope to place them as others have said and see if you like them. Ultimately, I agree with everyone else, positioning is nigh on critical to get them singing and if you can't do it, might be time to offload them as they make good money and invest in something that does what you want, in a position that suits you. Neat Iotas maybe?
 
I'm not convinced. The sound depends on where the speakers are and I can't see that the stands make that much difference.
 
Robert said:
They were/are good stands for speakerettes.

The sonic difference however has little if anything to do with mass and everything to do with the fact that the stand is open. Heavy stands tend to be wide and solid, which slightly alters the baffle step effect of small loudspeakers. Translated, they produce slightly stronger lower registers.
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While I wouldn't disagree with you on the above Rob regarding diffraction effects with wider stand legs, I have experienced a more 'dead' sound when filling a pair of Sara stands with sand and another with foam insulation compared to an unfilled pair of the same stands from the factory.

I could only conclude the sand filled and foam-damped stands altered the frequencies from the Sara cabinets which drove the suspended wood floor underneath. I suspect repeating the same test in a room with a concrete slab floor might have found no difference in the sound unless stand 'ringing' would have been loud enough alone to be audible with the music.
 
I have tried Kans in two rooms with KanII stands and Sound Organisation wall brackets. The SO brackets have sounded best in both rooms. YMMV.
 
I have never got my Kans to sound better than when I showed them at the Wam show. They were on MKII stands and against a solid wall. The room dimensions suited them perfectly, better than my home!
 
The only problem with wall brackets is that they're hard to move. Things like Kans are very sensitive, you need to tweak the position of them to get the best. Not easy if they're nailed to the wall.
 
dave said:
While I wouldn't disagree with you on the above Rob regarding diffraction effects with wider stand legs, I have experienced a more 'dead' sound when filling a pair of Sara stands with sand and another with foam insulation compared to an unfilled pair of the same stands from the factory.

I could only conclude the sand filled and foam-damped stands altered the frequencies from the Sara cabinets which drove the suspended wood floor underneath. I suspect repeating the same test in a room with a concrete slab floor might have found no difference in the sound unless stand 'ringing' would have been loud enough alone to be audible with the music.
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I'm not discounting the effect of mass entirely, and certainly ringing in the metal could be a factor. But people always seem to attribute the differences heard to mass, which I think is incorrect when the baffle step effect can be easily shown.
 
flatpopely said:
I have never got my Kans to sound better than when I showed them at the Wam show. They were on MKII stands and against a solid wall. The room dimensions suited them perfectly, better than my home!
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That doesn't surprise me...I had mine against the short, CMU wall in a large basement playroom decades ago when we were first married and they sounded unbelievable. The sense of scale is amazing for such a small box when you meet the requirements of mounting on a stiff floor like a concrete slab and brick, CMU, etc rear wall.

Mine displaced a larger pair of studio monitors in the same room using B200s in a 9' folded transmission line with B110 mids and a Scanspeak dome. Oddly, bass lines were easier to follow on the little Kans vs the Fried Ms and pitches sounded more in tune even though octaves were missing on the low end. Go figure;-)
 
Robert said:
I'm not discounting the effect of mass entirely, and certainly ringing in the metal could be a factor. But people always seem to attribute the differences heard to mass, which I think is incorrect when the baffle step effect can be easily shown.
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I have no doubt about the baffle effect either -a piece of cardboard taped to the front of the stand should show the effect (or is what I'm describing something different, Rob?)

I'd also forget the pain and suffering of trying to "improve" the sound by filling the stands. SO knew what they were doing when they designed them so best left as they came from the factory IMO;-)
 
Mr Pig said:
The only problem with wall brackets is that they're hard to move. Things like Kans are very sensitive, you need to tweak the position of them to get the best. Not easy if they're nailed to the wall.
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Dedication Colin, dedication...... ;)
 
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