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One for the Isobarik Experts

In that case Linn get further respect from me and I completely agree with their approach.

On DSP and MQA Linn are absolutely right, I bet the Organik Dac is worth a listen too.
 
Are there any original in-room measurements for the Isobariks?

Keith,

I don't know whether it is serendipity but as the most recently advertised Isobariks are literally only 18 miles from the hotel what I'm staying in and I have been looking for a tidy late'ish pair I have just come back from having purchased them.

I will be able to answer your query as I now have a fully working pair (Serial No.'s 007269/ 007270). I will be running tests on one of these two speakers with the original KEF B139's in place and then try out both the IMF and TDL woofers. Unfortunately I still can't run a full test as I am still looking for another pair of TDL3021/ GT01's.

If anybody has a pair of the new, Falcons Acoustic B139's they'd like to lend to complete the test........:rolleyes:

Regards

Richard
 
I can tell no difference between the Falcons and original B139s.

Interesting. I did ask Falcon for data like what you get for the old B139's to do a 'paper' comparison, nothing was forthcoming.

Given I now have the wherewithal to do like for like comparisons it will be 'interesting' to see what the differences are both measured and audibly for the woofers I do have.

Regards

Richard
 
Good Evening All,

I'm currently waiting on Kate being available to help me move some Isobariks around!!! (She wouldn't be playing catch-up with work if she hadn't insisted on coming with me this morning when we went to collect the 'new' mare - a thoroughbred which did race in Italy but clearly wasn't good enough apparently - I'm sure our stallions' eyes will light up when he gets to realise it's here).

6lnYKju.jpg

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I have posted a 'For Sale' advert for the NAXO 3-6 Ian was selling with this pair of speakers.

The purchase has provided me with a pair of stands c/w infill panels.........

Hopefully we'll have a REW frequency sweep for a pair of standard Isobariks within 24hrs.

Regards

Richard
 
Real Isobariks should only be listened to with the Sheffield Labs direct cut Thelma Houston “I got the music in me”.

See here.

Either you were there, or you weren’t.
 
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The stand really benefit from filling, I use some old curtains.

the gap between the top edge of the panels and the bottom of the speaker should be fitted with draught excluder, really tightens things up.

looking forward to the sweeps.
 
Good Evening All (again),

Right that's the stands levelled and speakers mounted and everything de-wobbled. The stands (there were some foam blocks in that Ian was using) are currently empty and gaps not filled.

RgQ6xrB.jpg


and the frequency sweeps;

pj6rshk.png


Speaker drivers checked before installing. The five visible ones are operating and the two woofers measure 3.7/ 3.8ohms suggesting both are functional.

This is what they do driven by an Exactbox using Linn's own filters and using SO v1 - I tried getting SO v2 up and running but I don't have enough internet bandwidth at the moment so the streamer won't fully load up on my Linn account page.

There is a dip at circa 1.5kHz then it is flat to circa 12k - so much for a 'house curve' from Linn.

These were recorded with the streamer volume set at 60 the same as for the others shown previously. The volume is audibly greater than with the modified speakers/ filters.

Regards

Richard
 
Real Isobariks should only be listened to with the Sheffield Labs direct cut Thelma Houston “I got the music in me”.

See here.

Either you were there, or you weren’t.

Andy - I'm sat here listening to a Tidal download. Will play it on the bigger system later.

I only listened to the Isobariks for a couple of tracks last night - Moby's Everloving from Reprise and Time (Live) by Hans Zimmer. Comparisons set against my modified speakers.

In the case of the former the opening one minute, coming mainly from the left speaker, seemed 'slow' or ponderous.

Overall there there was a lack of detail like somebody had thrown a veil over everything. There was a fair amount of bass but it was muddy with a lack of separation between notes. The overall sound stage wasn't as wide or deep.

Regards

Richard
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Good Evening,

Had enough bandwidth to run my Linn account this evening so was able to update SO v2 to re-locate the speakers and my listening position. Having done this and selected this optimisation I ran another REW sweep:-

EYkmu4A.png


As can be seen from the blue trace SO v2 does a very good job of dealing with the circa 43Hz peak but then goes and overcompensates with respect to the dip between 54 - 75Hz.

Regular readers will recall that this is exactly what SO v1 did until I reduced Room Modes 2, 3 & 4 to 0dB.

Next up will be chasing the shop in Edinburgh and getting this Exactbox back to them.

Sometime after the Great Yorkshire Show time will be devoted to trying out the other two woofers in the one cabinet. I will be taking REW sweeps and DATS V3 readings.

Regards

Richard
 
Good Afternoon,

Firstly apologies to David for not making the effort to meet up around the GYS.............., it was a busy time.

Things have been on bit of a back burner for a few months pending an improvement in my employment circumstances................, this seems to be happening now albeit slowly.

At Neil Hallworth's suggestion I am looking to replace the Linn Klimax KDS/3 Katalyst with a Linn Klimax Hub (pre-owned) and a Akurate 10 Channel Exactbox (pre-owned), both in black which do seem to be relatively rare items. A further desirable thing would be to find a post 2018 Hub.

I set about Linn's Home Page and pulled up the UK dealers page and proceeded to work my way through every listed dealer looking for a suitable Hub and/ or Exactbox.

Observation No.1 - surely a multi-million pound company like Linn would have a fully up to date page??????? At least two dealers weren't listing Linn products............ When you are sat around not fully occupied on a offshore construction vessel bobbing up and down in mobile phone range of the French coast it helps to pass the day.

I found a dealer selling a late model Hub who also revealed they have a suitable Exactbox so I'm planning on putting a deposit down on these.

My KDS/3 is up for sale now and the SNAXO 3-6/ Supercap will also be going up shortly. That just leaves the LP12 to sell as well. I did promise Kate this would all be "self-financing"..............

I'm still on the look out for another pair of TDL3021/ GT01's so I can carry out comparative tests.

Regards

Richard
 
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Good Morning All,

I've been contacted by somebody who might have some TDL woofers and am currently, eagerly, waiting to hear back as these units don't come up that often. This would provide the impetus to carry out the three way test between the original KEF B139, IMF 128/20 and the TDL3021/ GT01 devices. Simon Hamnett has previously stated that the TDL driver was the 'ultimate' upgrade.

My initial intention is simply to do a frequency sweep with the three different drivers in situ and then do some listening as whilst the Exactbox can't drive the Sara's it can drive standard Isobariks.

I am very pleased with the new Klimax Hub BUT with the recent announcement from Linn about offering the Organik upgrade to such as the KDS has me thinking if I had kept the KDS I could have considered going for this upgrade................ I wonder if Linn will offer the upgrade to those of us with Akurate level Exactbox's????

Regards

Richard
 
Good Evening,

Had enough bandwidth to run my Linn account this evening so was able to update SO v2 to re-locate the speakers and my listening position. Having done this and selected this optimisation I ran another REW sweep:-
Generally a gently downward in-room target curve is preferred by domestic listeners , the red 90dB 40Hz might be correct, but you have a huge depression between 40-150Hz, can you bring that up and then remove the tops of any peaks.
Keith
EYkmu4A.png


As can be seen from the blue trace SO v2 does a very good job of dealing with the circa 43Hz peak but then goes and overcompensates with respect to the dip between 54 - 75Hz.

Regular readers will recall that this is exactly what SO v1 did until I reduced Room Modes 2, 3 & 4 to 0dB.

Next up will be chasing the shop in Edinburgh and getting this Exactbox back to them.

Sometime after the Great Yorkshire Show time will be devoted to trying out the other two woofers in the one cabinet. I will be taking REW sweeps and DATS V3 readings.

Regards

Richard
 
I wonder if Linn will offer the upgrade to those of us with Akurate level Exactbox's????
I chatted to someone else about this who pointed out that the cost increase of the Organik upgrade is quite a bit higher than previous Klimax upgrades, which suggests that the actual board/technology is more expensive. Will Linn want to bump up the Akurate level pricing? It would also help to more clearly differentiate Klimax from Akurate. But it's only conjecture - no inside knowledge I'm afraid.
 
Good Morning All (again),

As I understand it you would only have the two DAC's in a hub and you would need 10 in an Exactbox............????? That makes for an expensive upgrade me thinks.

Regards

Richard
 
It's interesting to see these REW frequency response curves, but I would be more interested in your subjective ranking of these various bass drivers in the context of overall performance. Your subjective ranking of the various crossovers would be interesting too.

From the pics I see your positioning the speakers as recommended by Linn, but later you may like to try them away from the walls and toed in...this gives a greater control of how they sound.

IME filling in the stand is of little benefit, but I suppose Linn did hear a positive effect hence their stand skirts. Aesthetically I prefer them without.
 


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