Linn SPACE Optimization - Better sound for EVERYONE!

by Olaf Adam

Since 2007, the Scottish manufacturer Linn has paved the way to pure, unadulterated sound with its digital DS systems. The DS software is now undergoing a comprehensive update that raises the sound quality of the digital circuit to a whole new level and enables extremely precise adaptation of the sound to the speakers used, their placement and the listening room. But Linn even goes one step further: With a special upgrade kit, they transform the legendary Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond into a fully active loudspeaker integrated into the Exakt-Welt. Linn's philosophy with the DS and Exakt systems has been to read out, transport and reproduce the digital music signal as smoothly as possible from the start. The DS or DSM systems take care of playback, reading out the sources and managing all connected devices. With Exakt, the perfect digital signal chain was finally created by extending it right into the loudspeaker - the only digital / analog conversion only takes place immediately in front of the chassis.

Exakt technology from Linn: digital signal path right into the loudspeaker The sonic advantages of this solution were obvious and convinced many hi-fi enthusiasts all over the world. But good things can always be improved, and that is exactly what Scottish engineers have now done. First of all, the hardware of the DS technology was completely revised. From now on, all new DS devices, i.e. Klimax DS, Akurate DS, Majik DS and Majik DSM, benefit from a new clocking architecture, an optimized circuit layout with fewer components and shorter signal paths. The result of these efforts is significantly reduced jitter and an overall dramatic improvement in sound.

Klimax DS: With immediate effect, all new DS systems benefit from the upgrades. While this revised hardware can be found in all newly delivered DS systems, the owners of existing systems also benefit from another innovation. New DS software will be available from March 16, which will add the new SPACE Optimization function to all DS systems.

Also new: All DS systems now have Exakt Link connections This optimization technology, derived from Exakt, creates an acoustic model of the entire listening environment, based on speakers, speaker placement and the respective room characteristics - regardless of speaker manufacturer and speaker type. With SPACE Optimization, a Linn DS system helps every system, with every loudspeaker and in every room to achieve optimal, unadulterated sound. The individual characteristics of the loudspeaker are also taken into account, as is the position of the speaker. Because most of the time, the optimal sound setup is not necessarily feasible in practice. With SPACE Optimization, the loudspeaker can now be set up practically anywhere in the room, the DS system then digitally simulates the optimal sound position.

SPACE Optimization enables unadulterated sound even with an unfavorable set-up. SPACE Optimization also compensates for the uniqueness of the listening room. Every room, every room is different, and walls, floors and furniture have a significant influence on the sound through reflection and absorption. The DS system with SPACE Optimization determines this influence and compensates for it. All sound adjustments of SPACE Optimization are made in the digital domain, with extremely high bit rates and extremely precise algorithms, so that the unadulterated sound of the music can really be achieved in almost every room. With the Exakt systems, which control each individual chassis with its own amplifier, even more precise adaptation is possible with SPACE Optimization +. Here again, considerably more data flows into the optimization, so that an individual sound model can be generated for each chassis that is based on its actual output. This allows an adjustment with previously unattained accuracy. The Linn developers are so convinced of their approach that they even want to go one step further and use Exakt technology to give one of the world's most successful high-end loudspeakers a go: the 802 Diamond from Bowers & Wilkins. The 802 with diamond tweeter is not lightweight, either in the real or figurative sense, and is considered by many to be one of the best speakers in the world. But Linn firmly believes that even the 802 can benefit significantly from digital and fully active control and is therefore now making an Exact Upgrade Kit available for it.

The Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond can now be converted into an Exakt loudspeaker. The original passive crossover of the 802 Diamond is bridged and replaced by Linn's own digital circuit. This transforms the 802 into a full-fledged Exakt loudspeaker that is controlled by a Linn Exakt system and can be completely adapted to the listening room and the installation position using SPACE Optimization +. That is certainly a brave step, but Linn is so convinced of the result that the Scots are providing special demonstration variants of the 802, in which a direct comparison between the original passive crossover and the exact control is possible - soon, of course, at our AUDITORIUM too !