Upgrading my Linn set up HELP advice please

Again great advice from Lugnut IMO. I agree that Aktiv is the way to go eventually, and I agree preamp first. When I listened to various combinations of Linn components, active and passive, that really stood out. The active setup let me hear all too well if the preamplification was ordinary. I ended up deciding that before going active I'd get a Kairn. (Although I ended up not getting the Linn system, I still remember the sound... ).

One nice thing about a Linn active system is that you don't have to use Linn amplification. An external box ( Tunebox, yes ? Thanks Lugnut. ) will hold the cards.

OK now Joolz, thanks for asking about sources. I like Naim players a lot and you might well find one of them fit very well between Genki and Ikemi. I would listen for depth, timbres, presence and purity, as the Genki has drive down pretty well and you'll get even more of this as you upgrade to active. There are lots of other players too, though, and if you haven't started listening to them yet, you have fun fun fun ahead!

Joolz,

One last thought on all this stuff. If your current CDP is 24 bit then I would recommend keeping it for awhile. My reasoning is sound. The difference between a Genki and Ikemi is very small in the scope of things. For that matter a $150 DVD player as compared to one of state of the art CDP's ($5000+) will be small too. Before you can appreciate those differences the rest of your system must be up to the task.

The difference between your current preamp and a good tube unit will be so profound you will wonder if you are listening to your own system any longer. It will bring you the most benefits for the money spent.

Going Aktiv will be the next biggest bang for the buck upgrade.

Spending even huge amounts of money on a digital source now is not the way I would go. There simply won't be that big a difference.

When speaking of vinyl I would turn these recommendations upside down with the source first. Big dollar investments in analog will reap big returns. The difference between a $1000 turntable combo versus a $5000 combo is huge. Not so within the digital realm.

Keep in mind also the new digital format wars. Waiting may be a very wise thing to do. My guess is that a year or two down the road will be the sweet spot in buying a digital source to keep. Lots of reasons for this and they are covered well in previous threads.

I'm no tube expert. Discovering the joys of the Supratek came by accident. It has a very high output voltage, which I think is somewhat rare for a tube preamp, and keeps the noise floor very, very low. Dead quiet. If you decide to go this direction I recommend posting another thread to get some sound advice from the tube gurus about what to look for in a good match with your solid state gear.

Pick your rut carefully. You'll be in it a long time.

u guys are too cool...thanx for the reply's...
yes this audio thing is realy addicting...it occupies me and i enjoy quality sound...if i could spend as much on this as i have on my guitars and stuff i would probaly have a system ''TO DIE FOR'' by now...
cheers

Interesting reflection by Lugnut on digital source purchase at this time. I myself am wondering about low end digital, now that I'm looking for a player for a friend. I want to hear some cheap DVD players with CD outs. Good comments I've heard about these recently may be a sign that the digital playing field is leveling.

OTOH my biggest surprise recently was my Apogee DAC. My goodness that was a step up in liveliness and immediacy, a veil torn away.

But to sum up, yes, Joolz, I concur with Lugnut, look into preamps now. When you find one, enjoy, then when ready, glance at the digital source question just in case there are clear signs by then that you should go that way. If there are not, then go right on to Aktiv.

ive been looking around the site for preamps and there seems to be a couple of other preamps other than the kairn.....they are the wakonda and the kolector and they seem to be cheaper($400-$600used) how do these fair??? or is just worth spending the $900 for a used kairn?
also is it worth adding a audio alchmy DAC to the arcam,it seems to be a fairly cheap upgrade and a maybe a fairly noticable one too($200ish used)
cheers