About Linn
Linn Products was established in 1972 by Ivor Tiefenbrun. Born in Glasgow, Ivor was passionate
about two things – engineering and listening to music. When he couldn’t buy a hi-fi good enough
to satisfy his needs he decided to make one himself. In 1972 Linn introduced the Sondek LP12
turntable. The longest-lived hi-fi product still in production anywhere in the world, and still
the benchmark by which all turntables are judged. The remarkable ability of the Sondek LP12
turntable to extract more music information from records led to the understanding that retrieving
and protecting the source signal carefully was what mattered most. An unusual company started by
an unusual individual for unusual reasons. Back in the early 70’s, the conventional industry wisdom
was that sound quality was determined by good or bad speakers. The experts believed the hi-fi chain
started with the speakers and worked down to the source of the music – at that time – the turntable.
This understanding dominated the way the industry designed new systems. But Ivor believed the exact
opposite to be true.
The source of the music was the most important element. As odd as it seemed at the time – his
reasoning was pretty straightforward. Common sense really. To pick up the music on a turntable, the
needle follows the record grooves for information stored in the groove walls. Movements so minute,
they are measured in microns. It’s when you scale the ‘groove world’ up to inches that things start
to get pretty hair raising. Suddenly you are in a deep crevice. The walls are undulated. Approaching
at an alarming speed is a bobsled. As it hurtles through the passage it has to pick up tiny pieces of
information. The bobsled is, or course, the needle. And to pick up a deep organ note it has to swerve
10 feet 6 inches. For a high violin note it’s less than an inch. A difference which may not seem
staggering in itself. Until you stop to consider that the needle is travelling 6 miles per second.
And that the pivot point of the lever controlling it is 4 miles away. In these terms you can see how
easy it is to miss out on critical information. These same principles apply today. No speakers in the
world can bring back lost music. It must be dealt with at its source, for example, the CD player,
DVD player or tuner. A painfully obvious idea. Yet at that time the entire industry ridiculed it.
Because it pointed out they were wrong. So Ivor ignored them. And quietly set about building a
turntable.
In 1972 Linn Products was born
The Linn Sondek LP12 turntable revolutionised the hi-fi industry proving categorically that the
source of the music is the most important component in the hi-fi chain. Linn then set out to make
the other components in the hi-fi chain as revolutionary as the first, setting new standards for
performance over the years with each new product. Today, Linn is a substantial independent precision
engineering company based in Glasgow, Scotland, uniquely focused on the design, manufacture and sale
of complete music and home theatre systems for customers the world over who seek only the best. Linn
music and home cinema systems are hand-built and precision engineered in Scotland and can be found
throughout the world in luxury homes, royal residences, and on-board the world’s finest superyachts.
Everyone has the ability to appreciate music. It can spark the imagination, help you relax and change
your mood, as well as provide entertainment and pleasure. The job of a sound system is to reproduce
music. The better it does this, the better it sounds - the more benefit it offers. The best sound
systems can change your life. Real hi-fi provides more accurate reproduction than standard
mass-produced products, and makes it easy to respond naturally to recorded music. The better the music
reproduction you have at home, the more pleasure your sound system will bring and the more you’ll
enjoy an ever-widening variety of music. All Linn products are designed to deliver exceptional audio
performance and to bring you the ultimate music and movie experience. Precision engineering, attention
to detail and a keen understanding of customer needs shape every component, from the most complex home
theatre solution to the most discreet music system.
True to the music
You know how much pleasure music brings to your life. It can pick you up. It can calm you down. It can
move your feet and stimulate your mind. Because Linn believe in being true to the music, the focus has
always been on developing systems that reproduce sound as faithfully as possible to the original
recording. Over the decades experience gave Linn a clear understanding of how sound travels from
recording to loudspeakers, and an appreciation that the sound reproduction process is only as strong as
its weakest link. Only music and movies reproduced to the highest standards can bring you lasting
pleasure, so at Linn accurate reproduction always comes first.
All you have to do is listen
Choosing a good system has nothing to do with specifications or complicated feature lists. Linn has
always believed the best way to select a system is by listening to the different options and
letting your ears decide - if it sounds better, it is better.
Built to last
Linn’s philosophy of making systems that are modular, expandable and upgradeable ensures you can
develop your system over a lifetime, gradually improving its performance. Customers who love music
have built Linn’s business, so we look after them. Linn continually improve their products and make
it easy for customers to upgrade their systems if they wish. You can start with a system that is
right for you today and, upgrading step by step, improve and expand your system to build up to the
very best. Because Linn have a commitment to progress through learning, simplification and
improvement, they are continually looking for ways to further develop their products, always to the
benefit of both new and existing customers.
Totally integrated
At Linn manufacturing is an integrated process, from product design, all the way through to
after-sales service. All aspects of Linn’s products are designed in-house. All the key processes,
from casting molten metal and machining precision components to manufacturing advanced and complex
electronic circuits, are controlled by Linn people. The ability to design a module in the morning and
test it in manufacturing in the afternoon enables swift problem resolution. It means new
breakthroughs or improvements can be implemented quickly across the product range.
The freedom and independence this creates have enabled Linn to make an astonishing commitment to
sound quality. An organisation that puts customers first completes a truly integrated capability.
Attention to detail
Linn believe everything can be improved by human interest and attention to detail. So the same
person builds, tests, and packs a complete product from start to finish. This ensures a standard
of construction and a sense of pride and involvement that is just not possible on a production
line. They take all the time necessary to ensure every detail is correct. Only then will the
person responsible for building the product personally sign their name on the back and pack it
for despatch. Every product can be tracked all the way from that individual to the customer,
anywhere in the world.
"If a system is not good enough to change your life, it is probably not worth buying. A
good system should change the way you live and the way you feel for the better".
"To us, music in your life is a necessity and quality reproduction essential. The
unique, pure sound of Linn is the most accurate sound possible, delivering the most
involving music and the most absorbing cinema. We believe our approach is the best, but the way
to judge us is to listen to our products".
"Linn are a precision engineering company and we make precision engineered sound and
vision components. Our job is the application of measurement and making things work. The making
things work bit is not at all well understood. It’s called engineering. It is the hard and
gruelling part of delivering superior performance".
"We know that once a customer buys a Linn system, the longer they have it the more they
appreciate it, the more their taste in music expands and the more prepared they are to invest in
its maintenance and development. This is one of the reasons a Linn system retains so much more
value and lasts so much longer than anything else. It is possible to enjoy music in a genre with
which you are already familiar and which you have learned to appreciate, even on a pretty poor
system, but that level of sound reproduction is not good enough to help a country music person
enjoy opera or vice versa. A good system will enable the listener to make this kind of
transition and expand their taste in many dramatic ways because all music has merit".
Ivor Tiefenbrun M.B.E.
Chairman and Managing Director
Linn Products Limited. www.linn.co.uk
A single-minded philosophy guaranteeing outstanding product performance.
Linn systems are sold only by selected specialist retailers who share Linn’s commitment to music and
home theatre. Our advice to customers has always been simple: if it sounds better, it is better. All
you have to do is listen. Linn call this method of judging a system, the
Tune Dem™.
