Linn Cartridges
The perfect choice for your beloved LP12.
Linn Ekstatik Moving Coil Cartridge
In order to make their best cartridge ever, Linn needed to look further afield, and at more varied materials. They conducted extensive experiments; auditioning different materials and configurations for the body, inserts, cantilever, suspension, windings and leads. The result is Ekstatik – the new jewel in the crown of the Linn cartridge range.
The all-new, flagship cartridge, Ekstatik, sets a new bar for arm/cartridge synergy; its unique construction forges an harmonious synergy with Ekos SE; wicking away more unwanted resonances along the arm, and out through the sub-chassis.
In their search for ever better materials, Linn's experiments led them to the implementation of aluminium-bronze inserts. Now a feature of Ekstatik, these inserts allow Ekstatik to reap the sonic benefits Linn found this alloy to possess.
With a bespoke, honeycomb cut into the cartridge body, Linn have skeletonised Ekstatik so that overall mass is reduced to the preferred sweet spot of close to 7g.
A micro-ridge stylus on a sapphire cantilever makes for an extraordinarily responsive cartridge. The sapphire cantilever is far stiffer than boron or aluminium, resulting in less loss between the stylus and the generator.
The overall result is an agile, responsive cartridge with the added performance yielded from specifying these materials; masterfully matched in unique configurations.
Linn Kandid
The first thing you’ll notice about Kandid is that the motor housing is exposed. With no cartridge housing potential sources of resonance are removed, resulting in purer, cleaner sound, making all your vinyl sound better than ever.
Linn also kept the weight of the cartridge down by using a plastic front yoke screw rather than metal. As well as allowing the counterweight to be moved closer to the bearing point which gives a quicker reaction to changes in the vinyl, using a plastic screw eliminates any magnetic interference to the delicate coils in the cartridge.
Another notable innovation in Kandid is the angle of the mechanical body and the tracking angle of the cantilever which have also been moved from 23° to 20°. This means that when it’s placed under tracking force on the LP surface, the flux lines remain symmetrical, ensuring that mechanical forces on the coils and iron core remain equal in all directions, avoiding any deformation.
Kandid uses the finest nude diamond, micro-ridge stylus and benefits from a ceramic boron cantilever for ultra low mass and extremely high rigidity. The suspension mechanism supports hand-wound coils secured in a high-precision rigid assembly, terminated with gold contacts on flying leads for superb signal transmission. The coils in the Kandid also feature an extra winding to increase output.
Kandid’s assembly structure has been designed to perfectly partner with the Linn Ekos SE tonearm. It is constructed around a machined-from-solid, 7075 aluminium alloy body for complete rigidity and includes our unique triple-point mounting system to ensure a more rigid and accurate coupling.
Linn Kendo Moving Coil Cartridge
Kendo is a modern martial art form; translated from the Japanese it means “way of the sword”. At Linn however, the word has unique connotations. Kendo's sword is forged of boron, with a super-fine-line diamond tip. It's armour is nickel-coated, 7075-grade aluminium. Kendo is the eager apprentice to its master, Ekstatik; sharing the same values, and picking up many of its traits along the way.
Kendo is the outcome of the engineers’ efforts to capitalise on the elements of Ekstatik which work so well; using Linn's tried-and-true, trickle-down development methodology to produce a more affordable, high-performance cartridge which retains the same core design principles and acoustic fingerprint.
Kendo possesses a rigid, nickel-coated 7075-grade aluminium body. This specific grade of aluminium matches that of the Arko tonearm, for which Kendo was designed to be the perfect partner. This facilitates superb material synergy throughout the tonearm system, and effectively banishes unwanted resonances away from the delicate generator, along the arm, and out through the sub-chassis.
Linn Krystal Moving Coil Cartridge
Two years in development, Krystal uses the design principles of Linn's leading moving coil cartridge Kandid to capture the minute changes in the record groove, letting you hear every musical detail.
Krystal features a similar approach to minimising mass as Kandid, using a nude design to give the cartridge less inertia so it can react more quickly to the changes in the groove. It also uses the triple-point mounting system for a solid connection to the tonearm headshell, while the aircraft grade 7075 aluminium chassis provides a lightweight, stiff and stable platform for the generator. Even the adhesive used on Krystal was painstakingly selected to provide the most rigid bond possible to avoid any dampening effects.
Whether you specify Krystal on your current turntable or buy it as part of an LP12 package, you're guaranteed to enjoy a more musical performance from all your vinyl.
Linn Koil Moving Coil Cartridge
Koil is a superb first step onto the ladder of premium moving coil cartridges. This Majik-level cartridge provides a step up in performance from Adikt; and is available either as an upgrade, or fitted as standard to a new Majik LP12 MC.
Choose Koil if you intend to use your Majik LP12 with a moving coil phono preamplifier. Upgrade from Adikt to progress your journey along the path to vinyl playback perfection.
Linn Adikt Moving Magnet Cartridge
Designed to retrieve an incredible level of musical detail from the groove of a record, Adikt uses an efficient and affordable moving magnet (MM) configuration. This makes it an ideal starting point for any quality vinyl playback system and its performance is more than a match for many expensive moving coil (MC) designs.
The Adikt cartridge features a rigid body and Gyger II replaceable stylus, both of which help to achieve a finely detailed and dynamic sound. It is easily mounted on a wide range of tonearms, including Linn’s Akito.
Adikt is fitted as standard to the Majik LP12.
