Liquid Audio in Alba. Linn news

During a recent week’s holiday to Scotland (you’re never on holiday in the hi-fi business) we took the opportunity to visit our friends at Loud & Clear in Glasgow.

It’s always good to catch up with guys from the industry to have a bit of fun and talk about all sorts; not to mention a bit of industry gossip and opinion. Whilst we were there, we took the time to have a good nose around their store and get up close and personal with some of the wonderful toys they have.

The first of the updates planned is for Radikal owners. Outside of the new Radikal 2 option, there is now a new upgrade kit available to push the envelope of the existing excellent power supply to Radikal 2 level. The new motherboard and motor kit bring even greater speed accuracy and stability thanks to a host of improvements across both components. Early listening tests suggest the difference is substantial with the added benefit of improving performance for those that use the Urika/Urika 2 phonostages.

The second is news of a new reference level cartridge called the Ekstatik. Built to Linn’s spec by the wizards at EMT, this promises to be a landmark moment for the in-house arsenal, putting the likes of Hana and Koetsu firmly in their sights.

Outside of all that, we got up close and personal with L&C’s array of LP12’s in various states of tune as well as our first look at the Naim Solstice turntable which was still being run in. It would be very interesting hear how it fairs against the new flagship LP12.