Linn’s 360 flagship loudspeakers are now the recipients of the Scottish company’s new proprietary Pistonik Motor System driver technology.
The new Pistonik drivers include 6 inch upper bass and 8 inch woofer versions and will be implemented in Linn’s 360 Exakt and 360 Passive With Active Bass (PWAB) speaker systems. The new drivers are the results of a three-year engineering program, with Linn claiming the Pistonik drivers' introduction will make the 360 loudspeakers “100% Linn designed”.
To celebrate the announcement, Linn is introducing a new Walnut veneer finish coupled to a choice of either black or silver trim. Reassuringly, the new drivers will be made available as upgrades to existing 360 owners via local dealers.
Linn told SoundStage! Australia, “We were still fundamentally constrained by 360’s off-the-shelf low-frequency drive units. They were the most significant remaining source of distortion and noise in the whole system. We have since devoted three years to designing our own drive units from the ground up.”
Linn’s engineers aimed to eliminate any source of distortion while dealing with mechanical, magnetic and thermal issues inherent in dynamic drivers. To that end, the Pistonik drivers have been designed with a “permanent” magnet saturation strategy which is said to minimise magnetic “drag” and reduce amplifier current demand. The Pistonik drivers feature an aluminium diaphragm which combines lightweight with rigidity coupled to a large voice coil, dual spiders, and “triple-layer ventilation network” designed to eliminate air compression and which rejects heat into steel and aluminium driver parts.
Of course, the Pistonik drivers are fully compatible with Linn’s Exakt time alignment technology that also corrects for crossover phase and delay issues. Exakt settings in existing systems can be updated and adjusted to incorporate the Pistonik driver upgrades.
The new Pistonik drivers are available via Linn dealers around Australia.
Linn Pistonik Drivers
Price: Pistonik Driver Upgrade AU$29,995, Linn 360 Exakt AU$219,995, Linn 360 PWAB AU$149,995
Australian Distributor: Advance Audio Australia
+61 2 9561 0799
www.advanceaudio.com.au
