LINN aktiv vs passive biamping

After playing with the treble a bit, some of the image and forwardness improved. But there is no immediacy. Louis Prima sounds like someone gave him valium. Jimi Hendrix is just playing notes at a recital. One may hear every ridge of his fingerprints plucking the strings, and Tim Alexander's thrumming kickdrum on Tommy the Cat has intoxicating punch and leading attack.

Too bad the sum of the whole is less than the individual parts. Diana Krall has all the sultriness of a wet paper bag. There seems to have been robbing from Peter to feed Paul- the midrange is GONE, and the extremes are excellent; too bad the midrange is where we hominids live.

Time to call LINN and get the skinny on the serials.

Sorry to hear of your problem, I agree with jwalkerstewart, those Activ cards do take a while to burn in! I put mine together and thought I'd made a huge mistake. Fortunately after a few months they really came together, so much so I put Activ cards in for the rears in my HT.

Now, on to the real issue......

Why are you using Kelidh Activ cards with Ninkas?? That is your most likely problem, call Linn in Jacksonville, FL (1-800-671-LINN) and get their tech support, they'll be able to tell you if they are compatable with the Ninkas.

I just purchased active cards (new from dealer) for Ninkas and am waiting for them to arrive. I'm almost positive that the Ninkas and Kelidhs use the exact same set of active cards. The cards need to match the crossover frequency of the speaker. I believe Ninkas are the successor to the Kelidh, so it makes sense that they would share the same crossover points, and thus active cards.

LINN tell me that the cards should work fine with the Ninkas. I was able to talk to a dealer who suggested that the speaker placement was probably to blame. Apparently aktiv speakers can need to be further away from the wall to avoid the midrange issues I've heard. They may be able to be spaced further apart too; slight toe seems to continue to be recommended.

Guess it's time for me to tango with the towers- nothing like moving spikes around a hardwood floor; thought that was finished with already. I'm dubious, the sound difference and dissappointment are huge between passive and aktiv.

Then the biggest obstacle- spousal disdain for speakers in the living space.

The cards are exactly the same for Ninkas and Keilidhs; I have a pair of Keilidhs with new Ninka activ cards, in fact. I'm dissapointed to hear of your continued sound problems! I would begin to consider at this point the possibility that you may have a problem with the used cards. Perhaps you could even spring for a new pair of Ninka cards to solve the issue. The positive difference in sound between active and passive in my system was tremendous, one of the most dramatic improvements I've made. And speaker placement should not be that critical; yes, they can be farther from the wall, but you should actually have more flexibility in many ways. Don't settle 'til you get it right!