Linaeum Model 10, easily the most uncannily real imaging of anything I ever heard. As one who was not usually complimentary of my choices said of the soundstage these things presented, "You were swimming in it."
Made by a small company in Portland, OR, I once brought mine to the designers home for a tweeter upgrade, after which they looked less elegant but sounded even better. The dipole tweeter, sat on top of an otherwise ordinary brick standing on end shaped enclosure, consisted of an ordinary driver that instead of driving a cone had two ribbons of plastic that came together at the coil and curved out and around. The ribbons, instead of being rigid like other drivers was just stiff enough to hold its shape but very flexible, the idea being instead of acting like a piston it flexes with the signal and propagates the wave form along the ribbon. Another identical driver facing backwards and wired out of phase made it dipole. However odd that sounds the music it made was enthralling. The only component my wife ever told me to buy!
Why don't I still have them? Two reasons. One, the old saying sins of commission are worse than sins of omission? Its true. They had a mid-bass hump that I recognized the first time I heard them but was able to put aside for years hearing nothing better until I was offered a killer deal on the Talon Khorus. But I was unable to sell the Linaeums. So why don't I have them? The wife. Or should I say first wife. She took em.
That's how good they were.
Made by a small company in Portland, OR, I once brought mine to the designers home for a tweeter upgrade, after which they looked less elegant but sounded even better. The dipole tweeter, sat on top of an otherwise ordinary brick standing on end shaped enclosure, consisted of an ordinary driver that instead of driving a cone had two ribbons of plastic that came together at the coil and curved out and around. The ribbons, instead of being rigid like other drivers was just stiff enough to hold its shape but very flexible, the idea being instead of acting like a piston it flexes with the signal and propagates the wave form along the ribbon. Another identical driver facing backwards and wired out of phase made it dipole. However odd that sounds the music it made was enthralling. The only component my wife ever told me to buy!
Why don't I still have them? Two reasons. One, the old saying sins of commission are worse than sins of omission? Its true. They had a mid-bass hump that I recognized the first time I heard them but was able to put aside for years hearing nothing better until I was offered a killer deal on the Talon Khorus. But I was unable to sell the Linaeums. So why don't I have them? The wife. Or should I say first wife. She took em.
That's how good they were.