Upgrading my Linn set up HELP advice please

Joolz,

You need a TUBE preamp. Seriously. I own a Wakonda and like I said before, it's okay. Sonically, the Linn preamps haven't come far since the days of the LK1. What they are now is feature rich. If you want to whole-house your system then the Linn preamps make it a snap but if you want to take the performance up several notches go with a tube unit.

Joolz, it's great playing backup to Lugnut. He's right, you know. Look at what I said up above: one nice thing about Linn active systems is you don't have to use Linn amps. That goes for preamps too. You can have a wonderful Aktiv system eventually, and with careful shopping it will sound better than anything Linn can sell for the same money... or maybe even for a bit more.

Your Linn dealer will not agree.

Upgrades are expensive. Don't fool around; get the very best preamp you can afford. Do you absolutely, positively feel you must go Linn? Then in Linn-relative terms, the Majik is a lot better than the Classik, the Wakonda is a nice step up from the Majik, and the Kairn is a real upgrade from the Wakonda. In high-end relative terms, though, the Kairn is good; the Wakonda is OK; the Classik will do nicely in a bedroom. If you want REALLY musical, oh-darn-I-hate-to-turn-my-system-off sound for similar money, look elsewhere is good advice.

P.S. you asked about an AA DAC, and again my advice is to get the very best you can squeeze out of your wallet. IMHO you need to do more research on DACs before you choose one. You may do better with a two-box upgrade, but OTOH you may not. (A tip: if you do go for a DAC, try to find an Apogee DA1000E if you can.) However, if I were you, I would not let the appearance of a deal on a possibly-interesting DAC distract me from my main search now, which is for a preamp. You will not recognize your system once you have found that.

tobias......you said i may want to look where else if i want a better system for the sort of money i have....
i hate to be nieve but could you lead me in a direction there.
obviously i could spend my money wiser elsewhere as it takes a lot of money to fuel a linn system.
could you maybe recomend a cd player,intergrated amp and stand mount speakers in the mid price range....
cheers guys
lot of help

Well, take Lugnut's advice and try to find a Supratek Syrah. That's the elsewhere I was thinking of.

As for an integrated... if it were me looking, I'd want to hear an Audiomat (French), or for less money, a Cayin or HIT Audio (Chinese). These are tube machines with around 30 wpc depending on the model. If I preferred solid state and maybe more watts I'd want to hear Vecteur, YBA (both French), a SimAudio (Canadian like me) or a Shanling SLM-40 (Chinese). But I don't know... the Pretek / Powertek is good equipment and replacing your Pretek with a Syrah might cost no more than any of these options and give yousound just as good, with an easy upgrade to the amp later on.

It's hard to be asked to recommend a whole system. I don't know what kind of sound you like. I had a Shanling CD-T100 player (about $2G) that I liked a lot, and in Canada you can get two other Shanlings which are equally good value for money at lower price points. As for monitors, I'm listening to an Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 pair at the moment and they're very nice. I would also be interested in Harbeth's current LS 3/5A-type, and a long time ago I heard the Totem Model 1 and enjoyed it, but it needs lots of power.

It's a pleasure and a compliment to be asked for advice and I respect any naive person who has the courage to say so.