Floorstanding speakers for Linn Akurate 4200 amp.

Do you want to stay with Linn speakers and do you you want to stay Aktiv with your budget of $2000?

When you say you listen to all types of music except Country, I keep thinking of a line from the movie "The Blues Brothers". The band stops to play at a bar to play a warm up gig before their big concert. It appears to be a country type of bar. Elwood (Dan Akroyd) asks the waitress: "Excuse me miss, but what type of music do you normally have at this establishment". The waitress, in her cowboy outfit, cheerfully says: "Why, we have BOTH types of music here....Country AND Western".

So...you listen to Western eh.

If I stay with Linn, I would have to get away from Aktiv since I would need a second power amp to use with the newer Linn loudspeakers since most are now either 3-way or 4-way, requiring 6 to 8 channels. Unfortunately, I cannot afford both a second power amp and speakers.

Therefore, I don't mind getting away from Linn and/or Aktiv. However, to make full use of my 4-channel Linn Akurate 4200 powered amp, I would be interested in a bi-amp configuration.

I have a pair of Aktiv Katans with a Sizmik, and a pair of Aktiv Ninkas sitting around the house at the moment. They're powered with 5125 amps. So I'm in your ballpark as to what you're listening to.

Here's a couple of Linn options within $2000 if you want to go with floorstanding speakers.

First, Ninkas with or without Aktiv cards will keep you well within your budget. Ninkas can be bi-amped Aktively, so you don't need to add any amps.

Second, for about the same price as used Ninkas with Aktiv cards, you can get the Ninka's replacement, the Majik 140 (used). You can't go Aktiv with this unless it's quad amped, so you have to stay passive with this option given your budget.

Third, for close to the budget, you should be able to find a pair of Espeks (For less, you could find the Espek's predecessor, the AV5140). As with the Majik 140, you would have to stay passive given your budget. By the way, unlike the Majik 140, the Espek goes Aktiv with three amps, rather than four.

I don't feel comfortable commenting on non-Linn options, so I'll leave that to others who may respond.

Thanks for the feedback Markphd!

I exchanged some e-mails with Linn Support and also spoke with a Linn Distributor and both sources told me that Aktiv will always sound better than Passive. This is due to the fact that the signal is "split up" prior to being amplified due to the Linn design (Aktiv cards in power amp) as opposed to being amplified and then having the passive crossover split the signal. Both sources told me that Aktiv Katan speakers will sound better than either passive Majik 109 or passive Majik 140 speakers. However, in a full Aktiv configuration, both Majik 109 and Majik 140 speakers will definitely outperform Aktiv Katan speakers.

This is why I would need to go with a non-Linn solution if I do not add a second power amp which I cannot afford if I upgrade my speakers.