Linn's Ninka speaker: Anyone heard it??

I admit to being a bit of a Linnie (Linnie's Anonymous, anyone?), but I also have never thought much of their speakers. The best one I've heard is the 5140, which is open and dynamic and punchier than the typical Linn speaker. I would add that their best gear, LP12 excepted, is the less expensive stuff. To me the only overrated aspect of Linn is the Komri-tri-amped with Klouts/Klimax. The Classik, on the other hand, is amazingly good for the price, and I love my little Majik. Their gear is generally very musical, bullet-proof, upgradable and not bad to look at either. I have a lot of brands ahead of them on my overrated list!

Well I came to Linn very lately, coming from Triangle, YBA, Acoustic Energy, Reference 3a Supreme II (list price was more than $10000) .... and to my surprise, after listening to the Ninkas for about 2 or 3 weeks, I dumbed my mutli thousand dollars speakers for a pair of Ninka. I have had Linn amplifiers, a Linn LP12 and I can assure you the Ninka was the most musical speaker among the one I had in the recent pasts. Only Triangle comes very close, but with different electronics. I must say that I got sick and tired of looking for the best amp-speaker match, the best pre amp, the best cables match ... Linn offers a no brainer: for a given budget you get a very musical system. And the more you spend, the more transparent the system becomes, the better is the soundstage .... but Linn never sacrifices musicality for soundstage or other sound "artifacts" .... my 2 cents.

...I owned Keilidhs (Ninka predecessor) previously and took them active and thought it vastly improved the performance. Much better control and dynamics, down low especially, but the speaker never satisfied me entirely in the bass department. I listened to the updated Ninkas and thought that were an improvement, but not enough to warrant the upgrade.

I really like the bang-for-buck of the active configuration and I like the "Linn Sound", so I opted for a used set of 5140s and I run them active. MUCH better. And for the money, I think the 5140s used (1700$ or so) offer a better value than new (well, that's goes for most all audio) Ninkas (or Espeks for that matter).

Maybe not the end of the rainbow in soundstaging, but they are very engaging and musical, and I can't get enough of the music these things produce!

here is the deal with Linn, they are polite speakers so using proper amplification is important. I bought a used pair of Ninkas on here last year and I am very happy with them-keep in mind I am driving them with a near 5K Thule amp. Also, I use very good cables. I heard a Ninka set up once with a simaudio amp and Nordost cables and it was great. So, what you feed the speakers matters. IMOP they are among the most acurate and musical speakers around with the right equipment. As a contrast you could try a pair of Focals with their berrylium tweeter, very dynamic. FYI the cables I am using are from Purist Audio design and they work well in my set-up. Hope this helps.

I know this is an old thread, but I’m sharing my experience for those who might be interested in Ninkas down the road. This is my current setup:

• Naim NAC32.5 Preamp with Ryan Sound Lab internals
  
• Ryan Sound Lab Active Crossover
  
• Naim NAP250 power amp for the high frequencies
  
• Naim NAP135 monoblock amps for the low frequencies
  

My previous speakers are B&W CDM 7NT which have tremendous transparency, wide and deep soundstage and detailed imaging. Each instrument seems to have its own place in "space" and nothing gets lost. All of that detail can become fatiguing over the course of a long listening session at high volume.

I was curious about the Ninkas so I bought a set when they came up for sale locally. Initially, I set them up WITHOUT the active crossover, just running them with the NAP135 monoblocks and they sounded awful - lifeless and muddy. I reconfigured the "cards" on the back of the speaker to put them into bi-amp active mode and ran them with my active crossover and all 3 amps. It made a HUGE difference. The detail in the high frequency range was still no where near as prominent as with my B&Ws, so I ordered a set of Hiquphon OW1 tweeters. These tweeters were a great upgrade and the difference in detail and life was immediate!

Here are my overall impressions of the Ninka:

Pros:

• Very accurate and tight bass response (no soft/boomy bass, but you can still "feel" the low notes)
  
• Great PRaT
  
• Easy to listen to even for extended sessions, very low fatigue
  
• Very neutral - no coloration added!

Cons:

• Limited soundstage/imaging - this might be a speaker placement issue, but I have not been able to get these to give the same wide/deep soundstage I get from the B&Ws. Instruments are very easily traced back to either speaker.
  
• Stock tweeters leave much to be desired. Mine came with the 038/2 tweeters and the Hiquphon OW1 was a very worthwhile $250 upgrade.
  
• Lackluster in passive mode - these things sound completely different when they are run actively!