speed & depth, soundstage, ease, clarity tight controlled bass

a bit pricey

Well I tried pass labs x250 , mark levinson 332, krell krc250 and linn klimaxs. The linns won me over they are so fast very liquid and have deep bass if I want I can crank them as loud as I want and they handle the my b&W N802s with ease. I am talking about concert levels in your home and they have no problem sustaining it. Now I don't usually play my stereo that loud but I was more worried about them being able to handle any music with ease and have great depth and soundstage. I really like levinson but it was just a touch too dark and warm not bad but not the klimaxs. It was a tough choice but the klimaxs seemed to shine on all the little things and do everything so well. The krell was just too in my face it seemed to have so much power it overpowered the music and my listening enjoyment. the pass labs were very liquid and warm but they seem to be a little sluggish and murky. I still can't get over the klimax how they have so much musical power and warmth from something so small I dont know how they do it but they do. I had bryston 6bst and a aragon 8008bb before I went klimax and it is night and day difference and I would have to say all these other amps are fine choices but the klimax just felt right for me. for the demo price for the pair they were a grat deal for me.

Similar Products Used:

aragon 8008bb bryston 6bst mark levinson 332 krell 250 pass labs x250

Power and slam.

No finesse.

Got to listen to the Klimax's with B&W 800 series speaks and compare to Classe Omega thru ML#32 to B&W Nautilus. Don't remember the pre for the Klimax's. As expected the Omega/ML#32/Nautilus system bested the Klimax system. Not really comparing apples to apples but I spent way more time listening to the Omega system. It was just more compelling and transparent. Never been a big fan of switch mode (read trick or Bob Carver)power supplies. Hiddeously over priced hence the generous trade in policy. Linn house sound. For twenty large I think you can do better and with gear made in this country. PS...Linn was sold to the Japs.

everything

none

excellent product, deep bass rich sound behind it. better than krell and ML. looks very nice.not a big machine in you room.

Similar Products Used:

linn ikemi cd-player. siltech cables. dynaudio speakers.

Very compact and elegant design, sound neutral along the whole frequency range, excellent integration with other Linn components

expensive in absolute terms

Visiting Harrods in London I spent a few moments listening to their 86.000£GB Linn Hi-Fi system: CD 12, AV Pre, 4 Klimax amp and the 4-amp loudspeakers. The sound was powerfull, neutral I would say natural with the music playing at the moment ( female vocals). Need to hear other sounds to evaluate its overall performances.

Everything

Nothing

Nothing comes close to the Linn Klimax's and I mean nothing. Up against the big Levinsons there is no comparison. Linn makes the best equipment on the market period. Even at 20K these amps are a bargain considering what the alternative is at the same price. Obviously some of the people who reviewed these amps never listened to them. There is a reason that Linn slogan is "The Only Sound".

Similar Products Used:

Just about everything out there

Amp that weighs less than 25lbs a piece and puts out 500 watts!!! of clean power. I was very very skeptical. I A/B the unit with the biggest of the big boys (Mark Levinson 33) driving Reval Salon using Tara One (Garden Hose) speaker cables. The front end was ML 30.5/31.5 using ML 32 preamp all using Tara One interconnect via ISM Mono blocks.
Whell here is what I heard for my self. The Linn Klimax blew me away!!!. The sound was so fast, tight and clear with absolute finesse it made the ML 33 sound slow, dull and sloppy. So much that I along with about 6 other people in the sound room stood silent after the music got done playing. We cranked this amp up, I mean way up 85 - 90 level on the ML 32 preamp and it controlled the Revel Salons better than any amp that have ever been attached to this speaker. This includes ML 33, ML 33H, Exposure, Bi amped 2 Linn Klouts. This amp uses the propriatary Linn Silent 4G power supply which also demands clean power directly out of the wall rather than through any line conditioner. Listening through the Cinepro 20 the transformer made the sound slower and dead. Essentially the principle of this amp is it will draw current as it demands without capacitive storage or inductive transformers. All I can say is very very efficient amplifiers. So that eliminates about 300lbs off of the weight from the ML 33 and about 100lbs of additional metal leaving the ML with about 85lbs for the components including metal.

The amp did get fairly hot during high level play back where the internal fan (sounding like a cool jet) came on for a very short period of time. The unit is made with a solid block of aluminum with individual cavities for power supply and the analog output stage. To truely drive this amp to its fullest capacity place a dedicated 230v 30amp line within your home for these amps and you will know the meaning of the word powerful sound.

I don't know what ML or guys like Krell, Jeff Rowland, YBA have up thier sleeves but it better be extremely significant to beat this amp. Maybe they can OEM the power supply from Linn and incorporate thier output stage (I don't think Linn will do this). But considering it beat the living hell out of these $38000 pair of ML 33's. I would say save your electricity bill and your wallet and demo these Linn amps before you look at a referance amp. I also should mention that these amps are the best looking amps I have come across. For $20000 it is definately worth a listen if you are looking for a referance system, however Linn also has a promo where they are taking back in any Linn amps for full retail price as trade towards the Kliamx. Listen for your self and be your own judge, I did.

As a REAL enthusiast and not a "audiophile" that is more interested in the next batch of adjectives to describe some megabuck piece of equipment, I can tell you I am dissapointed with this product in several areas.
First off, the performance, build, name does NOT warrant the ridiculous price. This amp is obviously an art piece for the psuedo-audiophile crowd, not a investment in audio excellence. After listening to the ridiculous rhetoric of a local high end salesman that spewed the normal vacuous adjectives and statements as the reviewer above, I took a pair home. Big Mistake! Performance was on par, or a little less than with the Coda amp I was using. You can do better.
This amp commands the price because of what Linn thinks is esoteric technology. For 20K, a monkey can do better than this Linn decorative accessory.