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Akubariks Aktiv bass concerns

Nemick

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I have owned a pair of late model Akubariks Aktiv speakers for a couple of years and despite trying to convince myself others e, they’re simply lacking in bass. I am writing this in the hope that someone else who owns Akubariks (Aktiv or passive) can offer some advice on possible ways to get more bass.

It may turn out to be my room, which is a little lively or else just my overall setup.

I am feeding the Akubariks with an original Selekt with Line out module and Katalyst. The sound, while crystal clear is more like a stand mounted pair of monitors that need a sub woofer. The bass is working, as it is a little noticeable when turned off via the tuning knobs above the amps. I’m about to give up in the things as the Selekt/AkubariksAktiv is far less satisfying than a Naim Uniti Atom feeding a pair of passive Ninkas. The Atom/ Ninka combination has almost 3 times the bass of the Akubariks.

My room is concrete floor, normal drywall and about 24’ x 18’, drywall ceiling. I use Space now and then but it changes little.

I’d appreciate any insight or suggestions about how to figure this out. Are the Linn Class D active Amos really this lame?

Thanks

Neil M
 
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Mr2102

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How are they positioned, particularly how far from a rear wall are they?
And have you tried altering this?
 

Nemick

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How are they positioned, particularly how far from a rear wall are they?
And have you tried altering this?
I’ve moved the speakers all over. Close to walks and corners, away from walls and corners. Very little difference, TBH

Neil M
 

Nopiano

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Sorry to hear of your disappointment. A picture speaks a thousand words - or whatever the saying is - can you post a few?

I might be imagining a fairly typical British carpeted and curtained room, but you might live in a loft apartment with floor to ceiling glass!
 
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Nemick

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Sorry to hear of your disappointment. A picture speaks a thousand words - or whatever the saying is - can you post a few?

I might be imagining a fairly typical British carpeted and curtained room, but you might live in a loft apartment with floor to ceiling glass!
I’ll take a few photos and see if I can post them

Neil M
 

grommeteer

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Neil,

I don´t know if this is relevant to your question, but:
I own the original active Akubariks, not the exakt variety.
They have class AB amplification that is similar to Akurate and Majik level amplifers.
They have symmetrical XLR inputs.
I use symmetrical Linn silver cables with them.
I live in a timber building with wooden ceiling and plaster board walls. These walls eat up some bass energy. The room never was boomy.
And my Akubariks do put out a lot of bass. If anything, the bass is relatively soft and goes quite deep. So no, I do not feel there is any lack of bass at all with them.
I can compare to active Ninkas with Majik amplification that I had before an those do not go anywhere as deep as the Akubariks.
Now that my ears are getting older and a lot of the music from my youth gets remixed to sound more analog (whatever that ist) I tend to feel that my Akubariks sound a bit mufled.
I would rather have a little more treble.
So my experience is quite contrary to yours. Strange!
 
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Andyt916

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Uhm

I tried them once and find them too lean sounding (I use the Silver RCA since years) ...

The same with the T-Kable (RCA good while XLR dead)
Hmmm, I don't want to derail the thread so won't dive into details, but your description "too lean sounding" is a very good description of what I have been hearing since my last upgrade. This features Linn Silver XLRs from pre to power amps, with RCAs further upstream. I shall take your advice onboard and try it with RCAs. Thank you.
 

Sound Hound

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FWTIW Preamps, interconnects etc etc aren't going to make any meaningful difference. The reason for your perceived lack of bass is simply down to the room. All untreated rooms have standing waves, and if your listening position is sited where these waves cancel out you'll have no bass. Relocating the speakers and listening position isn't always easy but will make a world of difference.
 

HansBertil

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I have owned a pair of late model Akubariks Aktiv speakers for a couple of years and despite trying to convince myself others e, they’re simply lacking in bass. I am writing this in the hope that someone else who owns Akubariks (Aktiv or passive) can offer some advice on possible ways to get more bass.

It may turn out to be my room, which is a little lively or else just my overall setup.

I am feeding the Akubariks with an original Selekt with Line out module and Katalyst. The sound, while crystal clear is more like a stand mounted pair of monitors that need a sub woofer. The bass is working, as it is a little noticeable when turned off via the tuning knobs above the amps. I’m about to give up in the things as the Selekt/AkubariksAktiv is far less satisfying than a Naim Uniti Atom feeding a pair of passive Ninkas. The Atom/ Ninka combination has almost 3 times the bass of the Akubariks.

My room is concrete floor, normal drywall and about 24’ x 18’, drywall ceiling. I use Space now and then but it changes little.

I’d appreciate any insight or suggestions about how to figure this out. Are the Linn Class D active Amos really this lame?

Thanks

Neil M
I’ve browsed the conversation but couldn’t find any information on whether you are using Space Optimization or not. If you do, what if you turn it off.

My take on SO is that if not treated gently in the setup it sucks the bass out. I’m using passive Akubariks myself together with SO (adjusted from default) with very good result. Without SO the bass is impressive but unbearable in the long run.
 

Paulssurround

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I have owned a pair of late model Akubariks Aktiv speakers for a couple of years and despite trying to convince myself others e, they’re simply lacking in bass. I am writing this in the hope that someone else who owns Akubariks (Aktiv or passive) can offer some advice on possible ways to get more bass.

It may turn out to be my room, which is a little lively or else just my overall setup.

I am feeding the Akubariks with an original Selekt with Line out module and Katalyst. The sound, while crystal clear is more like a stand mounted pair of monitors that need a sub woofer. The bass is working, as it is a little noticeable when turned off via the tuning knobs above the amps. I’m about to give up in the things as the Selekt/AkubariksAktiv is far less satisfying than a Naim Uniti Atom feeding a pair of passive Ninkas. The Atom/ Ninka combination has almost 3 times the bass of the Akubariks.

My room is concrete floor, normal drywall and about 24’ x 18’, drywall ceiling. I use Space now and then but it changes little.

I’d appreciate any insight or suggestions about how to figure this out. Are the Linn Class D active Amos really this lame?

Thanks

Neil M
Hi Neil,

As I recall you live in Indianapolis, and were a crew chief for a racing team? 😊

I started my Aktiv Akubariks journey when they first came out. I was told I had the very first pair sold to a customer in North America. They have been upgraded over the years to Exakt and then Katalyst.

I have made substantial gains in sound quality over the years, with a variety of improvements. I have found ways to improve the bass to become more deep, detailed and musical

Just for the record, mine are toed-in and if you measure from the front plate of the Akubariks to the front wall, they are 32 inches on the inside edge to the front wall and 34 inches on the outside edge to the front wall. The speakers are 84 inches apart on the inside edge, between the speakers, and I sit 9 feet away from the front of the Akubariks. This is the ideal position for my room and setup and gives superb imaging.

I have found that bass can suffer if the Ethernet cables, interconnects and speaker wires are near any power cord or power source. Separating the Ethernet cables, interconnects and speaker cables away from any power cable should find better sound quality from bass to highs.

I installed bass traps to mitigate the second and third reflections of bass bouncing around the room, off the ceiling, floor and walls. This not only provided deeper bass, but also helps to reduce standing waves that cancel bass.

I have found improvement in bass with better power cords, and cleaning up the power supply to my Akubariks and DSM.

Placing my Akubariks on Isoacoustic Gaias was another option that greatly improved the bass and overall sound quality of the music on every level. Akubariks would require Isoacoustic Gaia II’s and you would need to specify that they come with the M12 bolts when you order them. The M12 bolts should be supplied free in North America.

When I play stereo music, I turn off SO, and only use it for playing 5.1 music In my system, bass is much enhanced with SO turned off for stereo in my system. That said, I make sure that the room dimensions and setup, speaker placement , listening position, building materials etc are accurately entered into SO.

I make sure that my 3K arrays are torqued at 0.85 Nm, the lower mid driver at 1.0 Nm and the Isobarik bass drivers at 2.0 Nm.

Hope that helps
Paul
 
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ola_strandberg

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I have Katalyst Exakt Akubariks with a Selekt DSM and have similar problems... Space Optimization was done by the dealer at installation.

They sound absolutely stunning, and it is by far the best system I have ever owned. Bass response didn't bother me too much initially, but it has been growing on me over the past few months as I have occasionally listened through my old system, which was relegated to the TV room, and through headphones. It is as if there is a low pass filter in the system, just cutting everything under 80 Hz. Disabling SO gives a little more bass, but it is way less than what I would expect, and not necessarily in a pleasant way.

For example, the bass note at 40 seconds into Fate by H.E.R. It comes out as a whisper in my system, but fills the entire room with my Buchardt A500s in the TV room.

My conclusion is that it must be my listening room (which is large-ish, oddly shaped and connects to my kitchen), or speaker placement. I haven't made the effort yet to start messing with placement again, but will have to do so, I think. I refuse to think that the speakers themselves would be incapable of reproducing solid deep bass.
 
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HIGHWAY61

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I find all Linn speakers have a really clean crisp musical reproduction, but I feel they all lack a bit in the bass. I always augment them with a sub-woofer which always helps, but that is just how it works for me.
 

Tendaberry

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I have Katalyst Exakt Akubariks with a Selekt DSM and have similar problems... Space Optimization was done by the dealer at installation.
It is as if there is a low pass filter in the system, just cutting everything under 80 Hz. Disabling SO gives a little more bass, but it is way less than what I would expect, and not necessarily in a pleasant way.
I refuse to think that the speakers themselves would be incapable of reproducing solid deep bass.
Don't give up! I only have externally active Akubariks, but there's no lack of bass. And I'm sure Paulssurround will chime in soon, to assure you, that the Exact Akubariks certainly don't lack bass.
First of all, switch off SO and spend some hours finding the perfect position. Mine have no toe-in for instance. First experiment with the distance to the rear wall, the the distance between them and last (possibly) toe-in.
Have you tried experimenting with the optimization preference slider in SO+?
 

akamatsu

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There should be no lack of bass with Akubariks, especially with SO turned off. I'd recommend doing this just to hear the upper limit on bass energy available. My system sounds much more tuneful with SO applied, and the bass reeled in quite a bit. The bass becomes more tuneful, and higher frequencies are better revealed. Another factor is volume. Our hearing doesn't perceive bass frequencies as easily as higher frequencies. Therefore, the volume needs to be turned up to get the full bass effect.
 
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Paulssurround

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Don't give up! I only have externally active Akubariks, but there's no lack of bass. And I'm sure Paulssurround will chime in soon, to assure you, that the Exact Akubariks certainly don't lack bass.
First of all, switch off SO and spend some hours finding the perfect position. Mine have no toe-in for instance. First experiment with the distance to the rear wall, the the distance between them and last (possibly) toe-in.
Have you tried experimenting with the optimization preference slider in SO+?
Thank you Tendaberry.

As you mentioned, my Exakt Katalyst Akubariks have substantial bass, especially with SO turned off. As I have an L-shaped listening room, SO seems to cut back the volume of my right speaker, which effects the mids especially, as well as the bass.

With SO turned off, the bass is highly satisfactory, volume level in the front left and right speakers is balanced and imaging is superb.

As mentioned in above post, I was able to get significantly better bass using bass traps, upgraded Ethernet cables and power cords and an audiophile switch, as well as a number of other upgrades.
 

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