Having established its room and speaker optimisation with the launch of the Exakt system 18 months ago, and then expanding its appeal with the more affordable Exakt Akudorik late last year, Linn is now opening up the technology to a much wider range of products with the arrival of a new range of DS and DSM network music players, and the upgrading of existing models.

What’s more, it’s launching SPACE Optimisation, available not just for all-Linn systems and selected active speaker configurations, but for the first time tailored to a growing range of passive speakers, too.

SPACE Optimisation – the acronym stands for Speaker, Placement and Custom Environment – allows a system using one of Linn’s DS players to take account of not just the characteristics of the speaker in use, but also those of the room in which they’re used, and the listener’s seating position. It’s now possible for installer or consumer to take account of factors such as the size and kind of windows in the room, the material of the walls, and so on – all of which can affect the way the speakers interact with the room. That means performance can be optimised, even when domestic circumstances require the speaker to be used in less-than-deal locations within the room.

The technology is a part of a new line-up of Linn DS network players, with the Klimax DS, Akurate DS, Majik DS and Majik DSM models being replaced from today. The new models feature a new approach to clocking architecture for reduced jitter, and improved audio layout with less components and shorter signal paths. The new Klimax DS is priced at £13,300, Akurate DS is £4750, Majik DS is £1990 and Majik DSM is £2965, and in addition all the new models have Linn Exakt Link connectivity to allow them to be upgraded in the future to work with the company’s Exakt Aktiv systems.

The SPACE Optimisation features of the new models will also be available to owners of existing versions of those models via a firmware upgrade, and existing Klimax DS and Akurate DS owners can also take advantage of Linn’s Renew programme, which will enable a hardware upgrade to the latest specification, plus the return of their old hardware in a Renew enclosure, giving them two players for the price of one.

As well as working with Linn’s own speakers, the system now has information programmed in to allow it to work with the characteristics of a wide range of third-party passive speakers, and Linn says the list of models supported will grow rapidly.

No fewer than 10 Bowers & Wilkins models are supported – the Nautilus, 802 Diamond and 804, and the ‘S2’ versions of the 683/685/686 and CM1/CM6/CM8/CM9 – as well as the KEF Blade/Blade Two and LS50, ProAc Studio 118 and D18/D20/D30, Monitor Audio Silver 6/8, Spendor A3/A5r/A6r and Quad’s ESL2912.

The Klimax DS and Akurate DS models also provide SPACE Optimisation+, which takes this control to a further level with even greater processing when used in an Exakt system. As with Linn active (or Aktiv) speakers used with an Exakt system, this enhanced optimisation also allows the processing to take account of the characteristics of the individual drive units within the speakers. Currently SPACE Optimisation+ supports 21 Linn speaker models, plus the Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 802 Diamond, and the Kudos Titan II.

This technology will also be available for existing Klimax DSM and Exakt DSM models, which continue in production, as they already have the audio upgrades now available across the range.