Linn Classik Movie Di
 As
a full-fledged technoweenie, I like big stuff: big speakers, big amps, big screens,
and women with big . . . hair (hey, I’m from the South). As someone who lives in a
New York apartment, that tends to be a problem. When space is dear, small is better.
Simple is nice, too. Sure, I can run wires under carpets,
behind molding, and even through walls, but that ranks just behind housework on my list of
fun things to do -- and housework, as anyone who has visited can attest, is waaay
down on the list.
There are convenient one-box solutions to the piles
of equipment seemingly inherent in the serious pursuit of the home-theater hobby, however.
They’re called home-theaters-in-a-box. They’re cheap, and watching a movie on
most of ’em is like kissing your sister -- better than passing time on your own, but
not something you’d invite your friends over to watch.
But those clever Scots over at Linn -- the Glasgow company
that put the fun back in multifunctional with the Classik Music system --
have done it again. Using secret Hibernian tesseract technology, they have managed to
shoehorn a DVD player, preamplifier-processor, tuner, and five channels of 75W
amplification into a single box just a smootch over 3" high and 12.5" on a side.
It’s easy to use, too.
And it’s really good. And it’s che--
Well, actually, it costs $3995 USD, which isn’t really
cheap, except to reviewers and those folks who make a habit of not having to pay any
taxes. But in a town where studio apartments now sell for seven figures, space is money,
and Linn’s Classik Movie Di saves you a lot of space.
And did I mention that it was good?
First she took his order, then she took his heart
The Classik Movie Di is cute -- no other word will do.
It’s small, uncluttered, and comes in one of five nifty colors: black, silver, Arktik
white, Koral blue, and Baltik green. (Given Linn’s love of puns and the letter k,
I was disappointed they couldn’t do better than that with the colors.) Don’t let
the tiny footprint and pretty faceplates fool ya, though -- the Di weighs a hefty 11
pounds. No, you won’t need a truss to lift it, but it’s not a lightweight.
The Classik Movie Di boasts a high-quality CD/DVD
"engine," as Linn likes to style it, but does not offer DVD-Audio or SACD
capabilities. Its processor section provides Dolby Digital and DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II
surround synthesis, and, it should go without saying, two-channel stereo. It does not
offer Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES, which I find pleasant but nonessential -- especially in
the smaller rooms the Linn seems so obviously designed for.
The Classik Movie Di boasts the same tuner section as the
Classik Music system, and in radio Linn reigns supreme. The Classiks are extremely good
radios -- and you can input 80 presets, assuming you find that many stations worth
listening to.
The Di’s amplifier section is rated at 75Wpc, which
probably isn’t enough juice to run movie spectaculars at full bore in a big room. I
say probably because it did just fine with three small speaker systems I had on
hand: five Mirage Omnisats, Infinity’s TSS-750 speaker system, and four Magnepan MMG
Ws and an MMG C (a system that’s neither all that little nor all that efficient).
The Linn’s front panel is relatively uncluttered.
Flanking the central disc drawer and display are mirror-imaged scroll wheels surrounded by
six satellite button controls. These are well marked and reasonably intuitive, but I found
the remote even easier to use -- when I could find it. It’s long and narrow and easy
to put down between things (I told you housework was way down the list).
The Movie Di’s rear panel, on the other hand,
is jam-packed with inputs, outputs, and otherputs. For audio inputs it’s got two
analog stereo line-level RCAs, two AV SCARTs, a six-channel analog, and two TosLink
optical digitals. The outputs are one TosLink optical digital, a subwoofer, an analog RCA,
five pairs of BFA speaker outputs, and FM and AM antenna connections. On the video side
are composite input/output, S-video in/out, and RGB (Y-Pb-Pr) component in/out. There are
also four RJ-45 ports, a Linn Knekt accessory port, a Knekt room controller input, and IR
in/out. Oh yeah, and an IEC AC connection.
Setting up the Movie Di was a piece of cake. I connected
its RGB output to my SIM2 HT200 DMF and attached my speaker wires to the supplied BFA
connectors (make sure you retrieve these from the box, because you will not find
’em at RatShack). I accessed the menu by pressing the remote’s Menu button
(yeah, I’m a pro all right). I went to General Setup and picked my TV display
(4:3/Letterbox/16:9), TV type (Multi/NTSC/PAL), video out (S-video/Composite/Both), and a
few other minor housekeeping options. I then went to Speaker Setup and went through the
usual drill: Size, Distance, Subwoofer Yes/No, and individual speaker calibration. Audio
Setup let me choose output mode (Analog, S/PDIF/RAW, S/PDIF/PCM) for the tape loop, line
or TV output, a Dolby Pro Logic option (On/Off/Auto) for stereo optical discs, and
dynamic-range compression settings. To top it off, you can choose a subtitle language
(Glaswegian, disappointingly, is not an option), establish parental restrictions, and
choose access passwords.
This all sounds more complicated than it actually is when
you have menus prompting you at every step. I do a lot of these, so it didn’t take
more than about 15 minutes, but even if you’ve never set up a home theater, it
won’t take you half an hour. Just think -- you can set up a home theater in the time
it takes to see a rerun of M*A*S*H for the umpteenth time.
Dear Mama, life is just heaven in the sun
If setting up the Linn was easy, using it was stone simple.
Once you’ve told it how you want it to behave, you just load the drawer and hit Play.
The Classik Movie Di’s video performance was superb.
The Di lacks progressive scan, but didn’t seem to suffer from it. Yes, on some
images, I was aware of certain interlacing "hangovers," but most nonprogressive
players don’t handle them as well as the Linn did. Colors were deep and rich, and
low-level details were sharp.
The very finest video performers I’ve auditioned
remain the Krell DVD Standard and the TAG McLaren DVD32R, at approximately twice and
twice-and-a-half the Linn’s price (and keep in mind that the Linn is an all-in-one
system). Yes, they’re fantastic, but I can’t even dream of owning them. My
yardstick for real-world, real-value DVD video remains the $1599 Arcam DV88 Plus, which
does have progressive output; the Linn doesn’t, but still runs a close second.
I had my gym buddy Steve over to watch Hellboy on
the Linn. He went nuts. "This is fantastic -- I can’t believe what I’m
seeing," he said. "And the sound -- I had no idea that surround could sound this
good. Where’s the DVD player?"
I pointed.
"That’s it? Where’re the amps?"
I pointed at the Movie Di again.
"No! What else do you need?"
Just the projector and the speakers, chum.
"Wait until I bring my wife over to see this."
Tee hee heee -- I giggle my evil giggle.
But Steve was right. Hellboy looked and sounded
awfully impressive through the Linn -- I own the DVD, and I was surprised at how
good the surround sounded.
But what I really wasn’t prepared for was how good CDs
sounded through the Movie Di. I should have expected it -- after all, Linn makes the
best-sounding CD player I’ve ever heard, the $20,000 Sondek CD12, and I do own a
Classik Music system. But I just didn’t think of the Movie Di as a CD player,
although of course all DVD players play CDs -- most of ’em just don’t do it all
that well. But, like the McCormack UDP-1 I review this month at www.onhifi.com, the Linn
didn’t just play CDs, it made ’em sing.
It also made me dance, which shouldn’t have surprised
me either -- it was Linn who came up with the famous (some would say infamous) toe-tap
test. Just in case you’re not as grizzled as I am: The toe-tap test was Linn’s
way of saying that rhythm is important, and that if a system made it hard for you to keep
time with it, it was doing something bad to the music. You ought to be able to tap your
foot to a tune.
You can with the Movie Di. I grabbed a few of my favorite
discs, such as Steve Earle’s Sidetracks [Artemis 751128], and boogied my way
through many a laundry day listening to "Creepy Jackalope Eye," "Time Has
Come Today," and "Johnny Too Bad." I should probably also mention that the
timbres were true, the bass was crisp and well delineated, and the backup vocals shone
like silver -- but more than anything else, that album rocked.
As did, in an odd way, Jacaras! [Harmonia Mundi
907212], a collection of cumbées and fandangos for lute, harp, and psaltery. The
music has big presence -- and a big beat -- but it’s performed by instruments that
aren’t exactly a match for the electric geetar. No matter. The Linn captured the
delicacy of the string tones and the resonant venue in which the works were played, while
pumping up the energy level and intensity to the proper romping levels.
If you find that combination difficult to imagine,
you’ve been listening to a lesser CD player.
From small things, Mama, big things one day come
I probably haven’t done full justice to just how
wonderful the Linn Classik Movie Di really is. That’s because it’s almost too
much of a good thing. It’s an extremely good DVD player and a darn good radio and an
exceptional CD player. Its amp section sounds good -- especially paired with the right
speaker in a mid-sized room. And it offers all kinds of multiroom capabilities I never
even explored (Linn’s Knekt system is aces in this regard).
Does this little dynamo have a downside? Well, at $3995 it
isn’t inexpensive, although I don’t think its price is unreasonable; it just
isn’t as cheap as I am -- or as circumstances have forced me to become. No matter.
You could easily spend more than $4000 on A/V separates and not match the Classik’s
overall performance. Factor in its ease of use and tiny footprint, and it becomes
extremely hard to call the Linn "extravagant."
Yes, I do like big stuff -- and the Linn Classik Movie Di
is big where it counts. That’s no small thing.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Linn Classik Movie Di
Price: $3995 USD.
Warranty: Two years parts and labor.
Linn Products Limited
Floors Road
Waterfoot, Eaglesham
Glasgow G76 OEP
Scotland, UK
Phone: 44 (0) 141-307-7777
Website: www.linn.co.uk
North American distributor:
Linn Inc. (America)
8787 Perimeter Park Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32216
Phone: (904) 645-5242
Fax: (904) 645-7275
Website: www.linninc.com
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