Hi folks,
I have the opportunity to buy linn karik and numerik (maybe 1990s - haven’t asked yet) to go with existing setup. Any thoughts on this? Anything to look out for (can laser be easily replaced/can it be easily serviced, etc.) and will it make a good combo?
Any thoughts welcome.
Gavin
Had a Karik/Numeric setup in the mid- to late-90s. I enjoyed the sound; back then it was the first CD player that actually sounded musical to me. But it was in the shop frequently. And by 2001, the drawer had locked up. I moved on to a Unidisk 1.1.
Your choice, but I think the Karik’s age is a disqualifier. (FWIW, my Numeric still works.)
Agree - that 30 year old stuff can probably be bettered by brand new Naim CD5xxxx (whatever the current version is) or, even better, ripped and locally streamed music. The Karik/Numeric was fabulous in its day but its day has come and gone.
I was happy with a Karik/Numerik for years. I swapped for an Ikemi, which was a bit of an upgrade–more nuance and emotion. It seems to me that a single, newer box would afford less opportunities for problems and better sound. I then lucked into a gently used CDS3 and 555PS, which is jaw-droppingly better.
I agree that the boxes you are looking at must be quite old. Check with Linn to see if they can be serviced when necessary, and keep an eye out for a similarly priced Ikemi.
I would be wary, not only on the basis of longetivity, but also on how it might stand up to modern alternatives. My history was:
Ikemi was better than Karik/Numerik
…but…
Ikemi was blown out of the water by CDX2/XPS2
…but…
CDX2/XPS2 was similarly blown out ot the water by (an early) Akurate DS
…in any case, you should make sure that you know which version of the Numerik it is…I think that there were two.
Many thanks for the replies. The initial rush has receded! I’ll take heed with all the advice and take my time sourcing a decent second hand naim CD player. It’s one thing to find quality from older second hand models on a budget (the karik/numeric was quite the price in its day) and another for the damn thing going kaput within a year. Once again, the help is very much appreciated.
If you go with Naim, factor in the cost and availability of a separate power supply.
I think Naim Amps with a linn source always sounds the most musical to me. Having owned all the players mentioned my favourite is the ikemi, the cds3 and 555ps was clearly much better but there was something about the ikemi that was missing from the cds3 and found I was unable to listen to a cd all the way through without skipping tracks.
I still own a karik/numerik they can be had for £300 a piece these days so how can you go wrong.
Plus they would go perfectly into that system I wouldn’t buy a Naim CD player now as for the money there is much better out there for the money like rega or even Denon.
Well, if the mechanism (or the electronics) go out , there’s no fixing them.
Our Karik 3 is still operational, and it was in use recently. The Numerik’s round PSU blew up, but I was lucky enough to acquire a Slimline Brilliant and shoehorn it in.
I gave the round PSU to a contact on another forum, who was able to repair it, and it is, apparently still in use.
The Karik Numerik was a truly great player in it’s day. The problem is, the mech was made by Linn themselves and they stopped servicing them years ago.
Seems risky. The Numerik is probably okay if you can find somewhere to recap it. The question is really “how good a price?”
I had a Karik/Numeric setup in the mid 1990’s (also 72/140/Hicap) whilst living in Bahrain and it performed well, but it did fail twice. The nearest dealer to get repairs was in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) about a 500km each way drive, and a 10 hour wait at the border, each way, or ship it back to the UK and wait 4 months for it to clear customs coming back! I had it repaired twice, but even in 1997 spares were getting hard to come by. To be brutally honest the technology has moved on considerably, both for the drive and the DAC, they are cheap now for a reason.
Hello GMur 
…
If you give them a service,.recap,they will be like new again and play fantastic.
Now the electronics are just “old and tired”.
If you live in Sweden or Scandinavia,.I can put you in touch with a friend of mine.
He is exceptionally good at bringing older Linn products back to life.
He is incredibly passionate about what he does,.he has also designed a power-amp that plays better than Linn’s Solo monoblocks…
Then you understand at what level of knowledge he has.
So a Karik/Numerik can definitely be made to play fantastically again 
.
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