I never saw a pair of “official” active Kans. I left retail in 1987 and ceased dealing in Linn and Naim in 1991. It wasn’t until the late 90s that I found out Linn were putting the crossovers outside the box, (which is what I did to my Kans so that I could go active/passive easily).
Also I never knew 42s came with an option of an internal cross over module/cards.
Funny what you miss along the way.
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Thanks Steve,
I think Linn just supplied the active Kan 1 without any crossover at all - they just added the extra connectors on the back, but could be wrong
Yup, I recall there was a pair that use to be at the factory, usually piping Spire FM into the component stores area. They had a Naim PXO plugged into the back.
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Never heard of the PXO before. So, you could just order them for Linn speakers and run off a passive amp?
It was a Naim passive crossover - probably from IBLs. It was probably close enough to work although it looked most ungainly hanging of the back. Luckily the Kans were tucked away up in the corners so not so easy to see.
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IIRC the very earliest NAIT2s had a fault on the PCB which meant that the speaker channels were reversed. Too late to change so the rear labels were modified. It ws eventually corrected with a revised board.
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You have serviced a few of mine that were like that Darran. Makes speaker connections easier….
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Mine, the one that you help to sort, has the channels reversed.
Yes, Bandit. Yours has an early Nait2 serial number.
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There’s a few NAIT1 out there which have ch1 and ch2 swapped on the “tuner” DIN input.
Must admit I’d never noticed on mine until I read about it and checked!
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Interesting these early production differences!
Mine (also sourced by @anon27418182) has the channels as usual, so with the revised board then, serial no. 498XX
Indeed - mine does this.
That’s an interesting perspective. I’ve not had the C but I did have an older AT95E and when the VM line replaced, it I went straight for the AT-VM95SH. I wonder if I’ve chosen the most boring of them all. 
I’ve got the VM and SH stylus. VM is the livelier one. SH sounds a bit more meaty. Most of the time I use the VM. But if a record is particularly bright sounding, the SH tends to sound better.
Great that it’s so easy to swap out stylus tips to tweak the sound
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The SH is the only one I don’t have so can’t comment on it. The C and E are so cheap that you might as well experiment if and when the mood takes you.
Finally found a good balance for the Lingo/Ekos/Adikt deck with the Kan 1s. The 42.5/110 seems to be the key instead of using 12/160 or 32.5/160. The slightly clearer 42.5 and punchier 110 help cut through the thicker MM sound. I love vintage Linn but it’s very coloured and a bugger to get sounding right. I suspect the Nait would be even better but I need all the bass I can get. This is now more musical than with the same spec deck but with rebuilt Troika. It’s taken ages to get this far but mostly been steps forward.
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Good result! The 42.5/110 is surprisingly open sounding and quite honest to the source sound so I’d say the LP12 setup you’re using is really working well or you’d soon know it.
Recently I’ve once more reintroduced the (now freshly serviced) 250 in place of the 110, along with the recently serviced 42.5/HiCap and (at long last) I’m getting the kind of result I’ve been hoping for. It’s that sound where technically everything sounds just right, yet I’m not distracted by that - instead fully absorbed in the music.
My only problem now is the 250 ain’t got a chrome bumper 
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Sorry, we can’t talk to you about that here 
No, that’s good hear. The 250 is a lovely sounding amp and got bags of control.
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Great place to be and one that can be very elusive. It’s no good having a wonderfully coherent and tuneful system if there’s some element of the sound that is distracting you all too often. It’s like lazy Hollywood film making when you’re suddenly taken out of the movie experience cos something is unbelievable.
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