Forgot about the n50
Way back in the day I did a CB 42/Snaps/Naxo/2 x 110 into both SARAs and Mk1 Kans. The Kans were hacked by me from passive to active. I loved both combos, but the Kan set-up worked better. In some ways even better than my earlier bolt down 32/Snaps/Naxo/3 x 250/PMS Isobariks. I love FAST! Back then you could just drop cards out of your Naxo so it could be 2 way or 3 way, this was before the 135s dropped.
There even was a 42 with a built in cross over so you could go 42/2 x 100 into SARAs. Here in sunny Perth we sold this combo a few times. Arena, (the Aussie Linn/Naim importer), never imported the active Kans as far as I know.
SBLs arrived along about the same time as the CB 42.5 and 32.5, I think a client may have run active with CB 160s but donât take my word for it.
Anyway, I still remember the thrill of active Kans. But not as good as passive Kans with a Mitch Cotter preamp and behemoth Stax DA100 class A. But that was another universe.
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Naim would send them back to the Linn factory but Iâm told only a handful of pairs were ever converted this way. There was no âofficialâ active Kan from Linn. This procedure would have come to an end mid-80s for obvious reasons.
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I must confess, i really thought there was an official active Kan, Sara and Isobarik early in. I remember all the boxes, and they always had either active or passive written on the side, with a box ticked for the iteration.
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Do you recall Kan boxes having that option though?
I canât say 100%, but iâm pretty sure they did. Maybe a Linn dealer from back then on here can comment?
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It certainly were active Kans from factory 
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There were active Kans at the Naim factory. They were used for piping Spire FM into the Stores area until they were replaced by n-Sats.
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But were they originally sold that way, or sent back to the factory post-sale to be converted?
That would explain a lot. I left retail in 1987, and mucked around with the active SARAs and Kans subsequent to this, as I discovered buying second hand in the UK and bring bits into Perth to play with. There was a huge price advantage back then when the Aussie dollar price for new gear was typically 6 times the UK price in pounds. ie 3 x as much in real terms as 2AUD was about 1GBP and the second hand market in UK was heaps bigger than the tiny Perth one. Now with the elimination of import duty/sales taxes, (which always doubled the import cost), this doesnât work so well.
I left the passive cross-overs out of the Kan enclosures when I sold them on, putting them in a heavy cast alumiunum case with spikes on them so they sat on the floor next to the Kan stands. I did that on a whim, on reflection I should have patented the ideaâŚ
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That certainly was the case for Isobariks and SARAs, but I really canât recall this for the Kans, (which bugs me as I sold a lot more Kans than the bigger siblings). The speaker connector for the Isobariks and SARAs were Cannon plugs, really difficult to get the Linn speaker cable into. Also the back serial number plate either said PMS or DMS. The Kans were always bananas, with no mention of PMS or DMS.
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Ever regret selling them?
Regrets, I had a fewâŚ
Biggest was selling my Mitchell A Cotter step up transformer. A lovely little Electric Blue box that cost $750AUD in 1979.
Second biggest regret was not getting the full Mitchell A Cotter front end pre amp so I could have had 3 lovely little blue boxes and a pig ugly silver box.
Working in a Linn/Naim/Koetsu/Stax/You name it cool stuff dealership with a VERY indulgent boss I regret not buying EVERYTHING!
As for the Kans, yes I wish I had kept them. And the Rogers Rosewood LS3/4aâs. And the Spendor SA1âs.
I love small monitors. I have a pair of lovely Cherry n-SATs. Contemplating either selling them or finding a Nait and a Sony Pro Walkman/Funky little streamer to sit collecting dust on my office shelf. Along with my Muso 2.
Another regret in waiting..
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The fantabulous, marvellous and very rare Mitchell A Cotter step up. First released as a Verion, then as Mitch A Cotter, and finally after Mitch disappeared Bryson Audio marketed a version. Second hand versions go for around $2500USD today. With a Koetsu Onyx⌠sublime. My biggest regret.
Hmm, wasnât there a thread on this topic?
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I never heard of Mitchell A.
Well, you canât have had much Hi-Fi gear if you have no regrets, or else youâre loaded and never had to sell anything.
Too true. I love music, the hifi gumpf was a means to an end. But I did love the toys too. Sadly I was not endowed with limitless funds so I needed to move my âoldâ stuff on in my mad quest towards audio nirvana.
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So the Mitchell A Cotter front end, (doublespeak for a pre amp), comprised of FIVE boxes, three little blue bricks, the aluminium CM2 and a housebrick sized power supply which fed DC to all the modules, except the MC step up transformer.
Made a 32.5/HiCap look simpleâŚ
In order, you had the MC step up transformer, then the RIAA phono equalizer, then the CM2 control module. You could add the LF high pass filter after the CM2 before you fed it into your power amp of choice.
There was also the black power supply.
An amazing piece of equipment, from the USA. I think it sold for around $6500AUD complete in 1980 ish. The 32 CB was $1198AUD or thereabouts. So NAC552 territory but FIVE BOXES, (talk about a little box fetish). The CM2 was about the size of a NAC 32.
Cotter didnt do a power amp as far as I know. So we shoved the line outs into either a NAP250 or a Krell. I sold one. A staff member bought one. I just couldnât quite get there. Sigh.
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