Linn 150 Floorstanding Speakers

The Linn 150 is the floorstanding speaker that brings full-range performance to a Linn system without demanding the room or the investment that a reference loudspeaker requires — a 3-way passive design at £5,500 per pair whose engineering discipline, Exakt-ready architecture, and cabinet proportions make it the natural partner for a Selekt DSM or Majik DSM-based system, and one of the most compelling arguments for choosing a Linn loudspeaker over any passive-only alternative at this price. Where the Linn 119 suits rooms where a standmount is proportionate and a floorstanding speaker would dominate, the 150 is the step up for listeners who want scale, bass extension, and the authority that a properly loaded 190mm bass driver in a 40-litre cabinet delivers — in a cabinet slender enough, at 234mm wide, to integrate into most living rooms without compromise.

The 150 shares the fundamental engineering philosophy of the 119: a crossover designed not as a permanent fixture but as a bypass-ready circuit, present in passive operation and cleanly removed when Exakt is introduced. In passive operation, the 150 is a coherent, musically satisfying floorstanding speaker. In Exakt operation, it becomes something that no passive floorstanding speaker at any price can replicate — three individually driven, digitally time-aligned, room-corrected drive units, each receiving a signal of absolute precision from a Linn network player, with no passive crossover component remaining in the signal path between the DSM and the drivers. The transformation is architectural, not incremental, and the 150's 3-way configuration means it is more profound here than it is at 2-way.

Design and Drive Units — Three Nextel-Coated Paper Drivers

The 150 employs three Nextel-coated paper-diaphragm drivers: a 190mm bass unit, a 160mm midrange driver, and a 19.55mm soft Sonomex dome tweeter. Each driver is selected and positioned for its specific role in the 3-way architecture — the bass unit loading the 40-litre cabinet through dual down-firing ports tuned for bass extension within the 150's narrow footprint, the midrange driver covering the critical band where musical intelligibility and harmonic structure are primarily communicated, and the Sonomex dome tweeter reproducing the upper frequencies with the resolution and freedom from metallic resonance that the critical midrange detail above it requires.

The Nextel-coated paper diaphragm is a material choice consistent across the 150's bass and midrange drivers — paper for its mass and damping characteristics, Nextel coating for its energy absorption. What the diaphragm stores, it returns as colouration. The Nextel coating's function is to ensure that as little energy as possible is stored in the first place, and that what is stored is absorbed uniformly across the diaphragm's surface rather than returned as a frequency-specific resonance peak.

The dual down-firing ports extend bass response within the 40-litre cabinet volume while keeping the 150's footprint narrow. Bass loading from down-firing ports is room-dependent — floor distance, boundary proximity, and surface material all affect the port's contribution to the overall bass balance. Space Optimisation, applied at the Linn network player, addresses this directly and with a precision that physical repositioning alone cannot achieve.

The Analogue Passive Crossover — A Lower-Order Design Built for Phase Coherence

The 150's passive crossover is a lower-order design, built for phase coherence and minimal signal path rather than steep attenuation slopes. Lower-order crossovers introduce less phase shift in the crossover region — a direct consequence of the shallower roll-off characteristic — and preserve the timing relationships between drive units more completely than higher-order designs. The cost of this choice is a wider crossover transition band, which the 150's driver selection and placement are designed to accommodate. The benefit is a presentation where the integration between bass, midrange, and tweeter is more coherent, and where the timing information in the recording is more faithfully reproduced.

Three pairs of binding posts — one per driver — allow tri-wiring or tri-amplification in passive operation, and are present as a direct consequence of the Exakt architecture: when the Exakt upgrade is fitted, each driver receives its own dedicated amplification channel, and the terminal configuration already accommodates this.

The Exakt Upgrade Path — 3-Way Active, Digitally Precise

The 150 connects to a Linn Selekt DSM or Linn Klimax System Hub via Exakt Link, fitting an Exakt module that takes over from the passive crossover entirely. In Exakt operation, each of the three drive units receives its own digitally filtered, time-aligned signal — the passive crossover, with its phase shifts and insertion loss, is bypassed completely. The improvement at 3-way is more significant than at 2-way: the midrange driver's integration with both bass and tweeter benefits substantially from digital crossover precision, and the timing coherence of a 3-way active system whose crossover points are managed digitally is categorically different from that of a passive 3-way of any quality.

Space Optimisation — applied at the network player — models the room's acoustic behaviour mathematically and corrects for it in the digital domain. The 150's dual down-firing ports make its bass loading particularly room-dependent, and Space Optimisation addresses this with a precision that physical adjustment alone cannot approach. The complete Exakt system — DSM, Exakt module, Space Optimisation — transforms the 150 from an excellent passive floorstanding speaker into a reference-class active system whose performance challenges alternatives at multiples of its combined price.

Finishes

The 150 is available in Walnut, Oak, Satin Black, and Satin White. At 234mm wide and 1,000mm tall, the 150's slender proportions mean finish choice has a genuine visual impact in most rooms — the difference between a speaker that sits naturally in a domestic interior and one that dominates it. All four finishes are available to order.

Technical Specifications

Who Is It For?

The 150 is for the listener who wants a full-range floorstanding speaker that integrates naturally into a Linn system — either as a passive speaker now, paired with a Selekt DSM or Majik DSM, or as an Exakt-ready platform whose upgrade path leads to three individually driven, digitally precise drive units in a cabinet purpose-built for exactly that operation. It suits rooms where the Linn 119 is adequate for imaging but insufficient for scale, and where a larger floorstanding speaker would be disproportionate. For those for whom the full Exakt active experience is the ultimate objective, the Linn 360 Active Loudspeaker is the reference answer — a speaker whose active architecture is not an upgrade path but a factory-built, fully integrated active system. The 150 occupies the position for those who want floorstanding performance and the Exakt upgrade path at a price that the 360 cannot approach.

Buying from Martins Hi-Fi

Martins Hi-Fi has been in Norwich since 1968. Elizabeth Gould runs the business today, and we stock only brands we have heard properly and stand behind.

The 150 can be heard at our Norwich showroom in passive and Exakt configurations — the only way to properly understand what the Exakt upgrade delivers on a 3-way speaker. If you are considering the 150 alongside a Selekt DSM and planning the Exakt upgrade, the system configuration differs depending on whether Exakt is introduced at purchase or later — that conversation is worth having before the order is placed, and we are well placed to have it.

When you get in touch, you'll be speaking with Dave, Chris and Tim — experienced specialists who can advise on this product and your whole system.

Contact us at info@martinshifi.co.uk, call 01603 627010, or WhatsApp on 07554 687137. You can read more about how we work on our Why Martins Hi-Fi page. We are at 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY.