Linn 360 Active Loudspeaker

The 360 is Linn's flagship loudspeaker — a four-way active floorstanding design at £55,000 per pair that represents the fullest and most uncompromising expression of what Linn's engineering can achieve in a transducer. It is not a passive speaker with amplification added. The 360 was conceived from the outset as an active design, with Exakt digital crossover, Organik DAC technology, and Adaptive Bias Control amplification integrated as a unified system — each element designed in relation to the others, not assembled from separately developed components and combined after the fact. The result is a loudspeaker that sets a new standard for what active design can achieve, and one that makes a compelling case that the conventional passive loudspeaker architecture — however expensively executed — leaves a significant proportion of the recorded signal unretrieved.

The 360 is designed to work with the Linn Klimax System Hub, and in that configuration — Klimax System Hub feeding a pair of 360s via Exakt Link — there is no analogue signal path at any point between digital storage and physical driver movement. It is one of the most complete realisations of that principle available at any price.

Four-Way Active Architecture — Why It Matters

A conventional passive loudspeaker, however well designed, contains a passive crossover — a network of capacitors and inductors that divides the signal between drive units. That crossover introduces phase shift at and around the crossover frequency that cannot be engineered away. It is a physical consequence of passive component behaviour, present in every passive design regardless of price. The 360 eliminates it entirely.

The 360 uses four drive units per cabinet: a 19mm dome tweeter, a 64mm carbon dome midrange, a 190mm aluminium/magnesium upper bass cone, and two 220mm long-throw lower bass cones. Each driver has its own dedicated amplification channel — all operating in Class A/B with Adaptive Bias Control — and each receives its own digitally filtered, time-aligned signal from the Exakt crossover. The crossover is not a physical component subject to tolerances and temperature drift. It is a mathematical operation executed in the digital domain with complete precision, applied to each driver individually, with time alignment corrected to a standard that no passive crossover can approach.

Adaptive Bias Control — Eliminating Class AB Crossover Distortion

Adaptive Bias Control is the same technology found in the Klimax Solo amplifiers — brought into the 360's amplification stage and applied across all four channels simultaneously. It monitors the output stage in real time and adjusts bias current dynamically, eliminating the crossover distortion inherent in conventional Class AB designs without incurring the heat generation and power consumption of full Class A operation. In a four-way active speaker, where eight amplification channels are operating simultaneously — one per driver per channel — the cumulative effect on low-level detail, dynamic linearity, and clarity at low listening levels is extraordinary. Music that conventional amplification would compress or obscure is retrieved and presented with a precision that is immediately and consistently audible.

Power DAC — Bass Without Compromise

The two lower bass drivers are driven by Linn's Power DAC technology. Rather than following the conventional path of digital-to-analogue conversion followed by a separate amplification stage, Power DAC combines conversion and amplification in a single step — the digital signal drives the bass cones directly. This removes a conversion stage from the bass signal chain and eliminates the accumulated noise and distortion that a conventional multi-stage bass amplification architecture introduces. The practical result is bass that is tighter, faster, and better controlled than the cabinet volume and driver size would suggest — bass that tracks the musical signal with a precision and speed that reveals low-frequency information most loudspeakers at any price obscure rather than reproduce.

Organik DAC — Conversion at the Drive Unit

The 360 Exakt Integrated variant incorporates Linn's Organik DAC — designed and manufactured in Glasgow without recourse to third-party converter chips — into the speaker cabinet itself. In conjunction with the Exakt digital crossover, Space Optimisation processing, and the Klimax System Hub source, every stage of signal processing from digital storage to driver movement is under Linn's direct control. There are no interfaces between system components at which quality is compromised or signal is lost.

Space Optimisation models the interaction between the 360s and the specific room in which they are installed, and corrects it mathematically. At the level of resolution the 360 operates at, the room's contribution to what you hear is clearly audible — and the 360's system integration means it is clearly and effectively addressed.

Cabinet — Engineering and Craft

The 360's cabinet uses 3D laminate construction, with the front baffle flowing continuously around the cabinet sides in a curvaceous form that is as much a function of acoustic engineering as aesthetic intent. The aluminium trim is machined from 5754-grade stock and incorporates concentric arcs referencing the Sondek LP12's record grooves — a detail that rewards close attention and reflects the care applied to the 360's every surface.

Two finish collections are offered. The Glasgow Collection — Clyde Built, Single Malt, and Linn Heritage — presents textures that change character under different lighting conditions and reference Scottish material heritage directly. The Classic Collection offers Piano Black and Alpine White. Custom colours are available for those whose requirements fall outside either collection.

The 360 is also available in a Passive variant with active bass — retaining Power DAC for the lower bass drivers whilst allowing separate amplification for the upper three drivers, for those building a system that requires that configuration.

Technical Specifications

Who Is It For?

The 360 is for the listener who wants the most complete realisation of what Linn's engineering can achieve, and who is prepared to commit to the system that realises it properly. It demands a Klimax System Hub source and the Exakt Link connection — the 360 does not approach its potential when used as a passive speaker driven by conventional amplification, and it should not be purchased on that basis. When the system is configured as intended, what the 360 achieves with timing, low-level detail, bass definition, and dynamic precision is not easily replicated elsewhere at any price.

It is not a casual purchase at £55,000, and it should not be auditioned casually. It should be heard in a controlled environment, in its correct system context, on music that the listener knows well. We would ask anyone considering the 360 to come to our Norwich showroom first.

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 360 is a speaker that demands a proper demonstration — we can show it in its correct configuration at our Norwich showroom, with the Klimax System Hub and Exakt Link architecture in place. The system context matters as much as the speaker itself, and we will not recommend it without having heard it properly ourselves.

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.