Linn Majik-I Stereo Amplifier Review

In its early years, Linn Products was best known for its high-quality turntables, tone-arms, and phono cartridges. As the company has grown, however, so has its product line, which now also includes amplifiers, CD players, digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, tuners, loudspeakers, and even a sophisticated multiroom control system.

Linn’s products are made at factories in and around Glasgow, Scotland, where the company is headquartered. Although small by the standards of the giants that dominate the audio electronics market, Linn employs some of the world’s most advanced manufacturing technology. The circuits for recent electronic products, such as the Majik-I amplifier reviewed here, make extensive use of surface-mount components, for example, and parts are delivered directly to assembly workstations by a fully automated robotic inventory system.

There are no assembly lines, however. Assembly, testing, and packing of each unit that goes out the door is the responsibility of a single person. Thus, a worker in a Linn factory will normally build a number of complete units each day rather than merely having a hand in the assembly of a much larger number. Linn’s outspoken and entertaining founder, Ivor Tiefenbrun, feels very strongly that this “singlestation build” system yields both higher-quality products and greater worker satisfaction.

An interesting idiosyncrasy of Linn products is that (with one minor exception) each has an unusual name containing the letter k. The new Linn Majik-I is a compact, modestly powered stereo integrated amplifier (Linn calls it a control amplifier) whose numerous novel or unconventional features greatly enhance its overall functionality and ease of operation.

The Majik-I’s preamplifier section normally has six line-level inputs. In the phono-option version that we tested, however, one of the auxiliary inputs becomes a phono input, switch-able via a jumper on the circuit board for either moving-magnet or moving-coil cartridges. The power amplifiers are rated at 33 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 66 watts into 4 ohms. There are no published distortion or frequency-response specifications for the Majik-I (or most other Linn products, for that matter), reflecting the company’s view, not as heretical as it might seem, that many of the usual audio performance specifications have little correlation with the final sound of a music system.

The Majik-I is smaller than most preamplifiers, to say nothing of integrated amplifiers. It has no knobs, the front panel containing only a power button, a headphone jack, a small display panel, and six control keys. The keys are for muting, volume (up/down), source selection (stepping sequentially in either direction), and recording source selection, which channels any selected input to the tape-out terminals on the rear apron, independent of the source being listened to. For some operations two keys are used simultaneously. For example, pressing the two volume keys simultaneously displays BAL in the window, after which pressing either one shifts the balance in one direction or the other, displaying numbers from -9 to +9 in the window (0 indicates equal levels from both channels). Similarly, you can switch the speakers off for headphone listening by pressing the two center keys simultaneously. Although such procedures can seem confusing when you just read about them, they are amazingly simple and logical in actual use. The Majik-I is a very easy-to-use component.

While any adjustment or selection is being made, appropriate numbers or letters appear in the display window. The instruction manual (one of the best we have seen) is clear and explicit—and even has a section, “Getting Unstuck,” that guides the user out of any unexpected situation he might encounter. It is a model of what manuals should be but rarely are (at least in my experience).

The Majik-I’s rear apron is well populated with inputs and outputs, all of which are standard RCA-type phono jacks. In addition to inputs for CD, tuner, and phono (or a second auxiliary source), there are two pairs of tape input and output jacks and a pair of pre-out/main-in jacks, normally joined by removable jumpers, that enable the insertion of an external active crossover (such as the Linn Kaber Aktiv) in the signal path or the use of an external power amplifier or signal processor (a surround-sound decoder, for example).

The Majik-I has two pairs of speaker outputs, suitable for driving two sets of speakers or for bi-wiring a single pair if they have the necessary terminals. The output jacks accept standard single banana plugs, but their spacing does not permit use of dual banana plugs (a requirement for electrical products sold in Great Britain, where AC-line plugs have the same connector shape and spacing as our dual banana plugs).

The Majik-I is actually more than an integrated amplifier, for it contains an expansion slot that will accept what Linn calls a Sneaky module. For example, a Linn Kudos FM tuner board could be installed, converting the Majik-I into a receiver. Or you could substitute a Knekt board to make the amplifier the heart of a highly versatile multiroom Linn audio system. And, of course, you can always add larger power amplifiers to your system without making any part of your investment obsolete.

But we are concerned at this point with the “bare bones” Majik-I. Compared with most similarly priced amplifiers sold in the United States, it is relatively low-powered, delivering in our tests just over 30 watts at the clipping point into 8-ohm loads. On the other hand, power into 4-ohm loads was nearly double the 8-ohm reading (though slightly shy of the rated 66 watts), indicating that the amplifier was very close to being a true voltage source. That is a desirable quality for an amplifier that might be faced with the task of driving speakers with impedances falling well below 4 ohms at some frequencies—a not uncommon situation.

Linn says that even 2-ohm loads will not damage the amplifier and that its sophisticated protection system enables it to be pushed well beyond its design limits without damage or excessive distortion. Although we did not venture continuous-output measurements with less-than-4-ohm loads, our dynamic-power measurements showed that the Majik-I does indeed pack a healthy punch into 2 ohms under realistic listening conditions. Moreover, at no time during our testing or use of the amplifier did any part of its exterior become more than faintly warm.

Another notable test result was the amplifier’s exceptionally low noise level through both the high-level and phono inputs. The phono-overload measurements were not as good as we would have expected for a moving-magnet input, indicating that any cartridge used with this amplifier should have a relatively low output. In fact, at first we suspected that the phono stage had been set for moving-coil cartridges, but the sensitivity and input-impedance measurements clearly indicated that it was set for moving-magnet pickups.

Nonetheless, our use of the Linn Majik-I (which did not include input from a phono source) was an unalloyed pleasure. The smoothness and silence with which its controls operated were striking (every change of control function occurred smoothly and silently over a period of a second or two). The Majik-I comes with a small system remote control compatible with other Linn products. It worked with all the amplifier’s front-panel functions, controlling volume, balance source selection, and so forth.

We could not resist opening up the Majik-I. Its interior can only be described as gem-like: All the amplifier circuitry was on a single circuit board, and the only visible wires were those to the power supply and its switch and to the front-panel display. A large toroidal power transformer occupied a good part of the amplifier’s interior. Most of the circuit elements were surface-mount devices, adding to the elegant appearance. It was also interesting to find the name of the person who built the amplifier inscribed on its bottom plate.

At a time when a growing number of audio amplifiers can deliver 100 to 200 watts per channel and when operating controls are becoming increasingly difficult to understand and use, it is refreshing to see that a really good amplifier of modest power can easily hold its own (and then some) with any of them for listening enjoyment. The Linn Majik-I is most aptly named!

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