page_title: Linn Isobarik
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Linn Isobarik / Speaker / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Linn Products D20-LP-1 tweeter sourced from Hiquphon in Denmark
context_page_description: The Linn Isobarik, nicknamed "Bariks" or "Briks", is a loudspeaker designed and manufactured by Linn Products. The Isobarik is known for both its reproduction of low bass frequencies and being very demanding on amplifiers.
  Launched in 1973, the Isobarik DMS, Linn's maiden and flagship loudspeaker was based on and named for the isobaric loading principle invented in the 1950s. The speaker exists also as the Isobarik PMS – destined for the professional market. Although discontinued in 1992, it remains popular among audiophiles.
context_section_description: The loudspeaker cabinet measures 15 × 15 × 30 inches (38 × 38 × 76 cm). The extremely rigid 55-litre cabinet is constructed using 19mm high-density particle board that is strategically damped in places, and extensively braced. According to the manufacturer, there is an array of stressed steel rods inside the enclosure to control energy flows. The techniques employed ensure that energy that would have caused the unwanted motion of the front panel and drivers is cancelled by a similar but opposite energy from the upward facing units, resulting in the minimum amount of resonances. The cabinets were initially made by Linn in their own factory, but the manufacturing was later outsourced to furniture-makers Leon Levin of Glasgow.
  Although the speaker uses bought-in drivers, they have been rebuilt using stronger materials. Drivers' metal baskets are treated to reduce the effects of vibration, and the enclosure designed and constructed to control energy. The drive units (T27, B110 and B139) were sourced from KEF in kit form, and two KEFKIT3 kits were judiciously used for each cabinet. However, Linn found the T27 tweeter too fragile and replaced it with the more robust and better-sounding D2008 from Scan-Speak after a very short run; the Scan-Speak tweeter was later changed to a Linn D20-LP-1, sourced from Hiquphon in Denmark. The midrange KEF B110, known for its use in the LS3/5A BBC monitor, is a 100mm-diameter unit to which Linn applied a layer of doping. The woofer is a KEF B139.
  Each unit of the Isobarik cabinet weighs 40 kilograms (88 lb), and is designed to be placed on stands that are 33 centimetres (13 in) tall so that the tweeter is positioned at the listener's ear-level. The speaker is supplied with heavy stands made from welded square cross-section tubing, to which top and bottom spikes are fitted prior to positioning the speaker cabinet.
  Input connections are established through 3-pin XLR connectors. Later versions and the PMS version have banana sockets (see image).
caption: Late Isobarik tweeter, Linn D20-LP-2 with the concentric circles and Linn logo. The D20-LP-1 lacked the Linn Logo, sourced from Hiquphon in Denmark
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