Calling All Kan Users
Posted by: Ron The Mon on 04 January 2001
quote:
If you've updated, modified, run active, have multiple sets, etc., please comment below.
My first pair were a black early (pre Ku-Stone) Mk II, these were great, and I ran them happily for about nine years.
I sold them when I went on a bit of a weird buying frenzy a couple of years ago, when I eventually came back to Kans early last year it was a via a very late pair of black Mk Is which Rico now owns. I really liked these, though was never quite happy about the way they did piano or certain brass instruments, so I bought a late (048677/8) Ku-Stone pair of Mk IIs, which on comparison I definitely prefer. I actually think these to be a stunning pair of speakers, and I like the finish too.
Tony.
Here is one of mine...
I don't know how to vote. Is this a Kan Kopy or Kan Killer? 
Joe
quote:
I don't know how to vote.
You will not find the answer in your KGB Handbook.
Tony.
And to all: keep the photos coming!!
Thanks,
Ron The Mon
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
I returned my first pair of early 80s Kans within a week of buying them- the A&R A60 amp I was using allowed all of their colourations to come through, but none of their fantastic PR&T. With the money I got back from the Kans I bought myself a 42/110 instead and started the whole ball rolling.
<BR>Kans in any version have that Decca London mystique.. a little bit of heaven and a little bit of hell.
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo
I just received a pair of Kan Mk I's in my office yesterday. I haven't even opened the box yet! Now to search for stands...
Cheers
Keith.
ex-audiophile
quote:
I ran them actively for a year and heartily agree with Ron T regarding running them as such - they're a whole 'nuther speaker when the crossover is bypassed.
Note that using the Tukans in the conventional active way does NOT bypass their internal crossover. It merely bypasses the LRC passive components in that crossover, but the signal is still obliged to meander through the cheesy wires from the binding posts to the x/o, then through sloppy PCB runs within the x/o, and then through more cheesy wires from the x/o to the drive units. The modified versions I have are wired directly from the binding posts to the respective drivers. Running them this way is far, far better than running them active in the conventional 'crossover still stays in-line' way, albeit quite a bit harder to reconfigure.
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo
Here's a pic:
Not sure how to get the picture to be included with the text?
[This message was edited by John Gilleran on THURSDAY 04 January 2001 at 19:56.]
[This message was edited by John Gilleran on FRIDAY 05 January 2001 at 12:03.]
quote:
Note that using the Tukans in the conventional active way does NOT bypass their internal crossover. It merely bypasses the LRC passive components in that crossover, but the signal is still obliged to meander through the cheesy wires from the binding posts to the x/o, then through sloppy PCB runs within the x/o, and then through more cheesy wires from the x/o to the drive units.
Not with these - the dealer connected the terminal posts directly to the drivers and was happy to point that out as I showed up early to pick them up. Dunno 'bout the "cheesy" wires - I figure that he kept them.
Cheers
Keith.
ex-audiophile
quote:
I purchased a pair of Tukans just before they were discontinued. They have a tweeters with bars over them rather than a screen material I noticed in some older literature. I think that tweeter has been used now for the last 3 years or so in all Linn speakers. They're mounted about 5 feet above the ground using SO wall brackets which I believe are no longer available. I'm using them in a very open 1000 sq ft basement and they work quite well in that environment.
John,
Did you have any problems with the rear ports so close to the wall? I found that (when stand mounted) they sounded the best about a foot or so away from my (sheetrock) wall.
Cheers
Keith.
ex-audiophile
Hi Keith,
The bass is pretty tuneful so I don't think I'm having much of a problem having them close to the wall. On the wall brackets they're about an inch and a half from the wall.
My owners manual recommends 2-6 inches from the wall, but you know Linn sells something called the Brakit to fix the Tukans to the wall so I imagine it's not so unusual to have them mounted that close.
Having them mounted 5 feet up in a large room 5 to 7 feet from the side walls perhaps helps tame any potential problem, I don't know, but there isn't much room for experimenting when using wall stands;-)
Regards,
John
My impression is that it is a cheaper cut down variation of the Tukan, like an Intro is to the Credo, it is not an infinite baffle design like the original Kan I and 2, and is pitched at a very different price point. Sounds like it is a quite capable speaker, easy to drive, and cheap enough to keep to the traditional flat earth philosophy of keeping most of the system resources up stream.
I had no idea that the Tukan had been discontinued, is the Katan the direct replacement?
Tony.
I spent years following the true flat earth tradition of considering the loudspeaker as unimportant, and consequently, as I used to work as a service engineer in an Audio / Visual retail environment, tended to buy my 'speakers at trade price, whilst visiting the local 'proper' Hi-Fi dealer to buy the rest of my kit.
I've been through a number of Mordaunt-Short speakers in the past (the only decent brand my employer stocked) but decided, in late '92 that my front end now justified a 'speaker upgrade.
I auditioned Epos ES11's, but they didn' work in my room, sounding boomy and incoherent. After a chat with my dealer he decided I was probably a 'Kan man' (his words) and I borrowed the pair that I still have to this day.
Even my partner, who is not normally given to commenting on the kit I fiddle with (just content to listen to it) was stunned at how good the Kans were, and decided they were worth every penny of the extra money (they cost £498 + £105 for the stands, in late '92)
I've had a number of people, whose opinions I normally rate highly, tell me that the music and life was engineered out of the Kan II, and that the Kan I is superior. I must say that if this is true the Kan I must be awesome, because I still have my Kan II's after 8 years, with no desire to change them, such is their musical ability.
Andy.
Passionate about Kans.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com
quote:
I've had a number of people, whose opinions I normally rate highly, tell me that the music and life was engineered out of the Kan II, and that the Kan I is superior.
This opens a real kan of worms. To categorise the Kan as being simply Mk I and Mk II is pretty much impossible. The Mk I went from being effectively a LS3/5A with a Scanspeak tweeter and different crossover (they were actually built in 3rd party LS3/5A cabs I believe) using the unmodified Kef B110 driver, right through to the final model which used the same Hiquphone tweeter and modified long throw B110B used in the later Kan II.
The Kan II also changed over its life span, the early ones had a more rigid cabinet with the tweeter moved far more forward in the cabinet than the Mk I, and added bi-wire posts, later the cabinet was made even more rigid and inert with Linn's Ku-Stone damping material. The Kan II is more tonally neutral than the Mk I, as I see it this arises from the far better tweeter position and a more extreme crossover - the two peaks the Kan I has in its frequency balance have been very obviously reduced in the Kan II, at an obvious trade off in efficiency.
Which is best? I have no idea as I have only owned three pairs (see my first post in this thread). My feeling from the ones I have used is that if the efficiency is not an issue (I have 135s so it isn't), then the Kan IIs neutrality more than wins out, especially with jazz or other acoustic music.
One tip that is worth loads with Kan IIs is to ditch the bi-wire link plates - they sound awful. Just solder two sets of Naim right angle plugs off the speaker cable in the right position (you obviously need to be very accurate here). This makes the driver integration seamless, removes some quite obvious hash, and opens them right out. I found it a surprisingly big improvement.
Tony.
quote:
After my DBLs arrived I had those Tukans stripped down and hardwired (with the same
hookwire that is found inside DBLs) to an active-only configuration where they are now resident in a friends 2x250
based system. Hardwiring them and junking the PCB runs in the crossover is a complete transformation allowing a
wealth of detail and inflection that was AWOL from the standard activ configuration.
Bob, which brand/thickness of cable did you use to rewire your Tukans? Was the original cable so bad?
As I own active Kabers wired with the original internal cable (passive crossover has been junked) directly hard wired to the speaker input sockets, I'm very interested to know if there's a way to improve things...Any suggestion?
Regards,
Paolo
quote:
My impression is that it is a cheaper cut down variation of the Tukan, like an Intro is to the Credo, it is not an infinite baffle design like the original Kan I and 2, and is pitched at a very different price point. Sounds like it is a quite capable speaker, easy to drive, and cheap enough to keep to the traditional flat earth philosophy of keeping most of the system resources up stream.I had no idea that the Tukan had been discontinued, is the Katan the direct replacement?
Hi Tony,
The Kan III is indeed a cheaper version of the Tukan - I velieve that it's the same tweeter but the low/mid driver is slightly different. The wrap is black vinyl only and I think it has only one pair of inputs.
The Tukan is indeed being discontinued, with the Katan replacing it. Current word on the Linn forum is that it "blows away" the Tukans, whatever that's worth. Vuk has auditioned both the Katan and its bigger brother the Ninka at a shop and came away unimpressed. He does agree that a home demo is the appropriate venue before making a definitive personal judgement though.
btw, Linn have re-released the Kan II stands, along with special stands for the Katan.
Cheers
Keith.
ex-audiophile
quote:
Current word on the Linn forum
Linn Forum? Where?
Andrew
Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;
....oh dear....Kind of brings visions of stuffed shirts building hi-fi. I'm sorry if this sounds flippant, but you'll know what I mean when you read it.
A good friend of mine said that a mission statement is the first sign of a company starting to take the slide.
Andrew
Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;
quote:
Bob, which brand/thickness of cable did you use to rewire your Tukans? Was the original cable so bad?
As I own active Kabers wired with the original internal cable (passive crossover has been junked) directly hard wired to the speaker input sockets, I'm very interested to know if there's a way to improve things...Any suggestion?
Actually twas me, not Bob that originated the above text. The wire used to rewire Tukans is nothing more and nothing less than 'appliance' wire, monsterously thick red/black pairs that are found inside electric stoves and tumble driers. The wire in my Tukans was sourced from Naim, and I have no idea where they obtained their appliance wire (they freely admit it is such a wire, rather than some audiophile approved off-brand). I would guess it is about 8 gauge in thickness and a real BEAR to work with, needing a hot soldering iron to tin. This is used for all drive units. NACA5 apparently works less well internally, both mechanically and functionally, as counterintuitive as this may seem. The wire that is found inside standard Tukans is far thinner, flexible and easier to work with. It just does not sound anywhere as good. As I have mentioned before, unless you are fairly adept at soldering have your dealer rewire your speakers, and do not expect him to do it for free either.
Shame to spoil a speaker for a ha'pennies worth of tar.
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo
I have the Kan 2's which I am running with Linn bi-wire. Do you have a photo of your NACA5 mod that you could post? I would be very interested in doing this mod to my Kans, but have been perplexed as to how exactly it is done. A picture is worth a thousand words!
Linn Forum? Where?
I don't believe this is sponsored by Linn, but they cater to Linn users.
Go to:
Search on Linn to find the list, I believe you will have to register before you can view. Hope this helps.
quote:
so I investigated the cheapest possible solution -- stands.Mana to be exact...
Hi Roy,
How so? I don't have supports for my newly purchased Mk I's and am starting my hunt. I'm intrigued.
Cheers
Keith.
ex-audiophile
Linn is now supplying Kan2 floor stands again.
Other alternatives are Sound Organisation floor stands or maybe their wall stands, but I was told they have been discontinued.
Audiotech, I believes also makes a Kan wall stand. I have also noticed that Mana makes custom wall stands for various speakers, so you may want to check them out as well.
Regards,
John