Mono Passive vs. Stereo Exakt Active

[wiresandmore]

Hi

For a pretty similar overall price, I can buy either:

1. Selekt Edition Hub / Dual Mono Organik incl. Line Cards / Stereo Amp (£1500/€1800, maybe a used 2200 or GoldNote PA10)

Or

2. Selekt Edition Hub / 2 x Stereo Organik DAC Cards and Selekt Amp Cards

Speakers are Kudos 707.

I think most would recommend option (2), but I would expect Dual Mono would be a better starting position (source first)?

Anyone have experience of option 1?

[Zee9]

I have heard dual mono Organik vs stereo Organik and the dual mono does give you a bit more than the stereo dac but the price and constraints made me go for stereo.

From what I was told, The mono cartridges cannot be used in conjunction with anything else. That makes the resale of them very very difficult.

To my Ears, The class D amp module works & sounds best with Organik, then standard dac and then Katalyst.

When I got Katalyst I got rid of all my Majik and Akurate amps as I didn’t like the sound. Surprisingly those amps (not tried Akurate as yet) sound best matched with Organik and I just aquired a c6100 for my aktiv Kabers. (Aktiv cards should be here soon)

The class D amps have a much lower gain than the Linn amps which are fine for low level listening but three of them with 3 Organik dacs maybe perfect for my Kabers but that’s a lot of money.

The class D amp module with Organik works beautifully with our bedroom Kan II’s but expensive for a bedroom system and I find that a Katalyst source with a Lejonklou amp is almost as good as Organik so that’s a cheaper route. It also gives us two different flavors at home.

I am yet to listen to the 606/707 as I feel those would be perfect for our room but that’s hard in Northeast USA. Wish my Kabers were two way speakers I would have used option 2 for them if they were. I have half a mind to buy a pair of keilidhs and a second Organik dac just so that I can try that experiment.

[Zee9]

I will say that when we got our last selekt (Utopik/Organik/amp module) we drove the Kabers passive till the Utopik and Organik were burnt in. Lovely sound but I felt we needed more power.

[wiresandmore]

Thanks, that’s very helpful - you have outlined my dilemma, which is that I suspect the internal amp cards are a little under-powered, but are low-risk to buy as easy to re-sell - so I would have an easy upgrade to switching out the amp cards for line cards and external amps at some point.

The mono option would offer more power from the get go but the upgrade path is complicated and needs the external Kudos box to go active. I just wondered if it was much better than the stereo organik from the outset.

[Zee9]

Why would the mono option offer more power from the get go? I’m assuming you meant with an external amp. I don’t think they offer mono amp cartridges. I’m holding onto my amp cartridge so that if I ever upgrade the main system to an edition the classik with the amp module and Organik is more than enough for the Kan II’s as a 1 box solution.

Plus I’ve noticed that amp modules and line outs are possible on the used market but not in abundance.

Thanks, that’s very helpful - you have outlined my dilemma, which is that I suspect the internal amp cards are a little under-powered, but are low-risk to buy as easy to re-sell - so I would have an easy upgrade to switching out the amp cards for line cards and external amps at some point.

The mono option would offer more power from the get go but the upgrade path is complicated and needs the external Kudos box to go active. I just wondered if it was much better than the stereo organik from the outset.

[silkie]

This is something that's bothered me for ages. Apparently the mono solution has more flip flops and is better according to Linn's documentation and is the pinnacle of what's possible, or some such grandiose comment from Linn. But surely twin stereo dacs could trump a single pair of mono's with flip flop grunt alone!? then there's the added benefit of exakt with 2x stereo dacs that mono can't help with, ever.

I have twin amped organik dacs running katan's and is mind meltingly good, I ran 505's on mine and it was great! Diggy on here runs 606's with his twin amped organik setup, loves it! My dealer thinks 707's active in a selekt is something special.

While I have no first hand experience with the mono setup I'd suggest just book a demo, 707's fed by mono selekt, external amps, crossover, leads etc vs selekt internal everything! If I was a betting man, my money would be on the Exakt setup.

[wiresandmore]

Well, where I live I cannot get a demo of all of this - the local Linn dealer doesn’t do Kudos. Bringing the speakers to them is too complicated. Hence my questions!

[wiresandmore]

Why would the mono option offer more power from the get go? I’m assuming you meant with an external amp. I don’t think they offer mono amp cartridges. I’m holding onto my amp cartridge so that if I ever upgrade the main system to an edition the classik with the amp module and Organik is more than enough for the Kan II’s as a 1 box solution.

Plus I’ve noticed that amp modules and line outs are possible on the used market but not in abundance.

Thanks, that’s very helpful - you have outlined my dilemma, which is that I suspect the internal amp cards are a little under-powered, but are low-risk to buy as easy to re-sell - so I would have an easy upgrade to switching out the amp cards for line cards and external amps at some point.

The mono option would offer more power from the get go but the upgrade path is complicated and needs the external Kudos box to go active. I just wondered if it was much better than the stereo organik from the outset.

Yes, I meant I could use a more powerful external amp with the Mono’s, even two mono amps.

[Zee9]

We have pondering that as well. Analog aktiv vs passive. I could live with passive but then I want solos or something to that effect.

We found a well priced c6100 and some aktiv cards so going to try that first with Organik. If that does not make us smile then it’s back to the passive drawing board but with a massive amplifier (luxman, benchmark, solos etc)

Why would the mono option offer more power from the get go? I’m assuming you meant with an external amp. I don’t think they offer mono amp cartridges. I’m holding onto my amp cartridge so that if I ever upgrade the main system to an edition the classik with the amp module and Organik is more than enough for the Kan II’s as a 1 box solution.

Plus I’ve noticed that amp modules and line outs are possible on the used market but not in abundance.

Thanks, that’s very helpful - you have outlined my dilemma, which is that I suspect the internal amp cards are a little under-powered, but are low-risk to buy as easy to re-sell - so I would have an easy upgrade to switching out the amp cards for line cards and external amps at some point.

The mono option would offer more power from the get go but the upgrade path is complicated and needs the external Kudos box to go active. I just wondered if it was much better than the stereo organik from the outset.

Yes, I meant I could use a more powerful external amp with the Mono’s, even two mono amps.