Linn Isobarik

Name: Linn Isobarik
Brand: Linn

The Linn Isobarik was clearly a significant and expensive loudspeaker in its day. Almost nothing about its design, specifications or production history has survived in the record. What we know comes mostly from period classified ads, not formal reviews.

The most concrete fact is that it existed as a Linn product, positioned as a premium full-range loudspeaker. A 1981 classified ad in Audio (November 1981, p.88) listed "Linn Isobaric DMS Loudspeakers, with stands" at $2,500. Next to it was a Naim NAP 250 power amp at $1,000, with the pair offered together for $3,400. The speakers cost roughly two and a half times what a NAP 250 did alone, which puts the Isobarik at the top of Linn's speaker range.

Earlier classifieds from 1980 mention a "Linn Disc System, Isobariks & Naim" package. It paired the speakers with the Sondek LP-12 turntable and Naim electronics, so Linn's "source-first" philosophy was already being sold as an integrated system. The same ads ran in Audio (September 1980, p.86 and July 1980, p.88), which suggests a sustained sales push through high-end dealers.

A 1981 newsletter reprint in Audio (October 1981, p.23) compared the Isobarik against floor-standing monitors. Side by side, the Isobariks "paled" overall, though performance "held up well into the bass frequencies." The same piece also covered the Linn Kans at $625 per pair, which implies the Isobarik sat well above Linn's smaller offerings.

Beyond those fragments, the record is thin. No specifications - frequency response, impedance, driver complement, enclosure type, dimensions - have surfaced in the available documentation. Production years remain unconfirmed. The name hints at isobaric loading (a coupled-chamber design using two drivers working into a sealed enclosure), but no period source in the archive confirms that reading.

Known facts, in brief:

- Full-range loudspeaker from Linn, sold in the late 1970s through at least the early 1980s

- Advertised at $2,500 (with stands) in 1981

- Marketed alongside Linn's Sondek LP-12 turntable and Naim amplification as a complete system

- Period commentary in Audio noted strong bass performance but suggested it was outclassed overall by some floor-standing monitors of the era

If you own a pair or have original literature, the Archive would welcome the documentation.