Linn 500 Solo User Manual

If an amplifier can provide this amount of current into the specified load

while keeping safe and stable and not suddenly dropping its output voltage,

it is enough. The load cannot draw any more. The current draw is the result

of the voltage applied.

If an amplifier protects itself by ‘current limiting’ it will drop its output

voltage if too much current is demanded. This is a bad thing for an audio

amplifier, but not uncommon. If the current limiting never operates under

real conditions it is both a harmless and a good way to protect an audio

amplifier. The problem can then be to know if the protection ever triggers or

not. This nagging doubt, though often ill-founded, has resulted in some

concern (and boasts) about amplifier output current.

The Klimax, like all Linn amplifiers, is specified into a 4 Ohm load. We don’t

do this to claim a bigger output power, but to show that our amplifiers are

intended and fully specified for operation into 4 Ohm loudspeakers. Most

Linn loudspeakers have nominally 4 Ohms input impedance.

Like all our discrete amplifiers the Klimax has a simple decision making

protection circuit. Either the output current is safe or it’s not, in which

case the amplifier is shut down instantly for a few seconds. An unsafe output

current is defined as a particular level above a certain threshold for a

specified length of time, or an instantaneous current above an absolute

threshold. If neither of these conditions are violated the amplifier is delivering

all the current requested by the load. It’s very easy to tell when our protection

circuitry triggers; the amplifier stops.