Private limited company | |
Industry | Audiovisual equipment manufacturing and distribution |
Founded | 19 February 1973 |
Headquarters | Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom |
Key people
|
Ivor Tiefenbrun Gilad Tiefenbrun |
Products |
High fidelity equipment Audiovisual equipment |
Number of employees
|
160 |
Subsidiaries | Linn Records |
Website | linn |
Linn Products is an engineering company that manufactures hi-fi and audio equipment. Founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun in Glasgow, Scotland in 1973, the company is best known as the manufacturer of the iconic Linn Sondek LP12 turntable.
From 2007 Linn was one of the first audio manufacturers to introduce digital music streaming using the home network and internet. This has become the focus of the company’s strategy leading to audio systems to support digital music playback of 24bit/192 kHz studio master quality recordings using a digital stream over a home network.
Linn Records was the first to sell DRM-free 24-bit Studio Master quality tracks downloaded over the internet.
This network approach was extended in 2013 with the introduction of the Linn Exakt technology to retain the 24-bit lossless signal in the digital domain to the active crossover.
In late 2014 Linn announced the integration of TIDAL’s lossless music streaming service (Tidal (service)) into Linn DS digital players enabling access to over 25 million audio tracks at CD-quality over the Internet.
Originally based in the eponymous suburb of Linn, south Glasgow, and opposite Linn Park, it is now based just outside the city, between Waterfoot and Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire.
Linn was founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun to produce the Sondek LP12 turntable. The company's logo is the simple geometric representation of a stylus tip on a record surface.
Hamish Robertson designed the Ariston RD11 in 1971 with Castle Precision Engineering Ltd machining many of the parts. Robertson left Ariston, which had been taken over by Dunlop Westayr Ltd and reorganised as Ariston Audio Ltd. In February 1973 Linn Products Ltd. was formed to sell turntables made by Castle Precision Engineering. This was officially announced in an advertisement in Hi-Fi News & Record Review, with the following text: "The turntable previously available under the name Ariston RD11 is now available under the name Linn LP12." There were claims, and even patent litigation at the time, that the first Linn Sondek LP12 was a carbon copy of the RD11, and many parts interchangeable. Ultimately, the patent was awarded successfully to Linn.