Linn Tukan.(speakers)

Manufacturer: Linn Products Ltd., Floors Road, Waterfoot, Glasgow, Scotland G76 OEP, linn.co.uk Distributor: Linn, Incorporated, 4540 Southside Blvd., Suite 402, Jacksonville, FL 32216, 904-645-5242 Price: $795/pr Source: Distributor loan Reviewer: Thom Moon

Although I received the Tukans in connection with the Linn Classik CD/Tuner/Amplifier, the speakers deserve coverage on their own. In a word, they are "fine."

The Tukans fall into the mini-monitor' category. They are roughly 12" high by 7.4" wide by 7.2" deep. The ones I received were finished in a high-quality "black ash" vinyl covering. Each Tukan comes with a grille, which is secured by a thick rubber donut ring that fits into a wide groove around the enclosure. Linn notes in the user's manual that "Fitting the grille is time consuming, so unless you want to use the speaker without the grille, it is best to leave it on." Wise words, as it took a couple minutes to install the grille on each speaker.

The drivers are a 5" mid/woofer and a 3/4" ceramic dome tweeter, both mounted flush to front baffle. On the rear of the unit are four banana jacks. No other connector will work easily. Jumpers are provided for single-wiring schemes, although as with most Linn equipment, bi-wiring is recommended. The rear also contains a small bass port. Their nominal impedance is 4 ohms, with 87 dBw sensitivity. Stated frequency response is 70 Hz to 20 kHz, plus or minus 3 dB. Each speaker weighs just over 12 pounds B pretty hefty for such small units (more than the slightly larger Alpha A/Vs). That heft led to minimal vibration of the cabinets.

Most of the time I used them, they were single-wired to the Linn Classik either by themselves or, in my larger listening room (i.e. the living room), through the PSB Alpha Sub subwoofer. In every case, they acquitted themselves well.

The most striking caveats of the Tukans are that they really want to be near a rear wall, and that they have the curse of most minis: they are relatively inefficient. And I found out the hard way, as in one evening's listening, the Classik's 75 watt-perchannel amplifier cut out twice on loud material.

At first, I set up the Tukans on 24" PSB stands well out in my living room so that they followed the first part of Linn's positioning recommendations ("Place the speakers so that each speaker is the same distance away from your normal listening position. The distance between the speakers should be no more than the distance from the listening to either loudspeaker.") This resulted in exceptional imaging for voices and instruments but virtually no bass response in my living room.