Well my tech told me to be rid of my Aura amp as he said it had been modded and a poor quality job had been done. He said to dump it before it needed serious service, which he stated emphatically he would not do.
Enter the Linn Intek. The fella who I bought the Aura from was very apologetic and offered to refund me entirely or trade for anyhting else in the store.
The Linn Intek was in good condition and is built like a tank...I called my tech who said without hesitation...that Linn will be built far better than the Aura...he is right. However the jury is still out on the sound.
Curious if anyone here has any experience with it and can give their impressions.
Cant comment on the Intek Art. But have heard Linn integrates at Just Hi Fi, and find that they are a sound all on their own. I really enjoy them personally. Some I hear don't. I guess its a love it or hate it type of presentation. Are you finding it a bit too bright?
No, the Linn sound changed with the Classic products and became a little edgier.
This amp is famous for sounding too soft or gray if you will. It was Linn's answer to the Nait 2 and Audiolab 8000A. From what I've read reviewers were mixed on it, however it seemed as though everyone had an opinion. Just hard to find many now. Some reviewers liked the smooth presentation and others felt that Linn could've done better. My biggest problem is the sense that it isn't clear sounding...like an impressionist painting.
Same with the Linn dealer in Portland Jan...very snooty, told me that I needed to be running any Linn gear with Nordost cables or I wasn't getting the most from it...egad.
However my Intek is an old piece that I thought perhaps someone would be familiar with.
The dealer I bought this from told me I could have it as long as I want it while he tried to find something that would suit my system better. Absolutely great dealer...Echo Audio in Portland. Very cool used gear and gives fair trade in on vintage and other gear.
My local Linn dealer is by far the best and most humble dealer I've ever come across. The carry entire Linn, Naim, and Rega lines, and a decent amount of other stuff. They always claim that they carry their favorite gear, not the best gear. Why? There's no absolute best gear. They're just as enthusiastic about their least expensive gear as they are about their most expensive gear.
One of my favorite things about them - their hallways are filled with LPs and CDs. They love music more than the gear. When I asked them if they'd consider selling me a few albums, it was like I asked them to sell me their daughter.
Intek, yes, now this takes me back some 20 years so the memory is a bit fuzzy - a bit like the amp as I recall. Yes, a little soft and not particularly open. It was Linn's attempt at affordable kit, not really to go up against the Nait2 which was more niche product (and miles better in my view), but to go against the Exposure X, MF products, the early Arcams, the Kraken (remember that?), etc.
Unfortunately it suffered from not being particularly good at anything where the others all had their strong suits and weak suits, thus polarising opinion. The Intek felt and acted like it was meant to sell on the Linn brand name. I demoed it for my own purposes when I was looking to buy and it simply didn't compete against the rest, but I eventually bought higher up the scale so perhaps that's not a fair comparison.
All that said, here's the caveat. It's been many years (at least 10) since I last heard an Intek. Would I go there now? No.