Linn Akiva

LINN AKIVA MC CARTRIDGE
This is a really nice later serial number cartridge. (#2249) I would say it has in the neighborhood of 200 hours on it and lots of life left. I have recently made several upgrades to my LP 12 and replaced this cartridge with a Kandid. 
I can find no marks or flaws of any kind. It is very conservative rated at 8/10 though it could easily pass for new or demo.
Art Dudley | Oct 23, 2004 | First Published: Oct 1, 2004 writes in STEREOPHILE: 'I wouldn't have guessed the Troika's wonderfully deep, tight, and tuneful bass performance could be bettered, but after hearing the way the Akiva nailed the sound of the electric bass and kick drum on Led Zeppelin's "Achilles' Last Stand" (from Presence, Swan Song/Classic SS 8416), I'm a convert'. I agree. I have an old TROIKA to sell as well (Listed here separately)

The AKIVA was Linn’s Flagship moving coil cartridge. It embodied LINN's professed continued commitment to deploying new technology and new knowledge in the pursuit of improving music reproduction from the irreplaceable store of music performance that continues to accumulate on vinyl recordings.

The design of the AKIVA cartridge incorporated a new and advanced magnetic assembly structure to produce a higher output with noticeably better tracking and even lower distortion than previous cartridge products. The integrity of the AKIVA cartridge design ensures greatly improved signal transference without loss of vital information and without any spurious noise from this super-precise, ultra-linear, direct coupled, moving coil cartridge.

The advanced magnetic assembly structure in the AKIVA cartridge is constructed around a machined from the solid alloy carcass for complete rigidity, and the optimally damped suspension mechanism supports hand-wound coils secured in a high precision rigid assembly, terminated with gold contacts.