Lejonklou Entity: Follow-Up

In my recent review of the Lejonklou Entity Moving Coil-only Phono Stage, I extolled the virtues of how much more musical and natural it made my records sound.

In that review, I also mentioned how Frederick Lejonklou, the designer of the Entity, created and voiced the phono stage using Linn Silver Cables. Other reviewers of the Entity, who used these cables instead of their personal choices, preferred the sound with the Linn Cables. Even someone I trust unequivocally, Charlie Schnyder of Stereo Haven, who doesn’t normally use Linn Cables in anything else and was skeptical at first, assured me of how wonderful the sound was using the Linn cables over the Auditorium A23 cables (which were the cables I originally used to listen to the Entity and which made beautiful music together).

"Hmmm," says I, "Could another cable possibly sound better with the Entity than the way my system sounds with my lovely A23’s? Could all the other reviews be wrong? Could Frederick be mistaken?" "Hmm," I say again, "Perhaps I better hear this for myself."

After procuring two new pairs of Linn Silver interconnects (one pair to go from my Amadeus turntable to The Entity and the other to go from the Entity to my Line Magnetic 219IA), I set about playing many albums for several days without doing any serious comparative listening to give the cables ample time to break in, considering they were brand new. I always follow Charlie’s tried and true “3 Day” rule of letting new equipment break in for 3 days before doing any serious listening. Once again, he was proven right. Not that I didn’t do any listening at all while the cables were in, but I knew they would need a little time to settle in and get comfortable if they were going to surpass my A23’s. Sometimes I was in the listening room tinkering with other things while the music played, sometimes I was in other rooms doing other things. They sounded good right out of their packages as I expected they would, but not quite up to the way my A23’s did with the Entity. They were a little less defined, a little more closed in, and a little colder.

After 3 days (actually 4) of playing a myriad of records covering probably no less than a dozen different styles of music, from audiophile-quality pressings to records that sounded, well, not so audiophile recorded, I settled in to do some serious and also not so serious listening.

Well, all I can say is yup... yup, Frederick was right, yup, Charlie was right, yup, the audio press was right... The Entity sounds best with the Linn’s in the music path! The Linn cables elevate the music to an even greater height. To me, it’s not so much about what they add or take away from the sound as it is about the even greater sense of naturalness they provide, surpassing even that of the A23’s. Instruments and vocals sounded even more correct, even more natural, which I had not thought possible considering how awesome the A23’s are at that and how they performed with the Entity... but they did! They even gave a greater aural sense of "everything playing together," as musicians would in real life... something else the A23’s excel at. I have to say, the more I hear Frederick Lejonklou’s creations, the more I feel in tune with what he creates and how he goes about creating them. His ideas of what sounds "right" seem to align perfectly with mine. I doubt that I would ever disagree with him when he says something sounds best with his pieces... I feel he would have no qualms about putting a Ford motor in a Ferrari if he thought it made the car ride or perform better... why wouldn’t you if it made the car ride and perform better?... why wouldn’t you if it made the music sound better?... logical thinking in its purest form, in my opinion.

And in the weeks since, the Entity/Linn combination's sound has become even more refined, open, and natural.

So I am here to say unequivocally, yes, when using an Entity Phono stage, using Linn Silver interconnects is as much a prerequisite as buying the matching stands for a great pair of bookshelf speakers or a quality stand for your turntable, or a rack for your system... matching what sounds best for your equipment internally and externally has no downsides and only increases your musical enjoyment. Here, the Linn Cables and Entity Phono stage are a match made in Heaven.