Linn 343: A Reference Loudspeaker Built Around Pistonik
Linn's new 343 is the first loudspeaker the company has designed around its own Pistonik drive units from the very start — a compact reference speaker in two versions, available to order through Actual Power.
Linn has announced 343, a compact reference loudspeaker and the first the company has designed around Pistonik from the very start. Pistonik — the first drive units Linn has ever built itself — arrived earlier this year in the flagship 360. With 343, the cabinet, the bass architecture, the drive units and the electronics were all developed together around it.
“The wonder of 343 is how completely it changes what a compact loudspeaker can be.”
— Linn
Bass from the floor up
Both lower-frequency drivers are Pistonik: an 8-inch woofer that fires downwards, close to the floor, and a 6-inch upper bass unit above it. Linn says the pair carry around 70% of the speaker's acoustic workload. Firing the woofer into the floor turns the floor itself into a reflective boundary, spreading bass energy evenly through the room rather than aiming it at a single seat.
A cabinet that isn't wood
Instead of timber panels, 343 is moulded from a glass-fibre-reinforced compound. It is stiff and dense enough for the walls to be thinner, which leaves more usable volume inside, and moulding allows a continuous form with no hard edges for the sound to diffract around. The lower body sweeps in a curve around the bass driver, and the rear electronics sit in a curved cowl.
Two versions
- Exakt Integrated — fully self-contained, with a Utopik power supply, Exakt digital crossover, Power DAC architecture, Organik DACs and Adaptive Bias Control amplification in a module on the back
- Passive with Active Bass (PWAB) — the same Pistonik bass system with its own Utopik supply and Power DAC, while the upper bass, midrange and tweeter are driven by your own amplifier
In the Exakt Integrated version, the electronics module sits on a three-point spring mount that decouples it from the cabinet, and it is cooled entirely passively: a finned aluminium heat sink draws air upwards like a chimney and vents it through a machined opening at the top. No fans, and nothing to hear.
Six finishes
343 comes in Triton, Single Malt, Clyde Built, Linn Heritage, Piano Black and Alpine White, each with black array trims.
Hearing it
Both versions of 343 can be ordered through Actual Power now. If you would like to know more, or talk through how 343 would suit your room and system, get in touch — we will be glad to help. And for the full story of the drive units at its heart, read our Pistonik article in the journal.
