Linn DSP Surround Sound Module

Direct decoding of surround streams from HDMI / HDMI-ARC / TOSLINK / SPDIF is supported with the addition of a Linn Surround module mounted onto the HDMI-2 board within the DSM.

The Linn Surround module is sold only as an upgrade to any:

Selekt or Akurate or Klimax DSMwith Exakt capability and fitted with a HDMI-2 board.

Decode Mode

Available from the Konfig > Dolby/DTS tab and Manage Systems are ‘Decode Mode’ selection, and ‘Dynamic Range Compression’ setting (formerly known as Midnight Movie Mode on earlier Linn products). These settings apply to audio received on HDMI, HDMI-ARC, Toslink and SPDIF.

Decode Mode settings explained:

If Decode Mode is set to ‘Off’ then stereo streams will be presented in stereo and surround streams will be presented in surround, with down-mixing of the surround stream taking place to accommodate the number of speakers in the system.
If Decode Mode is set to ‘Auto’ then stereo streams will be up-mixed to Pro-logic Surround using the automatic up-mixing algorithm in the chipset. Surround streams are presented as above.

There are also options for ‘DTS Neo 6 Music’ and ‘DTS Neo 6 Cinema’. These are similar to ‘Auto’ but the choice here determines which algorithm is used to up-mix a stereo stream.

Speaker positioning

Speaker positioning should be achieved through Space Optimisation, however if Space Optimisation is disabled, the speaker distances may be configured from the Konfig > Dolby/DTS tab.

Speaker level adjustments

You can trim the Speakers levels using an inbuilt Pink noise generator within the Linn DSM. But Space Optimisation will need to be setup first to get the correct speaker positioning and timing.
After Space Optimisation has been setup you can adjust the trim, more details are listed HERE

Surround Songcast

Surround audio is NOT Songcasted to other rooms. Songcast will only support Stereo audio. If your DSM front panel is showing a Surround mode then this audio is not shared via Songcast.

Speaker configurations

To reduce the Exakt hardware requirements for extra channels, it is possible to configure an ExaktBox or ExaktBox-I to drive one non-Exakt speaker per channel, up to a maximum of 8 channels, using either a 6 x channel passthrough or 8 x channel passthrough Exakt filter.
These are FULL-RANGE outputs in accordance to the Surround channel assigned, that can be fed to any Linn or non-Linn loudspeaker.
Space Optimization will be supported for this configuration, but not Space Optimisation+ (for Exakt speakers).

Speakers can be driven from any combination of:
Direct analogue output from the DSM
Exakt Speaker
Exaktbox configured with crossovers for one or two speakers
Exaktbox configured for surround playback
Speaker type set for”6 x Channel Passthrough” for 5.1ch or
“8 x Channel Passthrough” or 7.1ch
Linn Selekt DSM cartridge(s)
Examples of speaker setups can be found HERE