A family-run Scottish hi-fi maker near Glasgow, best known for the Sondek LP12 turntable (made since 1973) and for network music streamers built in its own factory.
Linn Products designs and makes high-end music systems in Scotland. Hi-fi (short for high fidelity) is equipment built to play recorded music as faithfully as possible. Linn's best-known product is the Sondek LP12 turntable, which has been in production since 1973 and is described as the oldest hi-fi component still being made. Today the range also includes network music streamers such as the Klimax and Selekt DSM, plus amplifiers and loudspeakers. Its Exakt technology keeps the music signal digital all the way to the speaker's electronics.
Ivor Tiefenbrun, a Glaswegian who left a mechanical engineering degree at Strathclyde University, founded Linn in 1973. A profile in the Glasgow business press says his aim was to build a hi-fi good enough to satisfy his own demands. The company began by selling turntables machined by Castle Precision Engineering, the family engineering firm his father's side had started in 1951. Linn has long argued for a 'source-first' idea: if the first part of a music system is poor, nothing after it can fix the sound. That is the company's own philosophy, and some critics in the hi-fi press disagree with how it is put.
Linn is based between Waterfoot and Eaglesham in East Renfrewshire, about 30 minutes south of Glasgow. The factory building there was designed by the architect Richard Rogers. A reference entry gives about 160 employees, though that figure is dated and we did not find a current one. The same profile says the UK is Linn's biggest market, with sales through more than 500 retailers worldwide, and Linn received a Royal Warrant in 2002 as a supplier of entertainment systems to the Royal Household.
Linn is still led by the Tiefenbrun family. Ivor, who holds an MBE, is executive chairman, and his son Gilad, who joined in 2002 and ran research and development before becoming managing director in 2009, is chief executive. A visitor report from Linn's 50th anniversary event in 2023 says each finished product is built by one person from start to finish, who signs the back of the unit, and that almost everything with a Linn badge is made in its own factory. It also says the company has added 3D printers, circuit board assembly, five-axis CNC machines, welding robots and die-casting presses, with robot trolleys carrying parts to the assembly team. Sir Jony Ive worked with Linn on a 50th-anniversary LP12.
Because Linn makes so much itself, the jobs are varied: machinists and CNC operators, electronics and circuit board assembly staff, software and streaming engineers, acoustic and product designers, and the people who demonstrate, sell and support the products, including a brand ambassador. Its 2007 history also shows how hard trading can be, when it cut around two thirds of its staff after a period of losses. Look at Linn's own site for current roles and ask about training when you speak to the team.
Website: www.linn.co.uk
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