Linn Klimax Solo 500 Mono Power Amplifier

Introduced in May 2025, the Solo 500 brings the Klimax Solo 800's amplifier architecture down to a size that fits an ordinary rack shelf. It is a single-channel Class AB design with voltage rail control, Linn's "Class-V" arrangement, in which the supply rails follow demand rather than sitting at a fixed high voltage. Its defining feature is Adaptive Bias Control. Instead of a bias current set once at the factory, the output stage is measured and re-biased continuously as the music plays, so the hand-over between the positive and negative halves of the waveform stays correctly set regardless of temperature, level or load, and crossover distortion is removed rather than merely minimized. The power supply is a 2 kW Utopik switch-mode design with precision-regulated rails. Linn's published figures are 0.0004 percent THD+N at 250 W into 8 Ω and 0.0005 percent at 500 W into 4 Ω, both at 1 kHz, with an output impedance of 0.01 Ω. Cooling is passive, through the finned casework, and the front panel carries the same illuminated Linn roundel as the 800.

Ed Selley, reviewing the Solo 500 for Hi-Fi+, singled out its transient behavior, calling the speed with which bass notes start and stop "truly outstanding," and heard upper frequencies that were accurate and tonally convincing without added color. He found it forgiving of poorer recordings while still showing their limits, as intimate at low volume as it was composed at full scale, and called it "the most enjoyable device to display a Linn badge I have tested." He presented it as the 800's technology in a smaller case rather than a lesser design.

Connections match the larger amplifier: one RCA and one balanced XLR input, an RCA and XLR pass-through for daisy-chaining a second amplifier, and one pair of binding posts. Gain is 28.6 dB on RCA and 22.6 dB on XLR, so it works with any preamplifier or with a Linn DSM acting as source and preamp. A two-position auto-standby switch selects a deep (7 W) or shallow (21 W) low-power state when no signal is present; idle consumption is 45 W. The Exakt Link socket is for service use only. The most common Linn pairing is two Solo 500s driving the 360 Passive with Active Bass, where the amplifiers handle the passive 360 Array and the speaker's own Power DAC takes care of the bass. Six Solo 500s can tri-amp a pair of 360 PWABs, or run them fully active through a Klimax Exaktbox. It is also a good match for the 150 floorstander, whose 86 dB sensitivity and 4 Ω load reward an amplifier with real current.

The Solo 500 sits below the Klimax Solo 800 in Linn's amplifier range. The 800 delivers 400 W into 8 Ω, 800 W into 4 Ω and is rated into 2 Ω, with far more heatsink mass; the 500 gives up that headroom and the 2 Ω rating in exchange for a 3.5-inch-high chassis that weighs 23.4 lb instead of 59.6 lb. For most domestic rooms and speakers of average sensitivity the 500 has power in reserve. The price shown is for one mono amplifier; a stereo pair is two. Finishes are silver or black anodized aluminum.