Profits up as Linn continues its quest for sonic perfection

The profit boost came in a year that saw Linn invest £1.97m in research and development, resulting in the roll-out of its Exakt audio technology.

The company, which sells through specialist independent retailers, said the advent of the system had boosted sales in the year ended June 30, though it could not be specific about the exact impact. It also enjoyed its best sales of turntables and accessories in more than a decade as music lovers rediscovered vinyl.

Both factors helped turnover rise by 17 per cent to £19.2m.

Managing director Gilad ­Tiefenbrun, son of Ivor, said: "It's a happy set of results, but we play a long game.

"We have been around for 41 years so it's not like a PLC where we have to keep increasing quarterly profits or anything like that.

"We reinvest into the business, we are developing the technology of the future and we intend to be around for the next 41 years at least."

Mr Tiefenbrun said Linn had been developing the Exakt system for eight years before it was added to its product range last year.

The technology personalises the experience for the user by collecting information on their listening environment - from the construction and dimensions of the room to its furnishings and how people use it - in order to optimise the sound. Using cloud-based services, the information is fed into Linn software, where it is stored alongside data such as the parts which have gone into creating the user's system.

Mr Tiefenbrun said: "In effect, you are talking directly over the internet to their system, so you have this amazing facility to customise things and also to service products for the long term.

"If a part of our system ever breaks now, we can send out the new part and remotely reconfigure the system for them.

"It sounds really techie, but it's not. It's really about getting the hi-fi system on to the internet in such a way you can improve the customer experience."

Three systems were launched by Linn with the technology last year, with a further two coming on stream so far in the current year.

So far it has been sold as an upgrade to systems owned by its most "discerning" customers.

But the company ultimately aims to roll out the technology to all of its systems, stating that tests have shown it works just as well with speakers made by other manufacturers.

Mr Tiefenbrun said it was hard to tease out the exact financial impact made by Exakt last year because it is sold as part of a system, as opposed to a standalone product.

But he said: "We can only say it has helped us, it is undoubtedly helping us and will continue to help us. It is not possible to say whether it alone was responsible for the 17 per cent increase on the previous year, but it certainly played a significant part of that."

He was more specific about the effect the resurgent popularity of vinyl has had at Linn, noting: "I can tell you that that financial year was our most successful for turntables and turntable accessories in a decade."

And he added that Exakt could enhance the vinyl-listening experience as any other musical source. Mr Tiefenbrun said: "We're delighted that we continue to make vinyl sound better in this day and age. One of the favourite things we can do is demonstrating to my father Ivor, who invented the company and invented the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, that we have found another way to make it sound better."

The latest accounts for Linn Products show an interim ­dividend of £2m was paid during the year, with no final ­dividend distributed.

Average monthly staff numbers dipped to 173 from 175 the year before, with staff costs rising to £6.6m from £6.4m. The remuneration of the highest paid director rose to £333,799, up from £325,252 in 2013.