We were delighted to be part of Linn’s new 343 loudspeakers world debut last weekend during the Steronet Hifi Show 2026 from 16 Oct – 18 Oct.
Gordon Inch, Linn’s brand ambassador and trainer, travelled from Scotland to Melbourne to introduce the speaker, explain the engineering, and answer questions from visitors across all three days. We watched the room fill up again and again — people who had read the announcement days earlier and wanted to hear what the fuss was about.
What Makes the 343 Different
This isn’t just the Pistonik motor system dropped into a smaller box. The 343 is the first Linn loudspeaker developed around Pistonik from the beginning — drivers, cabinet, and electronics conceived as one acoustic system. The revised 360 came first, but the 343 is where the technology was the starting point rather than an addition.
The design pairs a 6-inch Pistonik upper-bass unit with an 8-inch down-firing bass driver, the latter mounted close to the floor to work with the room’s acoustic boundary rather than fight it. Between them, the two Pistonik drivers handle around 70% of the speaker’s acoustic workload. That’s the part that surprised people in the room — this isn’t a small speaker doing an impression of a big one. It’s a different approach to distributing low-frequency energy.
The cabinet is a smoothly rounded moulding in glass-fibre-reinforced compound rather than timber panels, with even the wave-like curve along the underside doing real work: creating space for the down-firing driver while keeping the front profile slim.
Two Ways In
As with the 360, the 343 comes in two versions:
- Exakt Integrated — Linn’s Utopik power supply, Exakt digital crossover, Organik DAC, Power DAC technology, and Adaptive Bias Control amplification all housed in a rear-mounted electronics module
- Passive with Active Bass (PWAB) — active bass operation retained (Utopik and Power DAC), with the upper-bass, midrange, and tweeter left to your choice of external amplification
In both, the rear module sits on a three-point spring mounting to limit vibration from the cabinet, and cooling is entirely passive via a finned aluminium heat sink — no fans.
Now Available to Order
The show is over, but the 343 is very much available. Both versions can be ordered now in six finishes — Triton, Single Malt, Clyde Built, Linn Heritage, Piano Black, and Alpine White — all supplied with black driver-array trims.
Pricing:
If you heard it in State 3 and want to explore what it would do in your own room, get in touch with us at Sound Gallery. If you missed it, we’re happy to talk you through both versions and arrange a listen.
- 343 Exakt Integrated — $139,995
- 343 PWAB — $99,995