Linn Kandid Moving Coil Cartridge

The Kandid sits just below the flagship Ekstatik in Linn's cartridge range and above the Kendo. It is designed to partner the Ekos SE tonearm and suits Klimax LP12 and high-specification Selekt LP12 builds where a serious MC cartridge is required without the full Ekstatik outlay. At £4,175, it occupies genuinely high-end territory.

The defining characteristic of the Kandid's design is the nude generator — the generator assembly has no surrounding housing. Removing the housing eliminates a resonance source that, however small, colours the signal in conventional moving coil designs.

Nude Generator Design

Most moving coil cartridges house the generator — the coil, cantilever mount, and magnetic assembly — within a body. The body provides mechanical support and mounting points, but it also introduces resonance. Linn's position with the Kandid is that the housing is unnecessary and detrimental: by exposing the generator directly, they eliminate the additional resonances that a housing introduces.

The practical result is a cleaner, lower-distortion signal from the generator. The Kandid's exposed design is not unusual at the reference level of cartridge engineering — it is the correct approach when the goal is minimising coloration.

Cantilever, Stylus, and Generator

The Kandid uses a ceramic boron cantilever — boron for its exceptional stiffness-to-mass ratio, ceramic process for precision and consistency. The stylus is a nude line contact diamond, mounted at a 20-degree tracking geometry that maintains symmetrical flux lines across the cartridge's range of motion.

The coil winding is hand-wound. Linn states that the precision of hand winding delivers higher output voltage without compromising the purity of the moving coil signal — the Kandid's 0.38 mV output is lower than the Kendo's, reflecting the Kandid's lower generator mass, but the signal quality from which that output is derived is higher.

The triple-point mounting system ensures accurate, repeatable installation geometry.

Technical Specifications

Who Is It For?

The Kandid is for LP12 owners running an Ekos SE who want reference-level cartridge performance short of the Ekstatik. It is the right choice for Selekt LP12 builds at the highest specification, and for any LP12 owner on an Ekos SE who wants a serious upgrade from the Krystal or Kendo without committing to the Ekstatik price point. The Kandid's channel separation and tracking geometry represent a step up that is clearly audible in fine detail and stereo precision.

Pair it with a Urika or Urika II for an internal phono stage, or with the Uphorik for an external solution.

Buying from Martins Hi-Fi

Martins Hi-Fi has been in Norwich since 1968, and the Linn range has been part of what we do for years. We are still family-run — Ted Martin's daughter Elizabeth runs the business today — and we stock only brands we have heard properly and stand behind.

The Kandid's nude generator design requires careful handling and precise alignment — this is not a cartridge to fit without professional experience. Martins can carry out the complete installation and alignment on our LP12 service bench as part of our LP12 servicing work.

Reach them at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], call on 01603 627010, or WhatsApp Dave or Chris directly on 07554 687137. You can read more about who we are and how we work on our Why Martin's page. We are at 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY, open six days a week.

Contact: [email protected] | 01603 627010 | WhatsApp: 07554 687137 | 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY