Naim Amps on Mana

Posted by: John on 20 December 2000

I am considering putting my XPS, Super and 135's on Mana. Are the sonic gains significant or only sutle? Any help on this is appreciated.

John

Posted on: 20 December 2000 by Andy S
To me subtle, although I have a preference for my power supply on Mana before my 135s.... The source is much more important though.

Certainly for me 135s on coffee tables are better than a 250 on phase 3 (and that was with the 135s cold...). YMMV depending on speaker.

Andy (CDS/52/2x135/DBL).

Posted on: 20 December 2000 by Erik
For me, putting PSUs and poweramps on MANA, really makes everything feel "right". This is not small improvment but necessary and I dont think it's just for MANA. All your boxes need proper support to get the whole together.

/Erik

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by bob atherton
When I first bought some Mana about 8 years ago I spoke to John Watson about the effect, & what to expect.

He told me that he was very confident that I would
really like what it did under my LP12, might like what it did under my CD player & give it a go under the pre amp, but I may not find that as good.

Well, he was spot on. Brilliant under the LP12, worthwhile under the CD, & not for me under the pre amp.

Bob.

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by John Channing
You want to get yourself some Hutter, it's much better than Mana. And once you've got some you just need to keep buying more and more of it. Get Hutter is my advice and if you already have got Hutter get more Hutter!! wink
John

Music is the answer.

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by bob atherton
erm... been at the sherry have we?

You will give us Hutter users a bad name ;-)

Bob.

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Dev B
quote:
Get Hutter is my advice and if you already have got Hutter get more Hutter!!

I agree, you will not hear what your hifi s capable of unless is on Hutter, in fact a £200 DVD player on Hutter will sound better than a CDS2 on any other stand wink

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Arthur Bye
Dev:
quote:

I agree, you will not hear what your hifi s capable of unless is on Hutter, in fact a £200 DVD player on Hutter will sound better than a CDS2 on any other stand

Can't say I agree with you here. I've tried my CDS2 on Mana(phase 2), bookshelves, S/O racks, the floor and other stuff. The CDS2 does not change its sound. I think it may have something to do with the suspension system.

On the other hand the CDX and the CDS1 are dramatically changed with Mana.

Never actually tried Hutter, but I would be suprised if it affected the sound if Mana couldn't.

Arthur Bye

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by John Channing
quote:
Really funny, (almost as funny as your reasons for not buying Mana).

My reasons for not buying Mana were totally genuine and exactly as I stated them on the Mana forum! The funny thing is the new Mana forum is totally different from the old one, really rather civilised and interesting. I might even contribute one day. But hey, my post here about Hutter was a bit of a wind up, poking fun at what a Mana fundamentalist would say about their favourite tables, it's just a shame that I have to explain that because I thought the joke was blindingly obvious.
John
Ps. Who is Zob? Obviously one of a handful of Mana people who are known to me, probably in person!

Music is the answer.

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Top Cat
...IME, the effect is as great on amps as it is on source components. Then again, my amps are not Naim, so YMMV. I plan to rectify this situation and use my current Arcam 10DAVE/10P3 as AV only by the end of next year. Meanwhile, the Arcam gear gets better and better with each layer of Mana - it wasn't stunning to begin with, but I've seen a few people eat their words about the humble Arcam kit once heard on Phase 5 Mana.

Anyway, the best thing to do is to get a rack and so all the components are on Mana => greatest improvement.

In the next week or two, I'll replace my Akito on the LP12 with an Aro, taking me to an LP12/Cirkus/Aro/Lingo/Asaka(ESCo-rebuilt), and I will move from Phase 3 Mana under the LP12 to Phase 5. I will report back on whether the Akito->Aro is a greater jump than Mana Phase 3 to Phase 5 - together they should be blisteringly good!

See ya,

John

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Arye_Gur
For me it is the first time to see the word "MANA"
in this forum.

Can you explain to me please what is MANA ?

Arie

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by bob atherton
QUOTE:

"Can you explain to me please what is MANA ?"

Good to see that Arie is in festive mood!

Happy Christmas / Hanukah

Bob.

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Andrew Randle
quote:
Can you explain to me please what is MANA ?

A definition of something that doesn't ring a bell, while ringing like a bell.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Arye_Gur
You are still in business...

Thanks for the greetings.

Arie

Posted on: 21 December 2000 by Arthur Bye
Jonathan wrote:
quote:
You seem to suggest it makes no difference - and if that were the case it would seem sensible to put the head unit on the floor as far away from the rest of the gear as possible, to stop any electronic / magnetic interaction.

Jonathan: aside from the obvious convenience disadvantages of having a CDS2 on the floor, I don't see any reason that you can't do this.

I have a Mana four tier(for amps and power supplies), a five tier (for sources) and a reference table (for experimentation) and have swapped gear every which way. All of my other sources (P9, Nac52, Nat-01, CDX, CDS1, Linn Kremlin, Sony XA7ES CD player) have all shown varying degrees of improvement with Mana. In most cases it's immediately obvious. The CDS2 seems to be the exception. I haven't tried putting on a loudspeaker, or subwoofer, yet though.

As far as putting amps and power supplies on Mana; if there is an improvement it's slight, if any, at least to my ears.

For now, my opinion is that your money is better spent on better sources than on Mana if you think that using it on amp and power supplies will get you any closer to the Holy Grail. My opinion is reversed however regarding Mana with sources with the CDS2 being the notable exception.

I'll also add that my CDS2 presently is sitting on Mana (phase 2), just in case.

The two sources that I felt received the greatest improvement with Mana were the CDX and the CDS1. Both had the wow! factor with Mana.

Arthur Bye

Posted on: 23 December 2000 by Arthur Bye
Jonathan:

The 52 on Mana is definitely worthwhile. I agree with Vuk's perception that a Mana stand approximates the improvement gained by a Supercap or an XPS (with a CDX). I suggest that you save up for a four, five, or six tier though. That way you can add sound stages later on and get improvement on the entire rack instead of just one component the way you would with a sound frame or a reference table. You get a lot more bang for your buck that way.

Arthur Bye