Fraim review in "image hifi"

Posted by: Willem van Gemert on 10 December 2001

Some days ago I received the January/February issue of the German Hifi magazine image hifi. Werner Höglmaier (a Naim fan) tested the Fraim and wrote a very positive review.
His conclusion: In the future, when people ask for his advice which component to upgrade, he will suggest them to first put everything on Fraim because only then they'll be able to hear the true potential of every component!
He characterises the Fraim as an "absolutely neutral sounding rack" and is just very very enthousiastic and stunned by it's effect on all gear, not only Naim gear. He claims that even a cheap DVD player or a AV receiver will play two leagues higher when put on Fraim (where have I heard that before!). According to him the Fraim combines and improves all the known positive effects of racks/bases without any trace of the usual side effects. He tried his LP 12, which he normally has on the Linke Akustik Pyramide (a Mana like construction), and he found the Linke Akustik Pyramide couldn't really improve the LP 12 on the Fraim.
About the price he writes: of course you have to pay a price for such an excellent finished product, but related to it's performance the Fraim is more than worth it's money.
I don't know if the spirit of the review came over in this very short résumé, but it's a very very positive review! I'm curious to see if his fellow reviewers will try the Fraim in their non Naim setup.

Ciao!

Willem

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Willem van Gemert
Tom,

image hifi is a serious German High End magazine. It has a glossy look and feel, but it's a magazine for fanatics. Reviews cover only serious Hifi to High End gear, lots of analogue audio, technical info and great pictures of the interior of gear, no ratings. It's an audio only magazine, for AV they set up a sister magazine, so no silly reviews of the latest LCD projector or Plasma screen. I started reading it because it was the only magazine I knew which covered Naim gear regularly and seriously. IMHO certainly worth checking out!

Ciao!

Willem

P.S. For your info, Werner Höglmaier's Naim system is as follows: LP 12 with Supercapped Prefix, CDS II, NAC 52, NAXO + Supercap, sixpack, DBLs.

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Adrian F.
Hi Willem...

I was not yet able to pick a copy at my usual booth!
Do you have a subscription?

happy listening

Adrian

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Willem van Gemert
Hi Adrian,

Yes, I have a subscription. I think the issue will be available in the shops from the 12th of December. That's tomorrow! I received my copy last Thursday.
I subscribed some years ago when I wanted to sell my NAT 03. As a subscriber you could place a free advertisement on the image hifi website and you have access to an online version of image hifi. As I was buying the magazine anyway, I decided to take a subscription. I sold the NAT 03 and have a subscription ever since.

Ciao!

Willem

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by garyi
What I want to know is how reviewers can establish that something sounds 'neutral.'

How can they assess this unless they were able to suspend the hifi kit in mid air prior to testing the rack?

That really bugs me that statement. Like friendly fire or rush hour.

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Simon Matthews
Why would mid air provide a neutral response?

I think 'neutral character' in this case is a description of a subjective evaluation. The evaluation is built up over time with a number of pieces of familiar music. The conclusion being that no particular area of frequency appears to haver been over or under emphasised within the overall presentation. Not a highly scientific process but something we all have a 'feel' for.

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Theo
For more information on Image hifi, take a look at:

www.image-hifi.com

You can order issues online.

Theo

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Willem van Gemert
Adrian,

Just checked and the January/February issue will be availabe in the shops from the 14th of December, which is Friday.

Ciao!

Willem

Posted on: 11 December 2001 by Arye_Gur
I like the reviewer's idea that the rack does the same to each component he tested, not like the fans of the other rack that are claiming that Mana makes each sheet to sound as good as Naim...

Arye

Posted on: 14 December 2001 by Evan D. Jay
Does anyone know whether Image Hifi has an English language site? Is it possible to translate the articles from German to English?
Posted on: 14 December 2001 by Dr. Exotica
Goto:

www.world.altavista.com/tr

and enter the URL of www.image-hifi.com.

Some things will work - some will not.

Erik

Posted on: 14 December 2001 by Tuan
"He claims that even a cheap DVD player or a AV receiver will play two leagues higher when put on Fraim (where have I heard that before!). "

Well, It sounds like Mana products now !!!!!!