Before and after, the journey

I changed from a Stands Unique rack to a Fraim just over 2 years ago and was very surprised by the difference. I bought used and the upgrade outperformed the price I paid for it, plus it looks nicer!

Richard

Glad it's all worked out in their end.

It's certainly interesting about the new racks, I used to be very sceptical about such things...but I am now convinced of what a huge improvement it can be.

Those Naim racks are very very good, have you gone for the naim lite or the full fraim?

We took our system off a QS rack and put it into a Fraim. The box count had gone up and more rackage was needed. We were primarily looking for something to stand the equipment on. We were unprepared for just how good the system would sound when on the Fraim. No small upgrade for us.

I had a steel framed target rack, I'd been advised a change to something non ferrous would improve the timing and help cure the brightness of the CDX2. I eventually needed another shelf and considered replacing with isoblue or one of the Fraims, I couldn't get a demo of the racks, even in store, so had to base my decission on advive and hearsay. Eventually I could just about stretch to full fat Fraim but bought the lite at the last minute. It did improve the timing and engagement but not the brightness, not until I dressed the cables properly, particularly the power cables not touching the shelf. Another shelf was needed a few years later and I bought the full fat, whished done that in the first place once I'd heard the difference. Have gradually upgraded the rest that have Naim boxes on them and added the extra base layer.

Yeti, I've noticed quite a few comments regarding skipping the fraim lite and having full fraim, but is it more about cable dressing ....or a combination of both?

The cable dressing is a separate thing, it's not limitad to Fraim of either sort. I have my old Rega system in the spare room with a pair of allaes, it doesn't seem that fussy about such details but as soon as I introduced the CDX2 to the main system a power cable touching a shelf was a problem, particularly noticable with solo piano where it made the top notes ring excessively. I'd read comments here before about cable dressing but it's only when you hear the effect yourself that you take much notice. 

The higher up the range you go the more sensitive the system seems to get to this sort of thing. (this will be a "no s**t Sherlock" to some I don't doubt and bull s**t to others).

It's everything. Support, cable dressing, mains quality, you name it. If you can't do it all then cherry pick what you can. It's not like it's unlistenable without there improvements, although cable dressing should seldom be holding it back because it's easy to address.

Harry posted:

It's everything. Support, cable dressing, mains quality, you name it. If you can't do it all then cherry pick what you can. It's not like it's unlistenable without there improvements, although cable dressing should seldom be holding it back because it's easy to address.

Agree completely, it's as Yeti rightly says, sometimes you just have to hear it for yourself in order to be convinced .

Wenger2015, the full fraim; in for a penny, in for lots of pounds!

Harry the Hornet posted:

Wenger2015, the full fraim; in for a penny, in for lots of pounds!

Agreed, and no doubt worth every penny...