Racks

Adam Zielinski posted:

French Rooster posted:

uk hifi racks are relatively pretty and work fine with naim. Rogoz audio too.  Not very expensive ( less than fraimlite).  

A fine Polish manufacturer. A bit pricy (recently) but still good value for money

I actually use another great Polish rack builder - Ostoja. He does most of the work as custom projects.

Another Ostoja man here  I believe you replaced your 8mm shelves with 10mm, is that right ? 

Any noticeable difference ? I have the standard 3-leg, 4 shelf version.

I have Custom Design Milan Reference 10 AV (ie double width) in oak.

(I'm with your wife on Fraim - I couldn't have it in my living space either...)

Isoblue preceded Fraim for my system.  I very much appreciated being able to slide the Isoblue shelves forwards and backwards in order to provide access to cable connections further down at the back.  I would suggest that Isoblue is a great starting point and is very easy on the eye to boot!

Peter

My naim dealer recommends fraim but , in his main room, he uses hifi racks because it looks nicer for him and the sound is very good too.  For woman factor, it is not a problem: only high quality wood.

Wugged Woy posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

French Rooster posted:

uk hifi racks are relatively pretty and work fine with naim. Rogoz audio too.  Not very expensive ( less than fraimlite).  

A fine Polish manufacturer. A bit pricy (recently) but still good value for money

I actually use another great Polish rack builder - Ostoja. He does most of the work as custom projects.

Another Ostoja man here  I believe you replaced your 8mm shelves with 10mm, is that right ? 

Any noticeable difference ? I have the standard 3-leg, 4 shelf version.

I use two racks from Ostoja.

The main one has standard 8 mm glass  - I haven't tried putting thicker shelves on it.

The other rack has 10 mm (Fraim spec) shelves. But it's difficult to compare them (different rooms, different equipment).

Custom Design Icon Signature supports my modest system very well and has oak legs.

Karl

I'd suggest picking up a second hand Stands Unique rack (no longer made). They are in natural ash, cherry etc. with glass shelves. I have the additional 'carbon' isolators for each spiked shelf. Look reasonably attractive to the other half....

I'd give another plug for Quadraspire SVT. It performs very well and looks good. It also has three advantages over Fraim. First, it isn't as wide, making it easier to accommodate into domestic surroundings. Second, it tends to need very little maintenance, so regular 're-builds' aren't needed to keep it sounding at its best.   Third, it costs less.   

whsturm posted:

I'd suggest picking up a second hand Stands Unique rack (no longer made). They are in natural ash, cherry etc. with glass shelves. I have the additional 'carbon' isolators for each spiked shelf. Look reasonably attractive to the other half....

They look very nice but I changed from one to a Fraim and the difference was significant.  I really wasn't expecting such an improvement, the change was made for practical reasons.

Having experienced the upgrade first hand I wouldn't say it is suitable for a mid range system (which mine is)

I understand the Tower of London has a very effective one. 

trickydickie posted:

whsturm posted:

I'd suggest picking up a second hand Stands Unique rack (no longer made). They are in natural ash, cherry etc. with glass shelves. I have the additional 'carbon' isolators for each spiked shelf. Look reasonably attractive to the other half....

They look very nice but I changed from one to a Fraim and the difference was significant.  I really wasn't expecting such an improvement, the change was made for practical reasons.

Having experienced the upgrade first hand I wouldn't say it is suitable for a mid range system (which mine is)

Interesting. Did you have the carbon isolators under each glass shelf or was it 'natural' (the metal pins with a soft 'blob'). The isolators are a combination of spike and then a carbon disc (as opposed to a steel ball on the Fraim) hence each glass shelf is effectively isolated from the ash uprights. This made a significant improvement to a standard shelf in my set-up although I haven't tried the Fraim

Huge posted:

I understand the Tower of London has a very effective one. 

Huge,very true and they guarantee they will stretch it to fit if not somebody will be hung drawn and quartered.

whsturm posted:

trickydickie posted:

whsturm posted:

I'd suggest picking up a second hand Stands Unique rack (no longer made). They are in natural ash, cherry etc. with glass shelves. I have the additional 'carbon' isolators for each spiked shelf. Look reasonably attractive to the other half....

They look very nice but I changed from one to a Fraim and the difference was significant.  I really wasn't expecting such an improvement, the change was made for practical reasons.

Having experienced the upgrade first hand I wouldn't say it is suitable for a mid range system (which mine is)

Interesting. Did you have the carbon isolators under each glass shelf or was it 'natural' (the metal pins with a soft 'blob'). The isolators are a combination of spike and then a carbon disc (as opposed to a steel ball on the Fraim) hence each glass shelf is effectively isolated from the ash uprights. This made a significant improvement to a standard shelf in my set-up although I haven't tried the Fraim

I had the standard version with the isolating platform.  I suspect the carbon isolators would make a difference.

Mine also had the doors which would have added mass but the whole thing seemed rather too wobbly to me.

I was staggered by the difference moving to Fraim though.  I've seen people say it can be like a box upgrade and always thought the claims were somewhat exaggerated but I can now see what people mean.

Its tested this way, in my case. Took kit off a standard rack and put it on a Naim fraim and it sounded 25% better is very very obvious ways.

The Naim Fraim isn’t obvious until you own one. Then, its a complete no brainer.

Thanks for the input everyone a lot to ponder.

Rob

Fraim for me- ash with silver uprights. Improved sound, more organic.

like the looks-it has that “form follows function” appearance. Brilliant design

david

I don't own an audio rack. I had a custom cabinet built based on my own design. I wanted something streamlined and aesthetically pleasing for my sitting room. I did however treat the shelf undersides with Soundcoat dampening material and placed my Naim gear on black SSC Solidbase. They blend in seamlessly with the gear and do a fantastic job at a very reasonable cost. For smaller items (PSU, DAC, streamer) I use SSC Netpoints mounted on Ikea cutting boards. Not as aesthetically pleasing but just as effective and I keep them out of sight in a closed compartment.

@Tog had a French Dressing Table he liked to use for his Hi-Fi support.

(Had to move the French Dressing to the fridge.)

Nick

Hi - I haven't read through all of the replies on this link. As Naim users is there no users,suporters of Russ Andrews Torlyte racks ?

Many thanks.

Thanks everyone, long story short the boss has agreed to Fraim, will update system pic when I can. The input hear really helped ????????

As for the sound, it’s simply stunning! As good if not better than the xpsdr !

Rob

Pcd posted:

Recently upgraded from an original Quadraspire QAVM with the Bronze upgrade to a SVT2 in Bamboo also with the Bronze upgrade  the difference in quite staggering but also looks the part.

Hi Pcd

just read through this post and see you have you system set up on a SVT2. I have been looking at this option online as it looks great and fits the space required. A couple of questions.

-does this rack work well with stacking brain and brawn apart?

-if so how does the rack prevent the vibrations traveling across the shelf to the other unit sitting beside it.

-how is it’s SQ  performance going now you have had it for a while.

thanks

Boom

boom posted:

Pcd posted:

Recently upgraded from an original Quadraspire QAVM with the Bronze upgrade to a SVT2 in Bamboo also with the Bronze upgrade  the difference in quite staggering but also looks the part.

Hi Pcd

just read through this post and see you have you system set up on a SVT2. I have been looking at this option online as it looks great and fits the space required. A couple of questions.

-does this rack work well with stacking brain and brawn apart?

-if so how does the rack prevent the vibrations traveling across the shelf to the other unit sitting beside it.

-how is it’s SQ  performance going now you have had it for a while.

thanks

Boom

Hi Boom, picture of the SVT2 rack in Bamboo 140mm legs with the additional shelf and SVT Bronze upgrade, evidently the additional shelf below he SVT Bronze upgrade increases the rigidity (Some picture do not show this shelf) I must say it is a big improvement sound wise on the QVAM rack it replaces.

Looks good plus it fits along the return of the bay window also the black boxes run much cooler very pleased indeed.

Pcd posted:

boom posted:

Pcd posted:

Recently upgraded from an original Quadraspire QAVM with the Bronze upgrade to a SVT2 in Bamboo also with the Bronze upgrade  the difference in quite staggering but also looks the part.

Hi Pcd

just read through this post and see you have you system set up on a SVT2. I have been looking at this option online as it looks great and fits the space required. A couple of questions.

-does this rack work well with stacking brain and brawn apart?

-if so how does the rack prevent the vibrations traveling across the shelf to the other unit sitting beside it.

-how is it’s SQ  performance going now you have had it for a while.

thanks

Boom

Hi Boom, picture of the SVT2 rack in Bamboo 140mm legs with the additional shelf and SVT Bronze upgrade, evidently the additional shelf below he SVT Bronze upgrade increases the rigidity (Some picture do not show this shelf) I must say it is a big improvement sound wise on the QVAM rack it replaces.

Looks good plus it fits along the return of the bay window also the black boxes run much cooler very pleased indeed.

Awesome, thanks for the reply and photo, A very nice system you have there and it looks great on the SVT2. I just need to get the wife to like it now as it will sit in our living room under the wall hung tv.

happy listening

cheers Boom

The SVT2 does look very nice indeed. A question was asked about how it prevents vibration travelling across between two boxes placed side by side, and I suppose the answer is that it doesn’t. It’s something I’d not thought of before - say whether the 300PS transformer vibration might impact on the head unit. Given that the boxes have isolating feet, I guess it’s not an issue. Two standard SVTs may be a little better but would be larger and presumably more expensive. Anyway, it’s good to see the SVT get a bit more exposure here - they are seriously good racks at a price that isn’t too outrageous, and are beautifully made.