Non-Naim boxes in/on Fraim

Nick from Suffolk posted:

I am (naturally) drawn to Fraim. 99.9% of Naim users have it so it must be good. Indeed, I can really only countenance Naim as most other table solutions are either fugly or really really fugly (in my and my wife's views).

 

Great, happy to learn that I'm part of the 0,1% using fugly supports for my Naim boxes !!

I have mounted a Rega Osiris on Fraim, using a marine ply shelf I made myself to sit on the balls. 

This was because the Rega did not sound good on the glass, as I had been warned might be the case.

Worked absolutely fine, but obviously, the larger you go, the more stability issues I would have thought - my shelf was not hugely larger than the standard size.

Other things do work well on Fraim, my KDS3 and LP12 both sound really good on the normal glass shelf. 

Thanks, Oscarskeeper, but the Wadia already sits on lots of glass and seems to work well, despite its extreme old age. My TT sits on glass, albeit wall-mounted, and has worked quote nicely in that mode for over 20 years.

I guess I was looking to see whether anyone else uses a Wadia on Fraim (unlikely I imagine) or has found that having bought Fraim their non-Naim source/box just did not work. My local dealer reported that a Levinson amplifier did not quite gel on Fraim, but sang on some Quadraspire. (And that Q stuff definitely sits in my really really fugly group of stands.)

I might just have to take the experiment further and get another set of Fraim to try out, but the dismantling, re-mantling (?), dismantling and reinstatement is going to be something much more than a day's work. 

I'd go for the large toughened glass onto the top shelf of your fraim stack.

If it is Fraim lite then use some 'ball-nut' support and place them in a large enough triangle to take the weight. If normal fraim shelf then it is a waste of glass and the larger fraim lite footprint will probably work better.

Keep body and soul together in the required gymnastics and report back Nick.

DB.

Lio84 posted:

Nick from Suffolk posted:

I am (naturally) drawn to Fraim. 99.9% of Naim users have it so it must be good. Indeed, I can really only countenance Naim as most other table solutions are either fugly or really really fugly (in my and my wife's views).

 

Great, happy to learn that I'm part of the 0,1% using fugly supports for my Naim boxes !!

I was thinking the same thing. Nice to be in the minority. Power to the people Quadraspire rules OK!

Thanks, DB, about to try a temporary arrangement and site the W on top of the 'Lite stack (with PSUs) using Nordost Pulsar Points. If it (the W) doesn't suffer that ignominy then I think I can be confident that a larger sheet of glass on top of a full Fraim stack containing only the 'brain' bits will work. Andy (of A&A) called in to lend me the PPs and talk through options. That resulted in both of us pulling the 'Lite stack out by about 6" to clear the TT support.

Just have to steel myself to pick up 25kg of CD player and 'balance' it on 3 PPs.

Playing with the disposition of the equipment is almost as much fun as listening to music. (And no, that is not a serious comment.)

M remains bemused, but tolerant. More importantly she will tell me if she thinks the sound has improved or worsened.

At 20 years old my CD player must have entered its twilight years, though. I keep wondering how many ignominies the poor thing can suffer before it takes on the role of a Norwegian Blue. Is all this faffing going to be a waste of time and effort (I ask looking to the CD555 thread)?

It is worth doing IMO - but not too often!

Once you get it all done and are happy it is better then forget it all and enjoy. This has been my approach between Fraim rebuilds - it seems like I'm always doing it but in fact there are years in-between and I should be checking my own system more often is the truth.

DB.

Part 2 of the experiment last night, trying the Wadia on top of the 'lite stack.

Good bit 1; it just about fits, but only by using 3 isolating feet (in this case Nordost Pulsar Points) at the rear centre and near the front corners.

Good bit 2; I didn't drop it

Bad bit 1; it sounded horrible, horrible, horrible; dull, lifeless, no rhythm, lacking the bottom and top 10 octaves (a possible exaggeration, but imagine everything sounding like Justin Bieber, on a bad day).

Bad bit 2; moving the Wadia required me to lift the RH speaker off its stand. I was lazy and did not remove the speaker cable, being slightly concerned about simply unplugging the cable, without switching off the power amp (turning on the PSU for that is a lottery in tripping the hi-fi supply; I need to get an up-rated trip unit). In setting down the speaker on the rug I must have slightly tilted it rearwards. One bent SL speaker plug!

Of course I did not give the Wadia the best opportunity to deliver its best

Sitting it atop the stack of 4 PSUs

Fraim lite

Use of Nordost Pulsar Points rather than the Wadia's own engineered steel feet (smaller versions of the Naim cups and points used between Fraim levels)

The Wadia is now back on the SU table, where it was much happier, whilst I contemplate what my next step should be (apart from getting the SL cable repaired).

For those with any interest in my ramblings....

I borrowed another Fraim shelf, with nuts/balls and placed this on the top of the 'lite stack (of PSUs). Using one of the pieces of 6mm glass from the TT shelf I was able to place the CD player on this.

This arrangement worked and worked well, so the issue was space separation from the PSUs and/or allowing the Wadia to sit on its own feet.

We concluded that positioned on a non-PSU stack with 10mm toughened glass could not make it worse so we have a way forward. Indeed we have ordered the necessary Fraim shelves.

All this because we took up the idea of moving the speakers (you know who you are) and this exposed the rack and the HR approach I had used to support the TT PSU. No longer half hidden by one of the sofas the aesthetic faux pas was laid bare.

I have already consulted the master of equipment placement and have a plan for the arrangement all worked out.

I have had to order a Wadia-sized piece of toughened glass from a local merchant and frustratingly this might well take longer to arrive than the stack of Fraim.

The fugly quadraspire I referred to earlier was the latest spidery-looking stuff at £1k per shelf. Other Q stuff and indeed most other shelf units could not have accommodated the footprint of the CD player.

Still short of a full SL loom as well. That is going to have to wait...