What happened with Mana?

Went bust.

Some say that they never existed and that Mana was the invention of a group of audiophile Target rack owners high on the influence of a cocktail of illegal substances. Allegedly....

I think in context there were about 15 users, each with around 14,000 levels each. However once they stopped buying it was realised no one else was.

Chaps

What happened to Mana .. the inevitable.

A product that was not updated and left its marketing and advertising to a forum represented by Maro and Mr Pig.

Enough said.

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
I think in context there were about 15 users, each with around 14,000 levels each. However once they stopped buying it was realised no one else was.

Mana supports are still the very best (for me) with only 3 levels. Naim electronics and Mana supports work very well together (especially with the new Naim reference series).

But there isn´t a chance for Mana to start over?They have the branding!and maybe the goodwill!

Nuno, get a grip its angle iron available anywhere and sheets of glass, also available every where.

The branding was an extremely out of date logo.

Ir's a bit like being in a computer game.

The sinister dark lord ex hells angel has been rumbled and his dastardly scheme is unstuck. The easily impressed simple minded fools who followed his way have since rethought their intention and they're now busily buying all manner of nonsense goods to try and re-make good their investment.


P

very few products based on cultish behaviour survive long. apart from volvo, maybe. The friday afternoon forum rumble - marketing genius, that.

what was that german translation of 'rusty angle iron' that Fox (IIRC) was bandying about? it was very funny.

Tuan, I agree, simple (eg none of that foolish multi-level crap) mana does work well with Naim. Fraim, however, works very very much better. It's probably the Mana in your system that's preventing you from getting to a CDS-level machine.

best of luck to JW - I thought the treatment of Damian when he left "the firm" was apalling, suddenly becoming persona non-grata (not even to be mentioned by name), when he left for health reasons - he'll need it.

It looked very 80's and it was too basic to appeal to a wider market, which is a shame. It could have developed further aesthetically and been given a higher profile, but it didn't happen and it remained looking like a Linn Kan stand or a Sound Organisation table.
I use Mana under my SBL's (a single layer) and after doing all the combinations; with/without/with slabs/without slabs etc, I can honestly say that their contribution is significant and IMO, indispensable. I wouldn't consider using SBL's without it and I don't fully understand why they didn't hook up with Naim and SBL's provided with them as standard to be honest.
I'm certain that if it all looked more modern, it would have been up there with the big boys in accessories. Imagine a Mana stand in polished chrome and gold spikes, Michell style. Hike the price to suit and it would sell on the desirable factor alone.
Maybe someone will pick it up and do just that.

quote:

I don't fully understand why they didn't hook up with Naim

nor are you likely to; gentlemen don't tell tales.

quote:

polished chrome and gold spikes

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
I don't fully understand why they didn't hook up with Naim and SBLs provided with them as standard to be honest.

Perhaps - because Naim (as far as I have enquired) did not think that the combination was an improvement.

Adam "Player" Meredith

For me, the Mana demos were completely a-musical, loud, unbalanced, brittle and left me with a bad impression of their product.

The turntable table was said to be good on its own (no stages underneath) with an LP12, but then so is The Sound Organisation ZO equivalent at less price.

Their big break was probably the Malcolm Steward review in Audiophile, but this head-start was not maintained and politics/personalities seemed to take prime importance over public relations and product evolution practices that would attract customers.

... that and the product made hi-fi sound like jangly-ping-ping-crash-bong-ding - on stilts

Andrew

Blasphemy!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Rico:


what was that german translation of 'rusty angle iron' that Fox (IIRC) was bandying about?

Rostiges Winkeleisen

that was it - thanks, Markus!

The good taste police closed them down?

There was a huge fan´s out there buying Mana

Obviously not enough though.

My LP12 and Naim kit has been living quite happily on Mana racks for a few years now and it seems to do the job well enough.

I've heard one larger scale Mana set-up (Mr. Pigs) and it was actually quite good although IMHO most of that would have been down to a decent set of components (LP12, Naim amps & CD, Linn Sara speakers and later those big ugly Linn floorstanders - can't recall the name) in a good sounding room.

Mana work well with my Naim: CDX2/XPS2/NAC252/NAP300. Good electronics, good support ---> good sound

Didn't they disappear up their own importance ?

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:
Didn't they disappear up their own importance ?

Almost like Linn, then. Got wanky towards dealers is my understanding (much like Linn did for a while).