Chaps
I have enjoyed listening to my main system, over the past few years, through SBL's and my secondary system through Saras.
Despite my enjoyment, my son and my boss are always commenting that the system appears bass light. This led to conversations about true and authentic sound reproduction etc but no agreement was ever made.
To remind you, my systems are
Main...CDS11/XPS/52/Supercap/250/SBL's plus wireless and turntable.
Secondary...CD3.5+hicap/32.5+hicap/140/Saras
plus wireless.
Today I struck a deal with David, who recently advertised his late Grandfathers system and those tasty looking Isobariks are now in chez Mick and have replaced the SBL's.
The Briks certainly give a more open sound in my lounge which measures 21ft x 13 ft. There is a deaper and duller thud of base and it is a great improvement.
The downside is that they are big and because of a shelf, are about 8" away from the wall on either side of the fireplace. They do visually dominate the room somewhat, so the shelf is going to be modified to allow the Briks to the used up against the wall as they were designed to be.
I then intended to flog off the SBL's, but just for a buggeration factor, I replaced the Saras with the SBL's and although only powered by a 140, they sound great, so I may be flogging off the Saras instead.
I bought the Saras when the room was a 24 ft kitchen / dining room, but last year, Mrs Mick had a arched wall installed,as a divider, which means that we now have two smaller interconnected rooms. So the sound flows out from the dining room, through the arch and into the kitchen.
The result was that the Saras tended to sound boomy whilst the SBL's just seem completely at home.
I have been listening to the Briks all afternoon and it's great. The only downside is that they have ruined my back as I had to install them all by myself because the others were out doing their own thing. I am utterly wrecked and knackered but happy.
One question....would a pair of 135's improve the sound of the Briks?
I only have a 250 installed. It sounds good but I was wondering if the 135's would get more sound out of them.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 15 December 2001 by mark dunsford
IMHO Briks do sound substantially better on Mana stands compared to Linn's own. However the Mana's give a more substantial improvement when on a suspended wooden floor where they enable a better decoupling. The Briks speed and character really depends on efficient decoupling from LF resonanting surfaces. You'd probably be okay in a large room with a concrete floor with just the Linn stands but the 'penny trick' seems to work well if you're not getting midrange projection.
I have improved my Mana'd Briks by placing Michell
Tenderfeet (previosly pennies to great effect) between Briks nylon feet and glass stand on Mana.
I have also put some Goldring metal spike cups between the Mana spiked feet and the plinth on the sound frame each sits on.
My old Sara 9s really are not in the same ballpark in terms of soundstage and detail although they have a very similar sound character. Looks like they're going to the next car boot sale...
Posted on: 15 December 2001 by Mick P
Chaps
Mrs Mick was out working today and I decided to revamp the shelving in the lounge so as I could push the Briks up to about 2" (5cm) from the wall.
They were about 9" out and dominated the room.
It took me about 3 hour to complete and as I had to hump the bloody things myself, I am now suffering with a bad back. Those Briks are certainly heavy.
Anyway, they now look pretty good up against the wall on either side of the fire place and look far less imposing. The base has improved quite a bit, so it has been a day well spent.
I will try and take a couple of pics of it once I figure out how to switch on the digital camera.
These briks sound really good and we are staying in tonight, which is rare for us, just to relax with whisky and wine and listen to some music.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 27 January 2002 by Mick P
Chaps
I took delivery of the Mana stands today ( the full story is on the Mana forum if you are interested )and I have to say that it was a good move in getting them installed.
The Briks are already good on Linn stands but go up a few notches on the Mana ones.
Also, much to my surprise, the Mana units look considerably better that the Linn ones.
The Briks really do sound hell of a lot better now and if anyone has a pair of these speakers on the Linn stands, take my advice and buy yourself a Mana stand, in this instance at least, they are an excellent investment.
I am off to listen to some music.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 27 January 2002 by ejl
Dear Mick,
I've been following your stand story with interest. Due to my location (Alabama USA), I have no real opportunity to dem Mana with my speakers, but I'm interested in how they improve things. Do you mind answering:
i. How Mana improved the sound. Can you describe it? Did it tighten up the bass, or was it something else?
ii. Did your Briks move or wobble at all on the old Linn stands? I'm asking because my Linn stands are fairly heavily modded: reinforced with extra Linn tubing, spiked top and bottom, and with the spikes inserted in specially drilled metal plates on the bottom of my Briks and on the floor. The result is that my Briks don't move around or wobble in any perceptible way. Bass is very tight and they sound very good. Now IF the main improvement Mana offers is this kind of tightening up, then I think I already have it and won't spend the dough on them. But if you think they work in some other way I'd like to know it.
Thanks for any info. you can offer.
Eric
Posted on: 28 January 2002 by Top Cat
Well done Mick, it does work, doesn't it?
I've got a similar style of stand under my Neats, and I'd say that (apart from making the speakers taller) Mana under floorstanders is a no-brainer. Under sources and so on - well, it used to work for me but no more, but at least I tried it.
One thing I subsequently tried, incidentally, was replacing the Gravitas' spikes with Mana 'dumpy' spikes. Normally, the stands are recommended for use without spikes, with perhaps some 3M feet (or equivalent) or even blu-tac. I tried both, found neither to really be quite up my street, and so figured that I had nothing to lose by experimenting with spiking. Being very careful (as is necessary when placing all that weight onto four spikes onto glass) and having ensured that the spike:glass was perfect (by turning Gravitas on their heads and laying the glass upside down and tuning it, a la regular Mana), I achieved an even bigger return than that which I'd received through any other number of phases of Mana, but perhaps the Briks would be just *too* heavy to do this with.
In fact, though my days as a Mana customer are behind me, I can't recommend the Mana stands strongly enough under the right speakers.
Oh, and check out: this link for a potential bargain re: Mana speaker stands...
TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."
Posted on: 28 January 2002 by Mick P
Eric
The Mana really is a must if you have Isobariks.
They sounded great on the Linn stands, but the Mana seems to make the speakers push more energy out into the air. The sound is much fuller and also sharper. The bass drops to a heavier thud.
If I was disappointed with the Mana, I would have had it up for sale immediately. It sounds great so it is staying.
The Linn stands held the speakers absolutly rigid.
Hope this helps
Mick
