which expensive hi- fi Rack ?

Fraim is the benchmark when it comes to naim however I'm not keen on the asthetic namely everything on show including the wiring at the rear so I designed and built my own. 

Mine includes:

Decoupled shelves

10mm toughened glass shelves on ball bearing /cup

ir friendly smoked glass fronts

real American black walnut veneer construction with closed sides

open rear for cable access/dressing

http://www.stillpoints.us/inde...s_ESS_Rack_close_up_

ESS rack very expensive many thousands, looks hi-tech, plus look at still points for speakers, more expensive mounting kit.

I just recently made the step to Fraim and I think it's the reference for your Naim equipment. But also my NAD receiver has hugely improved it's performance while standing on Fraim....

The stillpoints ess, is mouthwateringly ( I think their is such a word) expensive, I could get another set of Sopra2 's instead....

I replaced my Fraim with the ESS, and am extremely pleased with it. Very expensive but worth it to get the best out of top end kit. use stillpoints through most of my system. Could not believe, or indeed understand the difference the stillpoint ultra 5s made under the HDX.

Knipester, quite a contrast from Ess still points, I'm sure probably a good £10.00 less...lol

Very true but I do use stillpoints ultra SS's under my Vitus amp and they are very good!

Hi Cariocajeff, just been looking at the Ess on line, that's one he'll of a piece of kit you've got their, looks stunning ..

knipester, totally different obviously, but still looks like a high quality piece of kit, and I like the fact it's bespoke 

Wenger2015 - you don't say what rack you are currently using . Full-fat Fraim is unsurprisingly probably the best for your Naim system.  But it has quite a big footprint and won't suit some domestic constraints. Also, you need to be prepared for the occasional rebuild as Fraims go out of tune from time to time.

There are other racks that get close to Fraim performance. I use Quadraspire Sunoko-vent and the bamboo SVT shelves are very good, especially if used with bronze-spike upgrade.  SVT is cheaper than Fraim and a characteristic I like is it needs no or very little maintenance.

Mike    

wenger2015 posted:

Hi Cariocajeff, just been looking at the Ess on line, that's one he'll of a piece of kit you've got their, looks stunning ..

Being honest I did not like the looks at first, and was a bit reluctant to buy, but the improvement in the system was unmistakable and vast. Used to the looks now and a beautiful piece of engineering. Each shelf is held in place with what seems to me to be 4 small grub screws, but even though one shelf is supporting the 86kg vitus ss101, and overall there must be best part of 200kg on it, everything is as true now as when put together going on 3 years ago!

lovely bit of kit

It would be great for drying your socks and pants. It may sound great, but would you want it in your living room?

Hungryhalibut posted:

It would be great for drying your socks and pants. It may sound great, but would you want it in your living room?

Yes of course, the improvement to sound makes it worthwhile

Hungryhalibut posted:

It would be great for drying your socks and pants. It may sound great, but would you want it in your living room?

What the f.........

TNT audio Flexy is a very good DIY design

I'm using an apollo rack, bought about 7 years ago , it was an ex display from my local dealer, I thought if it's good enough for the dealer it must be ok ......but more recently I have started to appreciate the merits of vibration control, resonances ect ect....

The fact little or no maintainence is required is certainly a consideration...

I suppose if you can also dry your smalls on it, at least it might keep SWMBO happy..

MDS posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

It would be great for drying your socks and pants. It may sound great, but would you want it in your living room?

What the f.........

Generally it is usual to put your kit on the shelfs. Mine sort of looked like that for about 30 seconds! Quality is outstanding - no having to tighten, or rebuild every few month!

I don't think the picture does it justice, with all those black boxes in situ, it must look absolutely stunning.

MDS,

What's the significance in the bamboo shelves? Does it have glass on top of the shelves? 

wenger2015 posted:

MDS,

What's the significance in the bamboo shelves? Does it have glass on top of the shelves? 

They sound better than the standard SVT shelfs which are made out of a (special) MDF mix.

No glass is involved but if you go for the bronze spike upgrade for the top shelf, you get a further performance improvement from additional decoupling (like the glass and balls in the Fraim).  HH's most recent picture on the 'systems pics' thread shows you what they look like.  

When I tried the spikes on the top shelves of my brawn and brain racks the performance improvement to my 282 and SC was very obvious.

Hope that helps.

Mike

Fraim's best, forget the rest!

Loki posted:

Fraim's best, forget the rest!

+1

Don't ask me how or why, but Fraim litterally erases noise and dramatically increases resolution (details).

Claude