Fraimchip

I spike directly to the floor on my Fraim - but that's because under the carpet is solid concrete.  Fraim Chips are good on wooden floors as they prevent the spikes gradually sinking into the wood.

Richard Dane posted:

I spike directly to the floor on my Fraim - but that's because under the carpet is solid concrete.  Fraim Chips are good on wooden floors as they prevent the spikes gradually sinking into the wood.

Noted, my home is porcelain floor so I think the fraim chip is not necessary for me, am I right?

Well, if you mean it's ceramic tiled, then you may want chips to prevent damage to the tiles.

The chips are not inexpensive and not inelegant either. Naim need to market some 'chipbags' to prevent these turned works of art from themselves becoming scratched. When I sold mine I paraded its scars as DBL hickies and asked (and got) a great price too. 

PS...they worked great on suspended wooden floors...almost as good (and much cheaper) than the Mana soundbases. 

I’m sure I remember they arrived well wrapped in bubble wrap.

I have a set under my Fraim in the second system that sits on marble (effect?) tiles and 3 more under the cone feet of the turntable in my main system on a Fraim Lite shelf but that Fraim itself is on spikes into carpet on wood.

Richard Dane posted:

Well, if you mean it's ceramic tiled, then you may want chips to prevent damage to the tiles.

Yes my meaning is ceramic tile, if I dont really care the damage of tiles then do you think no use fraim chips will sound better (spike more direct on the floor)

Maybe of some use: when I lived in a flat then house with ceramic tiles in Italy, placing coins between my stands (1st gen Sound Oragnisation) and the floor definitely improved things. I have no idea why. Not Fraim and not Chips, however...

Linn Skeets are good too and are black if you prefer this option.

I have three stacks of Fraim on ceramic tiles, definitely sounds better with Fraim chips than without.

I bought 8 fraimchips to support my Allaes, however I found they sounds better when I placed them under the hifi rack. As for now, I used coins for the speakers.

I found that the Fraim Chips do make Fraim sound better. The mid-band is far more revealing and 'nicer' when I added the chips after trying other things like coins (horrible) and direct on solid oak floor.

It would be good if you could try three under a Fraim to hear what they do, as I think they do more than just allow the spikes not embed into a soft surface. I think a good tile surface that does not ring or get damaged will work very well, but from my experience generally with the Chips I think they improve the Fraim.

Do not use the chips on carpets or other soft surfaces as they then sound awful and introduce an unpleasant bass boom effect.

DB.

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

I have some speakes on Herbies gliders as I mentioned in the system pics thread. The system sounded horribly bright for the first week they were in place at which point everything was left unused for a couple of months until our next visit when  the unpleasant over brightness had gone. I suspect the new gliders were the cause but it could have been something else. The system is in an appartment with a tile on concrete floor and has neighbours with small children below. I don’t know how effective the gliders are at limiting bass transmission to the floor but have had no complaints. Soundwise the system is better now than it ever was in our main home but it has more space to breathe now than it had there.

MangoMonkey posted:

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

Worked very well with SL2s in pretty much the way DB described.

MangoMonkey,

My house is a total concrete with parquet flooring. I noted there was an improvement when I replaced brass chips to fraimchips under my Allaes. But since most comments I read the chips are meant for fraim, so I placed them under my hifi rack instead. The improvement is a spot on, compared to fraimchips supporting the speakers where you need to move the speaker to get better sound. Looking forward to add them for the speakers as well.

MangoMonkey posted:

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

I use Naim chips under my speakers. I also auditioned Linn Skeets back when I bought the speakers and ended up with Naim chips. There's slight difference in sound quality between these two. Skeet sounds slightly fuller and softer while Naim chips have slightly snappier and better controlled sound. Linn Skeets don't actually touch the tip of the spike. Skeets have deep hole on them and the spike falls in the hole and skeet actually touches the sides of the spike, a lot bigger area. Naim chips have this "dent" and solid bottom so the spike touches the bottom with its tip. 

MangoMonkey posted:

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

I used Fraim Chips under my Focal Scalas when I was in a room with a suspended wooden floor. They worked well. The current room is carpet over concrete, so no need.

I have Chips under everything, Fraims and NBLs as they’re on solid oak flooring and I don’t want to damage the surface. It can make levelling the Fraim quite challenging when building up with just the base on the Chips as things have a habit of moving about when there’s no load from equipment. 

Patu posted:

MangoMonkey posted:

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

I use Naim chips under my speakers. I also auditioned Linn Skeets back when I bought the speakers and ended up with Naim chips. There's slight difference in sound quality between these two. Skeet sounds slightly fuller and softer while Naim chips have slightly snappier and better controlled sound. Linn Skeets don't actually touch the tip of the spike. Skeets have deep hole on them and the spike falls in the hole and skeet actually touches the sides of the spike, a lot bigger area. Naim chips have this "dent" and solid bottom so the spike touches the bottom with its tip. 

I have chips under my Focal Sopra 2s and Skeets under my three Quadraspire SVT racks and am pleased with both. I’ve never thought of auditioning floor protectors before - perhaps my hearing isn’t that acute!

I’m certain that their performance goal was to protect the floor from marks caused by the spikes, whilst also blending perfectly with the cups used in the Fraim. Any perceived audio benefit is just cognitive dissonance. 

Clive B posted:

I’m certain that their performance goal was to protect the floor from marks caused by the spikes, whilst also blending perfectly with the cups used in the Fraim. Any perceived audio benefit is just cognitive dissonance. 

Different floor protectors differ in material, size, way of contacting the spike etc. Isolation can differ depending on what you use under the spikes. Why couldn’t this have an effect on sound quality? Many people on the forum find difference in sq while dressing their cables or by stacking their equipment in correct order. I find these things much more unlikely to affect the sq. 

Michael_B. posted:

MangoMonkey posted:

has anyone tried the chips below speakers? Thoughts? Any other recommendations instead of using chips? Floor is wooden - not sure whether it is suspended or over concrete - probably suspended.

Worked very well with SL2s in pretty much the way DB described.

Same here - I bought a pair of nbl's and was horrified how they sounded when placed on 2 pence coins on a timber floor.  Nearing panic/ despair Peter at Cymbiosis leant me his set of chips.  They totally transformed the sound, removing the shrill treble elements and rounding the sound off to a major improvement.  I didn't try any alternative products after I bought a set of chips.  No regrets either!

Peter

Naim Fraim Chips is much better than spike's direct on floor or coins,....and even more better better than Linn's Skeet . We have tested this many times here in Sweden with our forum-members. We only talk about SoundQuality here.

Linn Skeet's are only good for one thing,....when you "tuning" speakers. After that,take the Skeet's away and put Naim Chips under your spike's.

Both under speaker and rack's. The construction is very different  between Linn Skeet and Naim Fraim Chips,....a member here write this earlier in this thread....

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◾ I use Naim chips under my speakers. I also auditioned Linn Skeets back when I bought the speakers and ended up with Naim chips. There's slight difference in sound quality between these two. Skeet sounds slightly fuller and softer while Naim chips have slightly snappier and better controlled sound. Linn Skeets don't actually touch the tip of the spike. Skeets have deep hole on them and the spike falls in the hole and skeet actually touches the sides of the spike, a lot bigger area. Naim chips have this "dent" and solid bottom so the spike touches the bottom with its tip. ◾ 

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I advice you to test this yourself,if your system-installation is good/optimal....you hear the differens directly. Chips are much better in soundquality/musicality.

/Peder