Isolation Options

Make sure the cupboard is as open as possible at the back if it has doors, those PSUs will need some ventilation. 

If you have the glass shelves then Tom Tom sell the fraim cups and balls which you could use to support the glass. 

Another option, dome or acorn nuts underneath the glass.

aznblue posted:

Another option, dome or acorn nuts underneath the glass.

That sounds like an excellent budget option!!

I am in a similar predicament, albeit my Nova is out in the open but out of the way but not on a dedicated rack. I did look into isolation platforms.

So are we able to just buy the cups and balls x3 plus some glass and we get some Fraim effect?

I assume as per a normal Fraim this setup is not child friendly in terms of knocks and pushes.

Would be interested to hear from someone who has done this.  Much of an improvement?

I have been very naughty and used an economical solution.

It is probably not as good as the genuine one. If you buy some nuts and ball bearings of the appropriate size I think that you can get a similar effect.

The ball bearing sits on top of the nut and allows some "movement."  I selected the two so that they fit together and the ball bearing is "free" to rotate.  The glass shelf sits on top of the ball bearing. 

It certainly sounds better than just with the units on shelves.

I have also tried glass marbles in the nuts but this is not as good as the ball bearings. The steel ball bearing solution also seems better than wooden "cones." 

Hard to recommend isolation devices for Naim.

I have been very happy with footers from Herbie's Audio Lab for everything else in my system.  We rebuilt the Verdier with it.   We used it as footer units under the Verdier.  And we used it under the ProAc D40Rs, all to very good effect.     The cumulative effect among vibrating devices is huge.

I don't know if I would dare use them with Naim, but complementary to Naim, Herbie's products are truly outstanding. 

I use Thixar Silent Feet.  I bought them from my non-Naim dealer in Vancouver.  Expensive  - $800 for a set of four.  However, they do make a difference.  German made, good build quality.

I bought three non Naim glass shelves of the exact same size and spec of Fraim glass and also three sets of Naim cups and balls for about £150 to put onto my existing Hutter rack and given that I already had a decent rack and the taking into account that glass wasn't from Naim the difference was not great but worthwhile.

Although I would imagine that given yours are in a cupboard that isolating them would make a noticeable difference as always it just depends how much you want to spend.  

I found Fraim-spec glass shelves set on three acorn nuts were a worthy improvement to my gear on a dedicated Isoblue rack. I did a lot of experimentation with iterations of different nuts types, ball bearings set on nuts, etc., before arriving at the acorn nuts. These were cheap hardware fixings, so I could afford the trial and error. Dedicated isolation cups for gear in a cupboard seems a potentially costly hit-or-miss proposition in which case I'd focus on manufacturers that offer a money-back trail period. Be sure to demo isolation cups with a height that allows for three under the gear, rather than four.

Naim spec glass 452x400x10 toughened, balls and cups made a massive difference to my HiFi Racks Akorner units along with medium and long legs to separate the boxes (long on the 300 head and PS). 

At £90/shelf for 8 shelves in two stacks it was well worth it as the 252 and 552 (to a lesser extent) are very fussy. It improved the 282 as well. 

I would not improvise as the Naim cups have only three points of contact with the ball bearing.  It’s not about movement so the ball bearing does not have to be free to rotate. It’s about reducing the vibrational energy transmitted to the boxes.

Just having 3 point suspension ensures that the glass support lies in a plane as wood will always twist, and oak more so than most woods. So even you have spikes you can’t be sure that the spike accurately seats. 

Remember that it’s your speakers that are the source of the vibrational energy.

Phil

I meant to that everyone for their contributions.  I will give the Naim cups a try once I have everything back and run in.

Gavin

Filipe posted:

Naim spec glass 452x400x10 toughened, balls and cups made a massive difference to my HiFi Racks Akorner units along with medium and long legs to separate the boxes (long on the 300 head and PS). 

At £90/shelf for 8 shelves in two stacks it was well worth it as the 252 and 552 (to a lesser extent) are very fussy. It improved the 282 as well. 

I would not improvise as the Naim cups have only three points of contact with the ball bearing.  It’s not about movement so the ball bearing does not have to be free to rotate. It’s about reducing the vibrational energy transmitted to the boxes.

Just having 3 point suspension ensures that the glass support lies in a plane as wood will always twist, and oak more so than most woods. So even you have spikes you can’t be sure that the spike accurately seats. 

Remember that it’s your speakers that are the source of the vibrational energy.

Phil

The last point is one I raised in the pictures thread, many high end system picks look cramped and the rack stack right bang near a speaker, bam straight firing line, can't be good.