CD555 Stack Location

i followed the advices of some members to put all the ps in another rack than the sources, pre and amp. I did that and found the music more open and easy going.   The burndys destressed and not touching themselves or the wall or floor.   

Yes, I am finding that better too.  Not so much more relaxed, but more focus, energy,,, just somehow better,

So despite the 552 crammed in, it seems to be better than putting the 555 on top of the PS stack.

yes, like you, more dynamic and natural too, more fluent...( easy going).   For me it is 300 ps and 555dr on one rack , nds, ear 912 pre and nap 300 dr on other.  The rp10 on top of the ps, but on 5 cm granite slab.

Gavin L posted:

I realise many people are focused on the streaming end of the product line, but I thought I would share this CD555 observation and see if it matches anyone eles’s experience.

I have two Fraim stacks, one PS only, the other NAPS/NACs but with the CD555 on top and above a NAC552.

I tried moving the CD555 to the PS stack (Immediately above a 555PS), from its previous location on top on a 552 (which is above SNAXO and 500’s).  Well, on switching all sounded more open.  However, I immediately felt that something was lost.  I tried it over a few days, but something did not feel right.

Moving the CD555 back (above the 552), everying had a bit more weight/focus/energy.  Much more enjoyable.

The original idea was to give the 552 more space, but I seem to find that it is happier with the 552 above and keeping the 552 away from the power supplies.

Is it all just in my imagination or have others had a similar experience?

No - you have it right.

The CD555 works best above the 552 on a Medium shelf in my experience, with the 552 also on a Medium shelf with empty Fraim base - with the glass.

Also found that the CD555 worked very well on its own shelf - but it needed to have two Medium shelves under it.
When I swapped-out my 552 for S1 I tried just removing the 552 shelf and performance was poor and fine detail and timing lost, so back the shelf went and performance returned. In fact I tuned it by placing a slightly heavier custom glass shelf where the 552 previously was.

The 552 'likes' the extra weight on its Fraim stack I found too, lowering its self-resonance and giving better low-bass.

But only ever believed when personally experienced.

Those that 'know' these things make no difference by the time-tried method of not trying it and believing what they want will continue contentedly onward and look on you with contempt for doing experiments and assessing the result.

But you have it correct. Also make the 555PS as far as possible from the CD555 Head Unit while keeping cables loose.

DB.

It is hard to believe it can make so much difference.  It is not always easy to switch things around, and unfortunately I do not have a lot of space.  This was a relatively easy experiment - and I am keeping things back as they were (CD555 on top of the 552).

I can report things sound superb this morning too!

Hello,

 I  also have the CD555 mech above the 552 head on a 2 medium level Fraim stack. The latter is clearly the best option for the mech.   A  few years ago i used a bare Nait XS on it and it sported immediatly more breath and flow

Regards

Roberto

Hi Gavin

I read your post with great interest. Ultimately I would think giving your pre and maybe even more so your snaxo „room to breathe“ should be quite beneficial.  But probably the same is true for the 555cd on top of all the psus. So it may well be that what you observe is actually two effects superimposing each other. I have my cd555 above my psu stack yet separate by a medium shelf and one additional base shelf. Also the 552 is separated by a medium shelf below.  In the end it’s what you feel most comfortable with and there is probably no real right of wrong.  Enjoy your music, that’s what counts, F 

f

Yes, there is a certain logic to having more space for the 552 (and SNAXO if the leads were longer), so I was surprised by the result. Hence the post. But the difference was pretty clear.