I’ve started making my own sausages. Seemed ambitious to think I could do better than everyone else making and selling sausages.
So far, I’m pleased I did - as my sausages fit my needs and give me a great feeling when making a nice sandwich. Next will be my own soft sourdough rolls. Now that’s a challenge.
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That’s Hutter more than Fraim. Nice though.
FYI, given the weight of my 500 head unit, I tried 2 Fraim glass sheets under it, bonded by tiny dobs of Blu-Tac (which made separating them after a right pain).
Big fail - killed the sound.
Good for you Thomas on giving it a go. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the process of designing and making it.
I made mine last year that was copied from Hi-Fi Racks.
I’m sure you’ll get people telling you it’s not like having the ‘real thing’, but you’ll get a lot more pleasure knowing that you made it yourself, than the possibility of it not sounding quite as good as a shop bought Fraim.
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Yes size is a problem. I suppose I could fit two stacks between the speakers. But it would end up being too snug. Moving the speakers is not an option. In my view, room acoustics has a bigger impact on sound quality than boxes placement.
As you pointed out, the possibility to place a glass door is something I need. At least for the next 3-4 years 
I want the rack to be as compact as possible, while providing a system to sort out the cables the way I do it now.
Boxes placement won’t be perfect, but I accept that. If I had a different room, I’d probably build two racks : one for the PS and another for the heads.
And finally aesthetics. Which is something very personal.
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It’s Schroers & Schroers from Berlin
Slightly modified.
Vibration handling is something to have in mind when designing a rack.
CLD (Constrained Layer Damping) is a technology largely used in the industry and easily applicable to a HiFi rack.
As far as I know, apart from Magico, this is something ignored by the HiFi industry.
Viscoelastic materials are also something largely used in the automotive industry in order to reduce vibrations.
I’ll try to use both techniques in my rack design 
The risk of a rack is that the damping and isolation from vibrations ( external and internal) can denature the Naim sound characteristics and also kill a bit of life.
For instance some tried the Finite elemente Reference rack, which is very well built, but doesn’t work well for Naim. The sound was less involving.
I tried personally some isolation devices with ceramic balls, which tend to give a leaner sound, not to my tastes.
Anyway building its own rack which will work well with Naim is an interesting but difficult challenge.
As long as its tuned to your ears Thomas and you are happy sound wise and aesthetics…then great, wish you well and keep us posted👍
My understanding of Naim’s approach is that it’s more about energy transfer than isolation. Might be why even we’ll respected isolation devices don’t have synergy with Naim.
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I agree on that, even if I have no technical arguments to put on the front.
What can uplift the sound are aluminum shelves vs glass. However Naim wrote it would cost much more .
I believe a better rack than Fraim can be built, but it may take a lot of time to find the right components that will preserve Naim sound and prat.
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FR, I have edited the end of your post. Bear in mind on this thread that I’m allowing a bit of leeway here within the forum rules. Should this become a thread about trying to make some sort of a DIY Fraim ‘clone’ then that’s a step well over the line and the thread will be terminated.
The frontier seems very little, as the title is Naim Fraim-DIY.
It can be understood as “ DIY Naim Fraim “.
I understand you edited my post.
However I understand the risk on future posts.
I just changed the topic which was quite misleading, I have to admit.
I obviously have no intention of tinkering a Naim Fraim, whatsoever.
The Naim Fraim is undoubtedly a fine product. If I was planning to have one I would have bought one.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit my needs.
The idea of this thread is to share my journey through the design of an audio rack, which evidently won’t be even close to what a Fraim is or looks like.
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I would have thought that the problem with this project is the possibility of needing to go through several iterations before arriving at a good solution. OK for an industrial company, not so easy for an individual. FWIIW, I have always found that adding any compliance tends to kill the music. I suppose that some components have compliance or an assumption of compliance built in to their design…so in these instances the result will be as intended.
Thanks Gazza! I’ll post some sketches 
I’m using SketchUp Free to design things piece by piece, and then will assemble everything. It’s not an easy task. SketchUp is pretty straightforward, but one needs some time to get familiar with.
As for using my ears, I guess I’d rather use an interferometer to measure the vibrations.
Unfortunately it is an extremely expensive toy, and not sure I could borrow one at my local university.
The goal of an audio rack is pretty simple:
-
prevent vibrations to reach the electronics, through the rack itself.
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prevent vibrations generated by the electronics to reach other components.
The perfect rack would be Harry Potter’s magic wand 
and the “wingardium leviosa” incantation 
Unfortunately we’re still bond to physic laws and a rack keeps being the only way to go.
As for taking care of the vibrations, first law of thermodynamics rules here.
As far as I know there are only two ways to get rid of vibrations: transform mechanical energy (vibrations) into heat or prevent vibrations to pass (like some Finite Elemente products).
I’ll probably use both.
Indeed! And the second big problem are the measurements…
The design of Finite Elemente: Transformation of vibrations into heat.
From High Fidelity Poland, review on Finite elemente pagode rack:
Finite Elemente employs its own characteristic method of eliminating vibration or actually converting it into heat, which is broadly similar to that used by both above manufacturers. All the components are rigidly connected and their overall mass is small.
In the reviewed Pagode Edition HD-09 platform the mechanical coupling of individual components is via finely crafted spikes and their mounts, and ceramic balls. The wooden platform has a rather complex design. Its frame is made of solid Canadian maple wood, with side braces in place. The braces are fitted with mounts of hardened high-carbon steel. The shelf that supports an audio component is not very thick and is made of the same maple wood as the frame. Low spikes underneath are from the same material as the mounts. The spikes are fitted with short tubes of a porous rubber-like material. They can be removed and treated as a cover protection during transportation, but can be also left in place to minimize micro-displacement of the spikes in the mounts. One of the shorter platform sides features an aluminum plate with the series logo. I haven’t yet mentioned one component that makes it more than just another anti-vibration platform. Finite Elemente together with the Dortmund University developed a proprietary system of resonators. These are short steel cylinders with quite long steel rods. Their length varies depending on the frequency at which they start to vibrate. There are six resonator types with resonant frequencies of 220 Hz, 486 Hz, 512 Hz, 550 Hz, 670 Hz and 882 Hz. They vibrate in resonance with the shelf and convert the vibration to heat. The Finite Elemente website features measurement charts showing the effect of the resonators on the shelves structure. The whole platform rests on four spikes and looks insanely awesome. It’s the top level of finish quality I know. The overall dimensions are 640 x 590 mm with the height of 110 mm (including feet). The platform can be fitted with something better than the spikes, like the CeraBall series interface feet for example. I opted for the CeraBase Classic, with three ceramic balls separating other metal components from each other.
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Yes it’s a rather interesting process. I had a lot of fun learning about acoustics and treating my listening room.
Unfortunately, this time, I’ll have to do it faster. The second 555PS DR should arrive in a few days. I’ll have to place it on top the current rack. Hopefully the new rack should be ready by the end of the summer.
That’s great!
This is something one can be proud of.
I try not to pay attention to that kind of comments
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You are way beyond me in your understanding of this subject, i just listen…i could be listening to many bits of kit as recommended. Sometimes worth going back in time if possible, to bring that new sound into focus. As ever, best wishes.
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