I did think about the Fraim but there is unfortunately no way to place it, it is simply too wide. Quite happy with my rack and bases though, can live with it. The speakers are next and will have certainly a bigger impact. But first I need to recover, everything you see in my system in the profile except half of the rack itself (not the bases, they are newly acquired too) and the speakers has been added since January, so …
In case you ever have time and think it might be beneficial, you might have a look at the thread that Xanthe started on Shelf Isolation that discusses an inexpensive and effective and generally brilliant way to support your components on glass shelves that sit on ceramic spheres on brass discs…
Funny you should say that @anon77199223. I was thinking Naim style glass, cups and balls as added isolation for @Suedkiez system. Could work really well, without the expense of Fraim. Plus it is too wide for his room.
I have seen this, thanks. But then my bases are not by accident or haphazard. They have the same principle as the Finite Elemente Carbofibre bases, they are a honeycomb core covered with epoxied carbon mats (carbon-kevlar in my case), placed on spikes and then on the Audioplan TransferDiscs, also carbon-epoxy. The Sicomin bases actually have a bit of a legendary status in some parts, e.g., France were the guy who created them was based, and in Germany where Audioplan imported them. The guy seems to have disappeared and not many bases are left or on the market. But if one can find some, they cost a fifth of the Finite Elemente which are over a thousand EUR a piece. I have a separate one for each and every unit now, including two small ones for Aria and Rega PSU and it seems that I have emptied the world market of reasonably-sized ones
The guy’s name was Gérard Mezadourian by the way. There are lots of very old threads on French forums for a while. He dealt in hifi and also provided system setup services, many people were apparently very happy. At one point he showed up at Audioplan according to their website and demoed his bases, so they imported them. I know a guy who once worked at Audioplan and he gave me the tip. There are no new ones and many surviving ones are broken because it is easy to ruin the built-in nuts if you counter the spike nut with too much force, and many people did apparently
Not sticky all, it’s like a surfboard, same principle. Just except a surf board’s foam core there is a honeycomb core, most likely made from cardboard. That is covered with carbon-kevlar mats and epoxy resin, which becomes hard. So the whole thing is very light but very stable and has little sound of its own. The Finite Elemente website shows their version under products, it is called “carbofire”, there are some cross-section drawings for illustration.
Edit: I should shut up about them, and certainly no thread, I might need one or two more and they are rare I have enough for all my units, but some are not perfect. Most are exactly Naim size (and Aria & Neo size), but one is a bit too wide, one is from an earlier series that looks a bit different, and one has an imperfect nut. And given where the system is suddenly, little peas like this are felt more
I’d love to compare with a Fraim in my room though. Of course my dealer has them so I do know Naim systems on Fraims, but different room and systems, so not much to learn. Oh well, when I retire I will redo the room or move, so maybe then Until then, plenty of time with other stuff like speakers and room treatment. I am glad we are both so happy with our systems
Thanks! It has been an exciting year indeed. I started to change things a bit last November, this led to the P8 in January, and every other unit on my list was added only since June in fact, starting with the 300. You can imagine how I feel
It takes a bit of digging. As mentioned they are mostly mentioned on French old forum discussions, I read them through Google translate and it works quite well. Finding them means changing the search engine setting to French. The audioplan.de website has a bit of info, also in English. It’s under “Sicomin”. Sicomin is on one hand the name of the epoxy resin that is used, but also what the guy used back then for the brand of his bases and other stuff. There is however also a current website sicomin.com and they produce carbon fibre products for which the same qualities are required (light, stable, stiff), including quite impressive art installations and so on, so surely there is some kind of relation, but it’s a mystery if and how the French hifi guy is related.
And, @anon77199223, I forgot to mention that Finite Elemente is of course also in the ceramic ball business, and both their products, the Ceraballs and the Carbofibre bases seem to follow the same ideas about how to control transmission of vibrations between materials by changing their properties along the way. E.g., the base itself is mostly air inside, stabilized by the honeycomb core, and much of the outer layer is fibres that are supposed to not transmit well and be acoustically “dead”. Plus it is very light and can hold little energy. The Sicomin bases being very much the same as the Carbofibre, I hope the effects might not be too far away from Xanthe’s great work. FWIW, when knocking the material with the knuckles, the sound is extremely dry and dies immediately. Anyways, I am happy and I believe they gave considerable improvement, but due to the constantly changing system I couldn’t do scientific tests (as if ). Also I trust the guy who recommended them to me and knows them very well from his own systems. (And I love their looks too. Proper pix will be in the system pictures thread when all is done )
Yes, it’s very important to get a perfectly stable platform and pinpoint accuracy of reproduction so that we can precisely hear all that guitar thrashing and feedback on our Sonic Youth LPs!
The XPS2 has now come back from a service at Class A. Good to have it back, playing CDs again! No doubt it will take the usual few weeks to come fully on song! So far sounds a bit brighter and less warm than before.
Had my 52/sc/xps back from Class A for nearly three weeks now, and I think it has settled down. Had a few ups and downs like the two days when all the bass went on a mini break. So nice when it came back. It lost its sparkle for a couple of single days, but it’s more consistent now. Time will tell if there’s more to come.
Enjoy the roller coaster ride of “burn-in”, but enjoy even more the knock out sounds you’ll get in your system when it settles down.