I borrowed some of these from a dealer. Expecting not a lot. Curious about Fraim isolation but a simpler return if I didn’t get much return.
Well, these are best pieces of metal I’ve ever heard. The system has a lot more focus, more muscular, the highs are smoother. The music all sounds more together and enjoyable. Almost like an amp upgrade.
Crazy. Highly recommended giving them a listening.
I tried them under stands and racks. Under racks gave the best improvement. Under both superb. Not cheap however.
I have used SM7 under speaker stands for a few years now. They replaced pulsar points and were such a big improvement I have never bothered looking at anything to possibly replace them.
Also thinking about SM5 for my equipment supports. I would have considered SM5S but they only come in packs of 4 and I need 6; too expensive to just stick two of them in a drawer.
I have finite elemente cerapucks under the Fraimlite, it did a good job too.
And under my speakers. A bit different from silent mounts, but same principle.
Hi Lyndon. My dealer told me that the SM7 offer better performance and are more steady due to wider footprint. I’m guessing the difference between SM5 and SM7 is a lot less than having vs not having them in the system however.
If you have a thick pile rug or thick carpet. Get the SM7.
I discussed this with Nigel at Chord when they first introduced them. From memory, the larger size of the SM7 better suited to the energy transfer from speakers, whereas the SM5 are really for small speakers or racks. The light weight of the SM5S (titanium version) is intended for racks only - I seem to recall being advised against using them under speakers.
As @Circles mentioned, the wider footprint will make the 7s steadier so probably also why they are recommended to be used under speakers.
When these first came out Peter Swain brought a few sets over to my house on one of his trips to the States. It was also his first time listening to them. We put them under my Titans and then we both grinned. Wow.
I believe there is a blog entry on the Cymbiosis web site detailing what we found. These are manufactured in Japan if I correctly recall.
I will be fitting an engineered Oak floor hopefully this year hence the need, I wouldn’t use these with carpet
I think the SM7 would be for me, the DBLs are not exactly shy on energy
I m planning on Naim skeets under the racks, there’s no source components there
Source is on a Mana reference wall shelf
I used DBLs on a variety of surfaces and different interfaces, including bracing floor boards with jacks, spikes into floor, spikes into cross head screws, spikes into Naim Chips, a single level of Mana SB3 and a stacked pair of SB3 per side. The biggest jump in performance was going from spikes in cross-head screws to spikes on Mana.
Like the excellent Sonority rolling bases. the philosphy is not creating an immobile platform for the speakers…the DBLs on Mana oscillated subsonically front to back (I estimated maybe 2-4 Hz), which is well outside their operational bandwidth. At higher frequencies however they appeared quite well coupled to the stands. I would have loved to run some frequency related impedance sweeps to see where the mechanical resonances were both on and off the Mana, but this was not done.
Regardless, on a sprung floor, the DBLs were far better on the SB3 then they were on anything else. Bass in particular has more tuneful and considerably more extended.
When I installed a set of SB3 under a friends DBLs, I (of course) installed one at a time. After one was installed, we put the preamp (the 52) into mono and used the balance control to swing between Mana and non-Mana speakers, at it was quite obvious that the speaker without Mana suffered a curtailed LF output.
By all means try the SM7s under the DBLs, but the Mana is already an exceptional support for the DBLs. I would imagine the Sonority would also be, but I have never tried those under DBLs…they do however work a treat under all the other speakers I have tried.
PS…I also tried Chips between the DBLs and Mana, as well as under the Mana…hard, brittle and unmusical.
I have a tiled floor and they sound better without the felt backing (as recommended). However, they mark the floor if moving speakers (by sliding). With tiles the marks wash off but I wouldn’t want to risk it on a nice wooden floor.
I used the supplied (very thin) felt to help (no marks and easier to slide) with positioning speakers, not expecting to notice much difference in sound. The difference was clearly audible, losing separation and bass solidity so I took the felt off again, tearing it in the process.
I mention this as a prelude to suggesting if you need to move your speakers now or in the future, stick some regular DIY shop felt on them and save the supplied felt for possible future use - it’s recommended only for highly polished floors.
I have some SM5’s here , I bought them about 5 years ago when I had PMC Twenty23’s after a home trial . At that time there was a floating floor covered with laminate and using the mounts seemed to set the speakers free , I borrowed a few ears to make sure I wasn’t going mad and bought them . I have since filled that floor in with concrete and covered it with Engineered Oak . I’ve just carried on using the Mounts as they are here , I should try removing them but need something in their place to test . Current speaker are ATC SCM40 Active .
On another note I don’t so much like sorbothane feet. They seem to pressurise the sound and make the high frequencies and vocals unnaturally antense and ear jabbing when placed under equipment.
Hi Steve, I am using SM7 on thick blisswool rug. They are supporting ProAc SM100s with Something Solid open frane stands. Not the heaviest combo. They don’t rock. Seem fine to me.
Overall they take off edginess. Fill the sound in the mid bass. Make music sound more together and organic. A good appreciable difference. No loss to musiclaity or dynamics. Improvements only. For me the music is much more enjoyable.
I am very tempted to try after your description…my B&W 805s are on filled 805 stands, so maybe heavy enough. I think the speakers themselves are about 12kg, stands may be similar. Could be worth the shot.
I had doubts but I they just bring everything together. I had no idea vibration and isolation was so impactful.
Now I am going to have to buy a third pair for the racks. They seem to make a huge effect under the rack. Signifcant under both.
I have a small room and had a fair amount of boom and blurred midrange even with treatment. It’s lifted a big veil. I borrowed a SN3 recently and the difference is near enough the same as the SN2 vs the SN3. The SN3 being tight in the bass balancies the sound out. These do the same thing for my system.
I decided to buy after seeing them used on carpet at the Bristol Show. Graham Audio LS5/9 on Something Solid stands, the columns used to ring when spike to a solid floor., on the SM7 this is virtually all gone. Initially there was a slight sway, with time as the carpet has settled, this has stopped. Simply greater clarity, more enjoyable.
Interesting to see so many who are using silent mounts. I bought mine 5 years ago after a trip to Naim and Chord. It seems obvious that speakers will benefit from devices like these, and it was obvious when we put them under my spiked Audiovectors. A few years later I bought Ansuz darkz for the 3 racks, one of them is a Fraim and that did also improve the sound.
