Design your own Audio Rack?

[timmo1341]

I’ve mentioned before the transformational difference Stillpoints Ultras brought to my ProAc speakers, so I am a ‘sort of believer’ (albeit I tried other, cheaper supports and found they made little or no difference).

Anyway, the point of this post is that I tried, on my dealer’s recommendation, placing the Stillpoints under my black boxes, which sit on my built in alcove shelving. Result - not one discernible iota of difference in sound! The only conclusion he and I could draw was that the Naim equipment is not suffering from any form of vibration that needs to be isolated or dissipated. The same result was obtained when I tested out Fraim and IsoBlue racking. I appreciate I’m obviously very fortunate that my shelving has proved to be so effective, but I think my experience illustrates the need to trial these ‘add ons’ very carefully before spending lots of money unnecessarily.

[Woody]

@catswhiskers

Quadraspire QPlus

I will try to see if they can do it for me.

I had a chance to check out a 5-tier demo Fraim, yesterday. Sadly it was only a visual meeting. Aesthetically, it wasn’t as bad as imagined The discounted 3,400 was though. He did show me another rack with 64 isolation points that was 12,000 to put it into perspective, I guess.

Anyway, lots of racks and ideas here to check out. Thanks for all the input.

[Woody]

Thanks timmo. Definitely, taking my time in any decision.

[Woody]

After all my talk about cost, I’m looking at a company called parTicular for my rack. Really liked their customer service and what they had to say about their product. Let’s see what happens

[Allante93]

@timmo1341

Anyway, the point of this post is that I tried, on my dealer’s recommendation, placing the Stillpoints under my black boxes, which sit on my built in alcove shelving. Result - not one discernible iota of difference in sound! The only conclusion he and I could draw was that the Naim equipment is not suffering from any form of vibration that needs to be isolated or dissipated.

Smart move, no need to spend cash when it doesn’t impact the Music. With that being said, I love the aesthetics of Naim’s Fraim. It showcases those beautiful Black Boxes that we all cherish!

PS. Black/Black Fraimlite with illuminated green logo, day or night!

Enjoy Your Music, The Why!

[TOBYJUG]

I thought this was a thread about designing your own rack.
Getting someone else to do it is counter inductive.

Pedants please feel free to correct my choice of logic.

[frenchrooster]

doing yourself the rack or improving yourself your rack, that’s the question

[Woody]

TJ, it was more to do with educating me on the nuances and effectiveness of audio racks which I was unaware of, hence being here. Initially, I was all set up to make my own rack which I may still do (I like diy projects) but within this thread, people have given me lots to ideas to think about in regards to professionally made ones from Naim, Isoblue, Quadraspire, etc. versus making my own. Reading everything here, I am being more open minded now.

Simply put, in regards to audio, I am a work in progress

[Xanthe]

@TOBYJUG

counter inductive

Electro-magnetic screening?

[Annalogg]

@Woody

Simply put, in regards to audio, I am a work in progress

We all are Woody, we all are That’s the joy…

[radiomir]

Beautiful rack, I would like the same…

[Allante93]

Welcome to the forum radiomir. For the most part, a swell bunch of gents! I’ve been a member since 2014. If I had a chance to go back in time, I would surely heed to the following quote: “Sometimes the best spoken word is the unspoken word.” I will flick through this post to view your system, if its posted!

Meanwhile, Enjoy You Music, The Why!

[thrabe]

Hi! I saw some of your system pics during the times and liked them very much. Your speakers seem to be custom made. As you are located in Hamburg (like me), I guess they are the monitors from Jörg from audiophonie? How do they perform in your quite high end system?
Could you please give some information about the glas shelves (specs, where to buy - maybe there is a possibility for a private message, which I haven’t found yet, as i just made a registration to this forum).
Regards
Thomas

[IIIIIIIIIIIII]

Hi Thomas, thanks for our message, good to hear you like the pictures.

Spot on! These Monitors are from Jörg, they are highly enjoyable.
I had a Nait XS when Jörg made these speakers and my living room was smaller.

The monitors are very capable: Every change I made to the system was audible immediately, be it power supplies, power cords, cables, speaker stands, shelfs etc.

After moving into a flat with bigger living room, I bought used Ovators S600 which are better capable to fill the room with the lower octaves.
I still keep the monitors though, maybe I can use them again in the future.

In my experience the glass shelfs need the Naim ball bearings to really work.
I bought some ball bearings from Jörg (very expensive, he suggested to look elsewhere) and from Cymbiosis, a British hifi online shops.

I ordered the glass online at glas selection, these are the specs:

ESG security glas, grey ESG = (E)inscheiben-(S)icherheits-(G)las
H : 10 mm
B : 45.5 cm
T : 34.5 cm

I´ve tried other materials (granite, corian) but glass is much better in my opinion.

As you already figured out, private messaging functionality is disabled in this forum.

cheers from St. Georg area,
Peer

[Steve2]

This is the Hi Fi stand I designed and made. It is made from Maple for the uprights and Aluminum box section for the supports. The shelves are made up of layers of Birch faced plywood, MDF, Hardboard and sheet plastic.

The shelves rest on adjustable stainless steel points isolated from the Aluminum supports by mastic.

Steve

[anon5525519]

So many great racks that don’t make it to the UK due to shipping costs or size or one piece.

[shawnforever]

As I could not find racks that pass the WAF (I tried Fraim), and have dimensions that fit my room, I did my owns base on designed I found on the WEB. I did 3 of they. They all tablets are fitted on balls/cups.
Visually, I like them. For the sound no up grade or downgrade but my room is far from perfect. Maybe they can give inspiration.

[thrabe]

Moin Peer,

thanks for your response. It’s funny to find something like a neighbour on such an forum.

Good to hear, that you enjoy(ed) the monitors. I built (with a friend, who is an expert in crossover design) my own two way speakers (floorstanders, Scan Speak Illuminator chassis) and talked a lot with Jörg in the process of making the speakers. We tried to find orientation in the Stereokonzept Model 3 (that at the time was sold by audiophonie) and Jörgs own designs. At the end of the design process Jörg let us play our speakers against the Stereokonzepts on high end Naim gear (I remember NAP300), which was big fun.

Thank you for your information about the glass shelves. Are they to Naim’s specs? I checked the website of the retailer and found they are not quite cheap, especially when you have to add the Naim ball bearings. At the moment my equipment is based on birch plywood boards on steel / ceramic balls and rdc-buttons. Between the equipment and the boards I use cardas myrtle wood blocks. That gives a very balanced sound. But I would like to try glass shelves some time.

Nice rack you build there!

Regards from Grindelviertel
Thomas

[TOBYJUG]

I’m pretty sure the WAF factor would be offset by such a discreet display of 9 boxes.

[IIIIIIIIIIIII]

Moin Thomas,

floorstanders with Scan Speak Illuminator chassis surely sound great!

The specs for the glass should be according to Naim specs.
I found them in the old Naim forum, but I don´t remember the thread anymore.

The glass shelves with cups+balls made a very positive effect in my system, much more than I expected.
My first though was that I never heard what the system was capable of, until I added these shelves.

Have fun with your system and enjoy the music! cheers, peer