I’m going to replace my Atacama Eris racking with a new racking as the clever people at Atacama altered the design so can’t expand.
Is there much different between the Fraim and FraimLite performance wise?
I’ve added Chord Silent Mount SM7 to the racks and and stands recently which when applied only to the rack massively cleaned up the sound. Very quiet/peaceful background to the music was the shocking change. So everything sounds good to me but I need more shelves for HiCap and possible 282 move.
I bought Lite but then replaced most of it with full starting with the CD player and then phonostage followed by the rest of the Naim boxes, my lower bass shelves are still lite and there may be more to come from replacing those too, the NAD tuner and turntable still sit on Lite. Wish I’d just bought full Fraim in the first place but without a demo I wasn’t ready clean out the coffers for it.
Quite easily. Like any visible surface, it’s aesthetic may be to someone’s disliking. Certainly the only glass I see better be in my windows or full of ice and tea.
Plenty of people hate wood and stone too. Those who love bare timber on their walls and ceilings vs those who prefer raw masonry vs those who dislike both and want walls plastered smooth and carpet covering the floor.
In my experience, glass is marginally more controversial than wood for supports. If you have the room for it and like it fine. If you don’t you have to choose between performance or aesthetic.
The best advice will come from those who have made the change from Lite to Full as I suspect almost no one has ever done a full in the home comparison (though I stand to be corrected of course).
I went from Isoblue (popular and well regarded) that to Full Fraim last year. My dealer told me that the Full Fraim was worth the additional cost and I value his advice so that is the way I went - bar the very top shelf which is Lite as I did not want my Xerxes at the mercy of glass and ball bearings.
I must say it proved to be at least as good as any black box upgrade I have ever made (and I’ve made a few!). If I had to describe it then I would say that there was more life and sparkle and there were definitely small details that I had never heard (or fully noticed) before. Wish I’d done it years ago.
Full Fraim is very expensive no question, but i like the aesthetic very much and it definitely is equivalent to a black box upgrade. When i had one many years ago, the key words are clarity, agility and expanse to sound.
I haven’t heard the Fraim lite and now have the cute looking ( i really need a girlfriend) Isoblue having downgraded years ago.
The only thing i dont like about the fraim is the re building aspect, stripping down and retightening. No gain no pain, so i get that.
So i might stick with the Isoblue and get some Fraim glass, balls etc to have an Isofraim instead.
Used in a Fraim I can only imagine it’s the way it collects, and shows, dust that could be hated. Ground up and in nearly any of your groceries would be a different matter.
I doesn’t show up on X rays as I found out when a pipette broke while fitting a pipette filler (before I learnt to take more care) and layed my finger open nearly to the bone. A couple of years later a piece of broken glass emerged through my skin and took another year plus to fall out completely. Just though I’d share that before the chance slips away.
As you may imagine, I’m designing my own iteration of the Naim Fraim. It’ll suite both my needs (being able to accommodate 7 boxes) and taste in terms of design.
I started a thread related to this, and shall probably post some sketches:
. But will give it a glance. Thanks!