Mana Acoustics

When I was first getting interested in Hifi, the so called “flat earth brigade” (of which I’m probably now one :roll_eyes::joy:) were all over Mana Acoustics…

…John Watson seems like a nice chap, and we follow eachother on Instagram, where he posts some interesting pictures.

This particular one grabbed my attention.

…it’s fair to say he has some dedicated followers! :flushed::blush:

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Yep. That’s some dedication. I’d be a single man if that racking, however effective it may be, appeared in our lounge…

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Me too!

I remember the venerable Malcolm Steward being a devotee. I think Sound Örganisation did a lot to start the movement towards dedicated equipment racks, and then Mana took it to extreme levels, picking up many further apostles along the way :blush:

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John did seem like a nice guy, although I suspect he did not suffer fools gladly.

I won a Mana spirit level and he phoned me to let me know I had indeed won it.

Damien who worked for John in the early 1990s was also a very pleasant chap. IIRC Damian had leave Mana Acoustics due to ill health at a young age.

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Decades ago consensus were “buy more Mana”
JW were good marketer or had brainwashing ability.

I believe JV used Mana back then, then Vuk created some DIY rack…rest is history.

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…and the difference is…?? :roll_eyes::joy::joy::joy:

Indeed - I’ve not seen one in a Naim system for quite some time.

He seems to be doing some interesting things with equipment clamping - which I can of course see the theoretical benefit of, although somewhat aesthetically challenging!

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Interesting, didn’t really know they were still active.
Good point re. Marketing and brain.

Is that a levelling bubble thing on top of that Saturn/Apollo CD ?
I have one of those still in use, as being the only Mana left here.

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Oh stop it, ok heres mine I must crop first …!

In my early days

Then I got to be one of Johns pens pals

Wife made me move to another room which was a great thing in the end

How’s my friends, it took me 2 days to set it up for him. Has a 500 on it and sounds astonishing!!!

And this is mine

I personally love the stuff when setup correctly.
But unfortunately there are a bunch of haters and it won’t be long before you get the negative people post in the Eiffel tower and start talking about getting ripped off and blah blah blah so good luck with the thread. If you’d like to get a taste of JOHN Watson just ask I think I’m qualified to a point as he’s pretty much told me a lot of his history over a year or two.
And yes he doesn’t suffer fools particularly especially those ones that don’t agree with him. Had a couple of original mana clamps. Set them back as I didn’t like what it had done on my cds. That’s when he stopped emailing me lol.

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I had a sneak sideways preview - my lord!

Looking forward to seeing properly!

Although I was a happy Mana user pre-Fraim, I’m not sure what disturbs me most about this image. The Mana or the mannequin.

P.S. this wasn’t mine….,.

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God those racks were fugly

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I can help you there. It’s the Mannequin. Definitely the Mannequin :blush:

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Mine shelf looks a bit lonely by comparison to the others here

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Well here’s mine. I got mine from RPM in Clapham James at TomTom, The CornflakeShop and ebay. The turntable is at a good height for me: I don’t want to be messing about with wall shelves…

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Great pics!

The thing I’ve never got is the multiple base levels stacked and stacked and stacked - but I guess this is actually the secret sauce of what makes people love them…and yes - lots of people no doubt hate them, and while they aren’t “classically handsome” they certainly look purposeful.

I counted 13 levels underneath an LP12 in @Mick_B photo - which is utterly mind bending… But on the basis of “if it sounds better it is better” then I guess the owner feels the investment absolutely justified…

Mine.

Not mine.
image

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I can’t help thinking that these Mana racks are very weird. Haven’t seen a rack more horrible looking than that.
Apart maybe the Stillpoints rack

image

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Christ on a bike…. :flushed:

…and apart from anything else - the COST! …the racks must cost waaaaay more than the equipment on them…

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Years ago at a Heathrow hifi show I heard the effect of plonking a very basic CD player on top of a gently swaying Mana “tower”. It may have looked like an oil rig, but it sounded like the elixir of the Gods.

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I think I might have heard the same demo. Mana had a very basic system that was trouncing everything else in the other rooms.

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