Because people will pay - presumably because to them it is justified…
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Probably because, balls apart, it uses bespoke parts and is made in relatively very small volumes.
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Many more expensive racks out there! 
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Uniti Nova - done!
(Oops sorry, I did put it on some sorbothane feet I had kept from a while back)
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Often we pay considerable amounts of money for relatively small improvements … in my experience to upgrade the rack to the full fraim is more then a small improvement … but obviously comes at a price
I have been reading a bit on the forum about the logic behind the use of a fraim. I was wondering if anyone has done a test to compare a fraim vs all components placed on a solid concrete floor?
I did not do this as a test, but I had a 282/HCDR/250 system on a thin carpet on a concrete floor for a few weeks until full-fat Fraim arrived.
Honestly, I cannot find words to describe the improvement and I now buy used Fraim elements in cherry and aluminium whenever they turn up at a good price. I have two systems on three stacks and a few spare bases and shelves. They will be used on a third system when I find the time to move some furniture around.
For me, Fraim and good cable dressing are simply a must.
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Is this a serious statement or are you taking the p1$@?? I’m trying to figure out what the fraim does that is so special.
True. It’s part of the assembly. Tap the glass both sides for the best ‘ring’, should be a ‘G’ I think. Don’t forget to also polish the balls, I polish mine…
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I see so the unit is decoupled, as in completely free from damping. Interesting so technically you should get the same result if you were to hang the component in free space using something like fishing line. 
I have visions of me trying this.
Thought you preferred your own DIY version in the cabinet with glass shelves and balls 
Did you actually try a Fraim and find a huge difference in SQ or simply acquiesce to the Naim user preferred rack?
Genuinely interested in your decision to heavily invest in the Fraim
Nope this is a known fact and part of the setup instructions.
It’s not just about decoupling with the Fraim, all materials have been selected for their sonic preference from the ball and cups to even using glass. Glass normally can make the sound, rather hard and brittle. Plus Naim have selected Pilkinton glass specifically.
Best
Popeye
It’s come about as a result of deciding to swap my systems between rooms and needing a new solution for the main system in the smaller room where there is less space. For the better options of good quality racks available in New Zealand it came down to Quadraspire or Fraim and I decided on a Fraim Lite and will use my glass shelves and balls, as I preferred the Fraim aesthetically. You can read the full journey at this thread:
Are you absolutely sure that Naim selected all the materials for their sonic performance? Sounds like a bold statement to me. I thought i read somewhere that a sheet of metal was used instead of glass in the design process but was to expensive to produce with…?
Cool … thanks for the insight
No desire for Steve’s Soul to Soul wooden racks …
Sorry Mark84 this won’t work. There are two types of mechanical energy that the Fraim is trying to deal with. Firstly, you have airborne vibrations generated by your speakers. Some of which will resonate particularly badly within any equipment in the room. This is easily over come by just putting your equipment in another (possibly soundproof) room?
The second, and more subtle energy is micro vibrations generated in the equipment itself i.e. the hum from transformers and individual electrical components. The idea is that this energy is sent to ground as quickly as possible.
The Fraim seems to achieve this more efficiently than most, hence why it’s so popular. Hanging a equipment on bits of string would prevent this second type of energy from dissipating and could make queueing a record a bit tricky?
I was very tempted, but they come assembled and the dealer wouldn’t deliver from Auckland to Whangarei, so it was going to be quite awkward. I also felt that the Fraim would be better for my level of system and I didn’t want HH. breathing down my neck 
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Good point and wise decision. 
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Do you know where that came from? If true it may be that the metal (non ferrous I assume) had no advantages over glass or the advantages were so minimal they probably couldn’t be heard by the human ear, an absolute guess, I don’t know. I certainly remember reading in HiFi News years ago that Mana tested metal, wood and glass shelves and thought glass were the best, something about the ring of it and exciting the electronics or some such.
Personally I don’t think that HiFi needs such support and much simpler racks will do sufficiently well as for most people not to be able to tell the difference with a simpler design even in a blind test. However I do love the concept and the look of Fraim even if I probably could no longer afford/justify the expense of changing, if I was still working I might well change for the look alone.
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Colin - when I went on a factory tour many years ago we discussed the development of the Fraim and how the various materials complement each other - the glass, the MDF and the metal parts. A metal platform was indeed found to be the best - similar to the interface plates used on the SL2s I believe - but it was unfeasibly expensive and so glass was chosen as the next best thing and at a more sensible cost.
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