Go on Andy show us your cable dressing !!!
Itās an absolute shocker! Imagine 1,000 snakes in a bath!! However, Iāve had hi-fi for 40 years; Iāve ācable-dressedā in the past and remain unconvinced that it leads to any noticeable audible improvement. However, if anyone wants to prove me wrong, theyāre welcome to come up here and ādress my cablesā. Coffee and sandwiches would be providedā¦!
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Not sure what the Fraim fuss is about. I have mine for 10+ years. After the first year strip down & rebuild I never had to retighten anything. I check every time I take it apart. Putting the Fraim back together is a bit more work than most other racks but itās not that bad if youāve done it 2 or 3 times. On the flip side it also sounds better than most other racks.
Dismantling your system about once a year makes sense imo. By that time itās a big pile of dust anyhow. In just about every rack. Good for the looks and good for the contacts. I always open & close the fuse holders too. I find it rewarding if everything looks clean and fresh, all the shiny bits shiny again etc. And it always sounds better afterwards. Expectation bias or not.
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Not that it matters, but out of interest - the metal parts are made in the Far East, what about the shelves? Assume glass is from UK. Thanks
Certainly the shelves were made in the UK back when I last checked. IIRC initially by Castle who also made loudspeakers, but of course they went under and another UK firm whose name now escapes me took over. Glass was made by Pilkington and I donāt know about the the rest of the metal parts or the extruded legs.
Iād be very interested to hear from The Halibut about any sonic differences he can detect between his now abandoned NAIMFRAIM and his new Isoblue stacksā¦
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Ta.
Some test the placement of boxes, to a few millimetres, and perceive an audible benefit?
By golly did I miss out on golden ears!
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I know. Different strokes for different folks.
I think itās more to do with weight displacement throughout the whole of the rack. Each black box, a few millimetres here and a few millimetres there left to right and front to back will load up the de-coupling spikes differently.
Re dismantling & rebuilding, Iāve found that it happens as a natural part of living in a house and the occasional Naim upgrade. In 18 months Iāve pulled mine down 4 or 5 times, through moving things around mainly and then when when swapping one black box for another. Dressing is given more than a passing nod but not to the nth degree, and lining shelves up with the front edge just looks neater. The main benefit of taking it all apart is that it makes cleaning a few months dust away a much easier task, and thatās quite satisfying.
It doesnāt take an inordinate length of time - a couple of hours to pull all 6 layers apart, clean it all and then carefully put it all back in place is enough.
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John Watson of Mana is retired as I understand it, but he is still active in the business of improving systems. You can follow him on Instagram (johnwatsonmana) were he posts regularly. There is also a new range of Mana stands, The Mana Sound Clamp and also Mana tensioned racks and Sound Frames. However, it should be pointed out that it is not like the old days. He doesnāt call it a ābusinessā. This is what he writes on Instagram: āI should point out that although I still make a few equipment stands, this isnāt a full on business. I take on a few custom projects for discerning audiophiles, most of these people have become friends over the years. I donāt need the headache of running a business as Iām getting too old for all that stress!!ā
You can probably contact him through Instagram. BTW, I have never heard of those āsofterā either. Sounds interesting!
Just donāt threat about it.
Loads of bull on it all as normal, few mill here and few mill there, no one can hear a different etc.
Just get the base level, make the shelves up, do them up tight and put the boxes on as you go up.
Simple really and certainly not anything to worry about, building it up
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Who would have thought that when I posted this original post back in June 2019, it would generate over 1300 replies!
Maybe itās one of those topics that divides so many but have gone from one to 2 Fraims in the last 2 years. Wanted matching units for the stereo and AV side of things.
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Clearly your question has been answered!
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Itās funny how some topics find a natural home in a single thread (or very low number), and some end up rearing their heads in multiple!
I donāt own a Fraim rack, Iām a fairly new member here, but still enjoy reading the forumās thoughts on the topic, ta for starting it off, even if its resultant popularity wasnāt foreseeable 
(Goes off to initiate: āSecond hand 'bay special Atacama rack for the price of single Fraim shelf - is it worth it reallyā thread 
)
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I used to have a mix of Fraim and FramLite (some 15 shelves).
Itās not always (but mostly) that Fraim is the best choise over FraimLite in my opinion, eg my Lingo 1 preformed best on the FrameLite shelf.
How You tighten the shelves are important and they need to be retighten from time to time.
Will a Linn LP12 fit directly on the top level on FraimLite (no glass shelf)?