Richard.
Can I be clear what are the threats from or to each hi-fi component?
Pre-amp, power amp, hi-cap, streamer?
And if they must be distanced by how much is recommended, and what (if any) shielding?
As far as items without a power supply and those with, splitting across two Fraim stacks really brings benefits - the so-called âbrains and brawnâ division. Pre-amps and Phono stages in particular benefit from good separation from any power supply or power amp.
Furthermore, I have found that CD players or CD player head units can adversely affect the pre-amp if sited right above - here I found benefits of increasing such distance, usually by using an extended level or by having a spare unused level in between, or ideally by having them at the top of separate stacks. This also extends to streamers, DACs etc.
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Having changed from an Ikea unit to Naim Fraims I am totally convinced of the need for good equipment supports and will soon be expanding to a second stack. However one thing that always seems odd to me is that people have their electronics between the speakers. Call me old school but I always try to distance the electronics, and certainly the turntable, from the speakers. Is it just me???..
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Iâve got mine between the speakers, but thatâs primarily an acceptable compromise to the way the room (our lounge) is configured and used. If we were building a house from scratch a little bit more optimisation for sound quality would be something I brought up with the architects, but for the moment having the Fraim rack between the speakers still sounds good.
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Itâs less proximity to speakers and more whether the gear is in the high interaction zone. Between speakers on the same plane or slightly forward is the most problematic. But probably less so (in fact most definitely less so) than a coffee table between you and the speakers. A rack against a wall with speakers that come out into the room so the rack is effectively behind the speakers and only visually between them should be fine.
Ultimately, we all may have to make compromises with the hifi position and how we live in our homes. On the scales of things, itâs by far the lesser compromise compared to such things as the coffee table (the change in sound signature with and without will amaze most people), or obstructing speakers with furniture or behind the listening position (plenty of $50K systems like that in the system pics thread). Given the restrain some people have due to room size and/or furnishing, more people should be buying on wall speakers than actually are - there are plenty of ones up to matching with a 500 system.
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I agree. My twin racks were between but a meter or more behind the speakers. Now theyâre off to one side - absolutely no difference in sound.
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Hi Elfer, I believe you avoid the deleterious effect of diffraction once you front baffles are more than 3 feet off gear/furniture in between speakers as a ground rule 
ATB Peter
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If the speakers are projecting sound forward then having them pointing at your system seems as compromising as having them in betweenâŚbut I am not a technician and donât have the space to change from being between.
Same here. My Fraims are behind the plane of the speakers and all is well. I did try them off to one side when moving in a couple of years back and heard absolutely no difference in sound.
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Seems to me this is confirmation of the Fraims doing their job. Iâm relatively lucky in that my room allows speakers and equipment at opposite ends anyway, just means Iâm running 10m per side speaker cable.
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While higher frequencies are more directional than lower ones, they have less energy as well, and everything gets reflected anyway. The fact that we can hear the music everywhere in the room tells us that the sound energy is everywhere. So whether to the side or in between the speakers, the sound energy that hits the boxes does not differ all that much, as long as the boxes donât happen to be blasted by the speakers at short distance or happen to sit exactly at a standing bass mode maximum.
Thatâs at least the case for microphonic influences on the electronics.
Dispersion/reflection is another matter, but depends a lot on the specific room details
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I break most of these rules here too. Itâs simple a mixture of domestic compromises. So my Linn is less than a foot from one speaker, tv between the speakers and a coffee table between me and the speakers. Sounds great! I try not to be too obsessive and just let the kit do itâs work.
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I guess the only thing that binds us is our love of Naim. Our actual listening preferences vary. Some like to have a perfect environment, and why not? Others such as myself want the best we can achieve within domestic settings. I take a lot from the perfectionists and try to fit it in as possible within the domestic.
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Itâs not the sound pressure affecting the hifi. Itâs the physical hifi in the interaction zone reflecting and refracting sound waves in an area that is precisely where the fragile soundstage is being constructed.
Therefore, it isnât exactly accurate that a hifi shouldnât be between speakers. Ideally no reflective object should.
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Agreed Bruss. If I had a dedicated listening room I would be more fastidious. I do what I can with what I have like most here I suspect.
I do love seeing systems with perfect setups and would get envious if I thought about it. Best not to.
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@feeling_zen That makes sense. perhaps one day I will be in a position to try it out and see what it sounds like.
In my last hobbit sized house I had a room 12 foot by 6 (second bedroom) to fit in recording equipment and Hi-fi - so nowhere to be able to really sit and listen properly. At least i have enough room to sit where the soundstage sounds bestâŚ
The move had been instigated when our previous landlord said his ex-wife said the house had to be sold if he was not living in it. it had a great room for listening to music in and i did offer to buy the house off him for ÂŁ1âŚbut he did not take itâŚ
i might just try covering the hi-fi with sound absorbing products⌠
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Couldnât agree more on this one. Just pursuaded SWMBO to get rid of over sized 3 seater sofa in my listening room for a single sofa and pouffe. The one chair on the right was responsible for making the hi fi sound louder on the left side and using the balance control never sounded correct. Room is empty while waiting for new sofa and balance is restored.
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I came up with a rather unorthodox arrangement of both positioning the stacks and the order of the shelves. The stacks are situated in a three dimensional triangular pattern fitted in a room corner giving maximum separation of the amps from its pss with perfectly dressed cables, and there are a lot. I also left conventions behind using multiple second base levels further up for better separation between various boxes and also on the very top additional base shelves on the two flanking stacks to separate the sensitive Superline and Snaxo. Though all black fraims or just black colums look sexy, within my rather voluptuous 17 box system it would be a little demonic. I prefer the classic silver 1st edition cherry combination by far most 
Just thinking if it wouldnât be better fitted in the pet thread âŚ
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This is an interesting approach and looks pretty good. Do you need any additional bits to do this, or can the bases just be inserted in place of a standard shelf? Could you add a full Fraim base to the top shelf of a Fraim Lite?
Thank you! Well, you can insert the upper base pretty much anywhere you want. As you can see I moved it in all three stacks one level up. In addition I did convert two regular fraims into an âupper baseâ. Removing the aluminum colums I use some regular threadpols from a hard ware store adjusted to the required lengh. You will need some additonal metal dishes though which I got from my friendly dealer. I dont know however, about the compatibility with a fraim light.
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