I rebuild my Fraim about once or twice a year, but moreso to just clean everything of dust than anything else. I have come to believe it really doesn’t need to be rebuilt. At least with mine, everything stays tight and adjusted without deviation. So it’s just a cleaning exercise and nothing else for me.
Building a Fraim first time is really pretty easy and straightforward. There’s little to get wrong with it if you pay attention. Just follow @Richard.Dane’s playbook listed in the forum FAQ.
It will need at least one rebuild in the first year if it’s new. After that it should be okay. If you are using Olive then it will be a pain. 52 will have to go on the top but 135’s should be okay. My dealer did my Fraim up for me and it was with ‘extreme force’. Apparently you should burst at least three blood vessels and strip the spanner. If you don’t it’s not tight enough!
I think I saw that discussed recently.
It goes against everything I know about tightening.
But crucial to know it as it does not apply to Quadraspire, or almost anything else bolted or screwed together that I’ve come across.
That doesn’t seem necessary to me. I made mine tight, but not overly so. In the next season I rebuilt and tightened up a little more. In the years since there is nothing to tighten anymore. It has stayed put, and all without ever over-tightening anything.
Obviously, a little bit ‘tongue in cheek’ but if you do the Naim factory tour JG often comments on how critical it is to get the tightness of the Fraim correct. It’s not uncommon for things to be tight. I remember asking my dealer once about how tight something should be, he use to say “ there’s tight, tight tight and Linn tight”.
I used to have a rack that looked like that in the 90s, I don’t think yours is the same as mine as mine was branded ‘Target’ I seem to remember… mine was poor and negatively affected audio… I later discovered the whole thing resonated and had a dull ringing sound when you tapped the metal supports, as opposed to a thud…I sold mine on quite quickly.
I trust you one works a lot better
No resonances here Simon, solid as a rock and no ringing sound at all, completely rigid.
If yours provides a dull clunk with a tap say of a metallic screwdriver, it’s clearly better than the one I had and should work well.
I still think a single 4-level Fraim looks good (after almost 15 years). I had two 5-levels for a long time before I started to reduce the boxcount and it was to dominating visually. And I think it looks best with low wide boxes. So depending on boxes owned at the moment I used a more open Atacama bamboo-rack or the Fraim 
Soundwise I think a Fraim competes with the best (certainly much better than the Atacama) and the competition is just as expensive. I picked mine up s/h, a couple of shelves here and there which made it more affordable.
My wife did the same. Surprised me (and pleased me greatly, as I really wanted Fraim)…mine was ex-dem, so a little cheaper thank goodness, but she made her decision on looks alone. Vs Simrak if memory serves.
I would think that no matter what the kit is sitting on, some individual isolation techniques fo each black box may be a good idea. I personally have found that it has improved the sound.
I don’t think a big part of Fraim is about isolation… I think it’s more about critically damping to sink resonances. Yes two of my three Fraim levels were purchased ex dem / secondhand. The base was bought new.
I’ve been doing tweaks like setting my NDS on three rubber supports and then also laying a rubber or Sorbothane pad or some type of dampening material on the top. Do you think this could have some form of the required effect?
I found it did make a difference, but I also think that there could be too much dampening sometimes, thereby softening the sound too much and this is most likely what Naim’s solution is avoiding after performing much initial testing.
Well that is interesting. Some time ago I used sorbothane under my CDX2 and it changed its tonal character noticeably and to my ears took the bright forward presentation down. - however when I later got Fraim I found my CDX2 sounded better on Fraim - and when I later used my 252DR and then 552DR I felt I didn’t like what sorbothane did to my CDX2 - of course it could be I got used to the Fraim sound. In fact out of everything the CDX2 is the component that seems to have responded most to Fraim, followed by NACs on top shelf and more lately the Nait50 on top shelf.
So in my experience other than perhaps supporting cables I try and stay clear of sorbothane.
I also feel that sorbothane or blu-tak under standmount speakers really interferes with the performance - at least of the speakers I enjoy.
Yes, I was thinking much the same thing especially regarding over damping. Supporting the units on rubber to isolate vibrations seems to work quite well for my situation, but additional damping on top can be too much and can even deaden some of the sparkle of the music.
I have also tried soft supports under my speakers and decided I preferred the sound without them.
I’ve only ever used Fraim when I got into the separates from my lovely Nait5 and into the 112x / 200 combination (the wrong way around, I know 
). The CDX2 I had already with the Nait5. One of the big differences the CDX2 had, was the feet weren’t rubberised, but HARD. Pretty sure that was done on purpose. Putting a rubber mat underneath also would completely negate that, so I don’t think that would be advised. I also believe that it came with small sticky bits to place underneath to keep it from sliding when placed on Fraim, including a diagram where exactly they would go. Fraim also comes with the opposite. Small cups to put on the underside of a glass shelf to keep it from sliding from the balls.
When it comes to sound quality, it’s difficult for me to gauge, as I didn’t try anything else. It’s a gorgeous piece of kit that complements Naim gear really nicely and stands out in most rooms. I personally enjoy that, but can imagine some folks would prefer their gear to blend in a bit more.
Something else to consider, is that it’s not friendly for gear swapping. A dealer might be OK, but it’s not fun to try and slide things on a middle shelf, since the feet will stick and the glass and balls will most likely slide, especially with heavier boxes.
Still, even after 20 odd years, happy as Larry with Fraim
I remember trying sorbothane on the CDX and also my CDS2. It made a remarkable difference - for the worse!
I tried the IsoAcoustics Oreas - the things that many seem to wet themselves over - beneath my Nova and it wrecked the sound. That was on a coffee table rather than Fraim though. It beats me why people want to bypass the feet on Naim equipment - it’s part of the design after all.
Naim Fraim is expensive, yes. However, the problem is that I could not find anything else which is better in terms of support, isolation, durability, look & feel, modular & timeless design.
Gaias are meant as loudspeaker feet though. I use them to great success. I once tried a set as turntable feet and that didn’t work so well. isoAcoustics has other solutions for components. Other than Fraim for my Naim electronics I use a factory tuned HRS R3X isolation base for my turntable.