Timber adjusts its moisture content to match ambient humidity. Getting it very dry in a kiln will allow it to gain more moisture, resulting in more swelling and distortion than you would get it it had a more natural level of humidity to start with.
Pedantry alert [sorry]. That’s not strictly true. There is a company in Yokohama that makes bespoke and just fantastically expensive speakers ($300K up) with a mixture of solid wood and plywood. They are actually an engineering firm that makes hulls for leisure speedboats (the wooden hull ones you see moored at Cannes, not the carbon fibre racing ones). There was a documentary about them a couple years back. They seemed to be claiming that compared to the modelling and design work that goes into hull design of speedboats, loudspeaker cabinet design was child’s play. And claimed that if you knew how to model resonances of plywood accurately, it always outperformed MDF.
That said, there are some very iconic speakers from the 50s made out of wood.
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Has anyone had success re-veneering Fraim levels? Veneer over veneer or stripping the original and redoing?
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Yes, that seems the logical choice for getting exactly what you want, is easily achieved with good quality pre-glued veneer strips easily bought on-line.
Wood stain anyone? (Apart from Naim, I believe stain is used on the current standard cherry finish.)
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Staining veneer is non trivial. You have to sand off the surface to get to fresh wood and in doing so risk going through the veneer or making the surface uneven.
Your best bet is to learn to enjoy what’s available or, quite simply, buy another type of rack.
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I’ve order black ash with black supports, wood or wood veneer changes over time and black will always go with any decor and Naim gear all in black looks better to my eyes.
I did consider light ash with black supports, but was put off how wood can change it’s colour over time.
Consider getting the parts wrapped or spray painted.
DG…
Last year i investigated this opportnity with my decorator/carpenter (aka Cartier) since i’d liked the idea of a black or much darker shelf than cherry but don’t like the ash’s veneer. the cost for a new level built from scratch or re-veneering one from scratch, it would have been much higher than a new oem one. so i gave up. Instead i powered coated my silver legs in black and albeit they lost its original “grain” for a smooth finish albeit not brushed like 500 series cases. Definetely, i’ dare say they look pretty good
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One thing @jellyheadjeff will need to be aware of is the rear post on the Fraim, which will restrict access to the centrally positioned sockets on olive kit, particularly on the preamp unless this is placed on the top shelf.
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Much as I like natural solid wood, it has largely fallen out of fashion in general; cost being the main reason. The dark oak you have highlighted is of a serious age. Black fraim would p robablybe the most appropriate match. As @feeling_zen mentions, matching is less critical than achieving a satisfactory visual contrast. I refurbished more than two decades ago, what was originally a cart barn, converted to a dwelling well more than a century ago, with some original beams, which are dark. Elsewhere is much lighter oak, to which I have added. English oak is yellow in appearance in modern use, although two rooms were floored with wide square edge floorboards, in American red oak.
For fraim I find that my stacks (more than one for an active system), sit happily alongside oak window boards and skirting, with mahogany occasional tables and bookcase. My fraim (silver uprights) was first acquired when the standard cherry finish was what I term yellow cherry; Naim subsequently changed it to, as I term it, red cherry, as per @Debs picture. I have Naim speakers in each finish. In my situation, I much prefer yellow cherry, ymmv. Naim use terms involving “taint” for the old and now standard cherry finishes, which imho is confusing.
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@Clive . Ah thanks for reminding me - I’d forgotten that. My sound factory stands have a middle column but suspect Fraim’s is wider. Does the rear column get in the way on a nac52?
Yes it will. You can persuade plugs on standard lavender leads to pass either side, but you wouldn’t be able to use Superlumina or HiLine. This is certainly the case in the more centrally located sockets, but of course it all rather depends how many inputs you’re using. At least that’s how I remember it!
Simple solution is to position the NAC52 on the top shelf.
Naim did do a short run of Rosewood back in the early days of Fraim. That was of course back when Castle Acoustics were still around as they made the veneered shelves.
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It’s a shame they can’t be made to order. When I bought my Omegas, I was sent the link to their vaneer supplier and told I could choose literally anything from about 300 veneers. Some really unique stuff. Before I opted for American walnut I was torn between bleached driftwood and bright purple dyed poplar.
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