Well been off work like most and as normal I get bored quickly, so decided to re design my rack.
Well as my hifi gear has changed quite a bit since I first got my rack, its really needed a bit off a re think.
First off build a new base, then 500 high and standard height supports.
Then split the base and top as now it’s going to be 3 separate racks, so out with my kit and a few hours later here we are. Much better I think and like the lower levels it has now, plus I have got more space between the big power supplies and my aura phone stage, which is good to achieve
Still a bit off fine tuning to do with the cables and the turntable stand, but it’s just about there.
Cheers.
Well everything still works so thats a bonus, much prefer the new lower look and i even like the fact the middle rack is slightly higher as it breaks up the line and looks more interesting, i think?
Spinning some vinyl right now and its sounding great with no pick up from anything, so job done
Yesterday evening I thought I’d do a spring clean / rebuild. The last time I did this it was 2 January so three months of dust to tackle.
Other than the cleaning and general maintenance I was keen to adjust the Fraim configuration slightly to raise the NDS up a level to see if I could get those pesky Burndies hanging freely from the 555 to the NDS. I also wanted to do something about the Powerline cords that were running along the floor beside the SL speaker cable with a load of pipe lagging trying to ensure they were not touching each other. I figured there must be a smarter and tidier way to separate the power cables from the speaker cables.
The NDS was sitting on a standard level above the 300HU and the idea was to have it on a medium level to raise it up.
A couple of hours later and I managed to remove every piece of pipe lagging including those that I’d previously decided to put under the SL speaker cable to raise it off the floor. My instinct was that this was completely pointless so why not get rid and see if there is any difference?
I also decided to run some cable trunking above the skirting board behind the Fraim and have one piece for the majority of each of the Powerline cables, thus getting them off the floor and away from the speaker cables.
I’m not going to bang on about how it’s a night and day improvement as that is always irritating! It sounds as enthralling as it did before and it’s good to know that the cable dressing is probably as good as I can get it now.
I can also confirm (to myself at least) that this stuff about elevating speaker cables off the floor is probably complete rubbish!!
Nice one dave, i thing most off it is more satisfying than more musically and like you find most things to do with cables totally rubbish, if they cant touch anything etc then surely the cable design is crap and not fit for purpose. I have tried the cables in lots of different ways, touching floor and each other and i cant tell any difference at all, and unless it starts to hum i dont really think anyone can ? If it doesn’t hit you straight away thats its different then it probably isn’t and all this wait for a few weeks crap, just makes me laugh.
Also the one thing i find most strange about it all, is that inside the case the wires are just tired together, circuit boards have no protection etc, etc, but as soon as it leaves the case you have to treat it like it made from tissue paper.
But like all things we are all different and this is my view. Rant over lol
Note quite -PCBs are decoupled or in some cases mounted on spring supported brass plates. Same with the connectors being mounted off the boards on the products higher up the range. The wires are tied together at specific points too so care is taken within the products to minimise mechanical coupling from the external environment.
Hi Dunc. That set-up looks good. Is that a rack from Paul Knipe? If so, I have the same type in Cherry veneer and I am very pleased with it. Regarding the glass shelves, did you also get these from Paul? If so, have they been worth getting? I like the look of them (they finish the shelves off nicely) but do they have a sonic benefit?
Regarding cabling, I am fairly new to ‘worrying’ about this but I will say, from my experience that:
Carefully separating the power cables from each other (they run parallel) by at least five cm along their lengths has reduced the amount of hum (already very low) from my amplifier.
Raising my speaker cables 20cm + from the carpeted floor using homemade risers made a very slight lift to treble refinement/clarity. From what I have read, it is certain types of man-made fibres in carpets that cause problems so I would expect no benefit from doing this with a wooden floor. It is supposed to be static from the fibres or some such, which is why I put quite a distance between the speaker cables and the floor. Of course it might just be nonsense and a placebo effect - if nothing else it was a fun DIY project!
Hi alex yes it is one off his racks, i sorted my own glass out local to me, as it was far cheaper that way. As for any difference then i haven’t tried it without the glass other than my rega 2 decks i have had since getting the rack and both preferred not being on the glass.
As for cables then i use fully shielded mains cables that i made myself and not the un shielded naim ones, so i guess that helps massively and the only naim cables i use these days are the burndy ones you get with the 500 and 552, the rest have all been changed
Thanks for the quick reply. Did you need to order a certain specification of glass? I got 5mm toughened glass from a local supplier to go on top of my subwoofer to protect it - do you think this would do? Did you get a ball and cup kit for isolation? If so, 3 per shelf or 4? I would need 3 sheets in total, one for the CD player, one for the amp and one for a streamer when I get one - the turntable has its own suspension and sits on a turntable plinth anyway.
10mm toughened glass with bevelled cut edge top and bottom, i paid £20 each and had 8 cut at the same time from a local glass supplier.
Just got the ball bearings from ebay, lots to choose from but i got 13mm and they came in bags of 50, but very cheap.
As for cups then thats once again Ebay or local DIY store, you can use screw cups extremely cheap or you can find more exotic ones for sale on internet
But as said its very easy to sort and not very expensive if you do it right way.
Hope that helps
He could and at over £10 each it soon mounts up, over £30 for each bit off glass.
I spent less than £10 and had enough to do 15 bits off glass, each with 3 on it.
For me it would have cost £250 to do 8, now i dont mind spending the money, but i really hate getting ripped, but i guess the naim ball bearings and cups are made from moon steel or something that makes them far superior lol, a bit like the glass.
If it was priced sensible i would have got some, like the fraim rack etc, but its not.
Thanks again for the replies. I will look into the options. Good to know the specification of glass involved. I will look into the bearings - a quick look on TomTom audio’s site suggests 3 parts involved, the cups, the bearings and a part to locate the bearings to the glass - is this correct? Also, each part is listed as a single item - do they not come in packs of 3 or 4 each?
There are two parts - the ball and the round bit with a triangular cutout. Unlike a nut, which connects with the ball all the way round, the round bit only touches the ball in three places, in line with the three legs and the three balls. It’s odd that people who can spend over £20,000 on an amplifier quibble about a few thousand to get the best from it.
