Equipment racks - is the cost justifiable?

[Barry]

What does that Concorde 'DJ' cartridge sound like, Barry, and what on earth possessed you to buy it?

Love the Revox CDP. Looks like it was used for broadcast purposes.

Marco.

It's an Ortofon moving coil cartridge and its 'Concorde' shape was used on later Ortofon fixed coil designs, which are now marketed and sold as DJ cartridges.

The MC200 came after the MC20 and MC30 designs and received mixed reviews: Martin Colloms in HiFi Choice rated it as 'average', whereas Noel Keyword in Practical Hi Fi (?) though well of it placing it alongside the likes of other MC cartridges such as Fidelity Research, Dynavector and Audio Technica. I have always wanted to try one and prefer it to both the MC20E I once had, and to the MC25FL, but IMO it's not as good as the early Ortofon MCs, or of the later SPUs.

[Beobloke]

Lol - do you *really* think that's why I've got all my kit under about 15 levels of Mana?l
.

Have you really?

Seriously?!!

[Beobloke]

It's an Ortofon moving coil cartridge and its 'Concorde' shape was used on later Ortofon fixed coil designs, which are now marketed and sold as DJ cartridges.

The MC200 came after the MC20 and MC30 designs and received mixed reviews: Martin Colloms in HiFi Choice rated it as 'average', whereas Noel Keyword in Practical Hi Fi (?) though well of it placing it alongside the likes of other MC cartridges such as Fidelity Research, Dynavector and Audio Technica. I have always wanted to try one and prefer it to both the MC20E I once had, and to the MC25FL, but IMO it's not as good as the early Ortofon MCs, or of the later SPUs.

A friend of mine has just bought the p-mount version and says it’s superb. Reckons it has transformed his SL-10

[Barry]

Have you really?

Seriously?!!

Yes - I've seen it!

[tapid]

He s a manas man. Full stop

[Marco]

Have you really?

Seriously?!!

Lol, yup. Had it since around 2002. My first proper hi-fi rack was a Target one, in 1999, and around the same time as I started experimenting with dedicated mains for hi-fi, then a dedicated earth, using multiple earth rods, etc.

Anyway, I've just counted the Mana, and one stack (currently housing my Copper amp and Tandberg tape deck), has 15 levels, and the other stack has 14 levels, including a 6-tier non-magnetic stainless steel rack, which is rare and made not long before the company went bust, which at the time alone cost £1800.

Each other 'level', or stage in Mana Acoustic parlance, cost £200 a pop, so work it out... Probably more than most people's whole systems cost.

I'll take some pics tomorrow. It makes a BIG contribution to the sound of my system (blind tested many times, when I was anal enough to worry about that stuff), and one of the main reasons I can achieve such a controlled and lifelike sound in such a small room, using 'wardrobes', containing 15" Tannoys as speakers, lol.

Marco.

[Macca]

I'll take some pics tomorrow. It makes a BIG contribution to the sound of my system blind tested many times,

.

What was the methodology of these tests? Were they double-blind? How many correct guesses out of how many attempts? Was the source a turntable or something else?

[Marco]

Lol - was that tongue in cheek?

Do you think I'm going to get into that here, engage in a tit for tat argument with you, and turn this thread (the likes of which always do) into a pointless objectivist vs. subjectivist bun fight?

Because no matter what I say, it won't change your entrenched views, and you won't change mine, so there's simply no point. But if you're going to play the age old 'you've imagined it' card, then I'm going to come and defend myself!

Just take my word for it, Martin - it's been tested, among sceptics and non-sceptics, in various ways, countless times, in countless different situations, homes and shows, with all manner of equipment, since I discovered Mana, previously having used the 'wobbly plastic' stuff Rob referred to earlier (Quadraspire Acrylic Reference), which was part of the AoS system we demo'd at Scalford in 2009, the (night and day level) obvious sonic effect of which many people heard.

Then latterly I used Naim Fraim [if you so desire, look it up], which I swapped for Mana (causing much rancour and controversy at the time in the forum world, as previously I was a very vocal and staunch 'non-ferrous' guy), then spent the ensuing years discussing, debating (in the inth detail) and fighting on forums (before AoS was born), about my views on the matter: the infamous, and at times brutally rabid, ferrous vs. non-ferrous 'stand wars' - LONG before you discovered hi-fi forums!

So.... Honestly I've been three, done that and bought the t-shirt, three times over, and learned things in this area you haven't even thought of yet! I *AM* the standmeister

Anyway, pics to follow - if the light is good enough later!

Marco.

[Jimbo]

I have to agree on this due to my own experiences. What you plonk you equipment on will make a difference to how that equipment sounds, especially turntables but valve equipment also benefits from either isolation or proper support/rack/furniture.

[Marco]

Exactly my experience too, Jim. You don't have to go daft though (or loopy-loo crazy like me), but simply something that looks nice, gets the kit up off the floor, and if you really want to hear differences, preferably something that's been deigned/engineered to address the effects of vibration/microphony in audio equipment.

Btw, at the other end of the scale, and complete opposite design principles from Mana (light and non-ferrous), here's some MusicWorks Revo madness: https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...o-3-tier-stand



Also a pic of Steve Toy's TD Copper amp (largely same as mine) sat atop his MW Revo rack, from the TD website (scroll down a bit): https://tubedistinctions.co.uk/project/the-copper-amps/

Yes, serious audiophiles pay proper attention to their 'system infrastructure' - it's not just all about the gear and the speakers!!

Marco.