Is supposed to - so we can only infer that you haven't "heard it".. Datty
No I haven't heard it and I haven't read about it in a magazine either.
I was one of Quadapire's earliest Reference stand customers. I bought the stand based on two hands-on dems using Naim 5 series kit and Olive kit. The CD5 and CDX were respectively swapped around between Reference and non-reference supports.
The differences were not subtle. Better pitch accuracy, note separation, flow, and a reduction in time smearing of transients were clearly audible. This meant that I could follow musical threads much more easily and my brain didn't have to perform its own error correction, and thus the whole music listening experience became more involving and less fatiguing. Oh, and Olive Naim kit now had a soundstage! There was an urge to raise the volume a little because the overall sound was somewhat smoother.
This was perhaps a criticism of the earlier Reference stand - it seemed to sit on the dynamics a little.
I don't usually take a lot of notice of scientific theories but experiments into different support materials, their resonant amplitude (= how much they ring and introduce their own resonances into what sits upon them - a kind of mechanical microphony if you will) across different frequencies, and the effect on the reproduction capabilities notably of CD players was kind of interesting, but only if the effect turned out not to be just audible, but clearly so. It was, so the proof of the pudding was indeed in the eating.
Later I was asked to try the same stand but with big rectanular holes cut out of the shelves. Bollocks! The dynamics came to life and the soundstage got bigger. Rats!
"How much to swap to these holed shelves after only a couple of months of owning a stand without them?"
I asked
As I was one of the first QS Ref customers, I was offered a straight swap of my unholed shelves for ones with holes. All I had to pay was the difference in retail price of ten pounds per shelf
I was later told the theory behind the holes, not that it really mattered. The smaller surface area reduced the resonant amplitudes even further and there was also a significant reduction in mass that was clearly noticeable on the day of the swap when I carried the new shelves to the car to take them home. This reduction in mass seemed to be lifting the dynamics. Well, something was lifting the dynamics...
Mass is easy to measure, btw, you can just plonk the shelves on the bathrooom scales if you so desire
.
In the last few weeks, Dave Cattlin has been playing around with shelves yet again, although his Naim kit has since been replaced by Accuphase. He reckons that with the acrylic, you get even more of the same musical improvements that I've outlined above So, mindful of the fact that I could use another shelf anyway I've placed an order - for just one shelf. The acrylic shelves cost about 20 quid more each than the MDF ones I already have, so if I didn't happen to think that the acrylic effect was all that significant then I'd have lost a night's beer money. I'm sure I'd get over it.
James,
Thanks for the clarification. Fair enough.
