To Tony L
Originally posted by TonyL
My comments were not aimed at you directly, apologies if it came over that way.
Tony, no apologies needed! It didn't come over that way at all, I was just pointing out the kind of thing you referred to has been going on for a long while, so its difficult to ascertain the (arguable) damage to Mana such behaviour has caused at any given time or by any particular individual(s).
This is the kind of thing I'm on about ââ'¬â€œ you are implying that because someone prefers another stand they can't set Mana up.
I can see why you've interpreted it that way, but it's not what I meant. First of all, I don't think you fall into either of the categories I referred to in my earlier post. You've tried Mana at home in your own system, and have gained the necessary experience to set it up correctly. I'm referring to novices who are naturally only able to install Mana with limited knowledge and experience; hence mistakes are easily made.
The problem with novices setting up Mana correctly is that apart from the most basic instructions, there is no 'set' criteria to follow in order to ensure it performs as intended - and not everyone looks at the website. For example, how do you know (except through experience) how tight is too tight as far as the nuts on spikes are concerned, or the *right* note to listen for thus ensuring the glass is properly tuned?
As you know, get any of that remotely wrong, and the stand/soundstage or whatever will not perform correctly - indeed performance will be adversely affected, and will result in the kind of harsh, bright sound as so often is described. The glass/spikes issue is just one example, but there are also many other things that would be problematic for novices to get right first time.
Mistakes do happen, and the problem is inexperienced people *believe* Mana has been set up correctly, when in fact it hasn't, and then judge the results accordingly, forming inaccurate conclusions on that basis. This is why I feel that unless Mana is heard when correctly set up by someone with the necessary knowledge and experience to get it working at its best, definitive statements such as: "I don't like what Mana does", or the like, shouldn't really be made. Unfortunately, this is far from being the case.
Mana is not that hard to set up... As long as you get all the nuts in the right place (i.e. understand which go above and which go below the frame), get everything levelled, ensure the levels are not under any torsional stress and ringing right and then just nip the nuts (it sounds like crap if over-tightened). That's it!
Yeah, it's so simple...
Tony, do you realise how all that might sound to a complete Mana novice? Apart from the necessary ability to ensure this is all carried out accurately, will everyone have the patience to do it? Many people just can't be bothered to mess around when it comes to stands. Often what's wanted is something that simply requires levelling and leaving. With Mana, that's a recipe for sonic disaster. See my point?
Compared to tuning a snare drum or building a LP12 it's a piece of piss
Precisely. However, would you feel qualified to comment accurately on the sound of either of the above if a professional had tuned neither?
Believe me, I got Mana to work as intended, I just found I far preferred a different presentation later. What the hell is wrong with that
In my book: absolutely nothing. What I'm curious of, though, is who or what was responsible for your change of heart?
It really annoys me that stands can't be intelligently discussed
I thought that's what we were doing here? :MILD:
There usually lies behind every absolute a lack of experience or knowledge!
Tony, I really like that one!! Can I borrow it in future?
It applies especially to many of those in the anti-Mana camp
Regards,
Marco.
