Mana Audio update

The ones I've seen were mounted on an open square tubular steel frame, but the most entertaining support for studio speakers was at Video London, where they had a big pair of JBLs accro-ed to the ceiling!

 

In all these cases you have never heard these items on Mana and then off Mana (in the same way you have never heard your ATCs on any stand other then Mana as they came pre-Mana'd) so you do not know what is the support and what is the equipment...

For a rational being you like to cling to irrational and "flawed" demonstarations. As you correctly stated: all you have is belief... and thats hardly going to impress anyone except those who want to believe.

 

Fox - good point. And also the efect of a standard height standard support v mana multi-phase v standard support of same height as multiphase mana.

The truth is out there!

 

It may be of general interest to know that, under insolvency legislation, Company Directors can be personally liable for debts (even if the company is limited liability) if it can be shown that the Directors allowed the company to continue to trade whilst insolvent (it is a legal duty of all Company Directors to ensure that a business is not trading whilst insolvent).

 

Hehe, probably just a mortgage in the company name.

 

Further - the customers who have paid and not received products, and the suppliers who have supplied goods but not been paid will now be discovering that the insolvency laws are designed to protect dishonest companies (and company directors) at the expense of honest customers, employees and suppliers.

Mana may or may not have acted dishonestly - but competently-run companies do not get into this sort of mess without knowing that it's happening to them, in the vast majority of cases.

 

Have you tried a slab of slate under your turntable?

 

Or a townshend platform?

 

You haven't yet shown us how you have taken expectation response out of the equation. Whether other variables have been introduced in making the sound bloody awful, warm up/settle down, state of mind, state of blood chemistry etc etc...

What a lot of Mana heads fail to realise (myself included at the time ) is: Expensive Hi Fi equipment shouldn't require a stand to not sound bloody awful... and if you have a system that requires a stand to sound anything other than bloody awful then you have my deepest sympathies.

 

I have tried a slab of slate, also marble - both my ears made the tt sound flat & lifeless. I have not tried a Townsend sink.

Of course it's all horses for courses, swings & roundabouts etceterah, etceterah. Just giving another view of the product.

Sorry Fox, quite right. It sounded 'bloody awful' in comparison to what I'm used to - which was obviously still 'pretty bloody good'.

 

Non suspended decks require external isolation. Mine sounds awful if I deflate the rack. However at least I have tested it. The amazon is non-suspended as well thought it does have an isolation system so it should not be quite as sensitive - but will probably benefit more than a suspended deck.

 

Fox, I can't help noticing that yours is a position of extremes: you were supporting your equipment with multi phase mana that most reasonable people would call a nonsense; now you are saying that equipment isn't actually influenced by what it sits on.

I can't help feeling you have an axe to grind.

 

You are right in what you say, some equipment will be influenced more from isolation than others, I noticed my previous LP12 was much more sensitive to location - personally I wouldn't use one unless it was on mana. The amazon still benefits massively from being seated on the mana.

 

I am better a townshend or vibraplane or SEM isolator would work even better for the amazon. The amazon ref sounded very good in that way. I used to own mana but found the TSS was better - at least for a non-suspended deck.

 

I'd disagree,

with a Vpi (which is conceptually very similar to an Amazon), The Townsend totally killed the sound, leading to a very dull presentation with little life or vitality.

The Vpi responded best of all to mass loading in my situation, and the TSS was consigned to the cupboard.

 

Thanks I may give that a try.

Don't you have to keep blowing the thing up though? The amazon is very heavy & stands on sharp cones; perhaps I'd get a puncture... do please excuse my ignorance on this matter.

 

No, I am not saying that. As you fail to grasp: I've said with the Linn LP12 it seems to work as advertised. With my Audio Note M2 Tube Pre and step-up transformer, again very good, totally no problems and my Mana evolved around that.

When I wanted to go active I chose ATC SCM100As and ATC CA2 (the M2 failed to drive such long lengths pseudo-balanced) and I noted it didn't sound too different on 10 Soundstages as it did in the studio where I bought it, so tried it on and off Mana and I discovered it didn't work as I had expected. I tried my Phase 13 Orbe (Phase 13 inherited from the LP12) on the floor for the first time... I'd assumed Mana was doing its thang all that time and it sounded the same. And better still the Active ATC setup on no Mana trounced the STEALTH and Briks on loadsa-Mana I had before.

Mine is actually a position of extreme moderation and considered rationalism: Mana doesn't work with all equipment equally well in all situations, in fact whether it works or not is a hit and miss affair.

Any axe to grind is to disagree with the syllogistic "well it works for me, therefore it must work for everything" that is now ingrained into the fabric of audionerd reality. Life aint that simple.

 

Thanks for clarifying, Fox; thanks for your patience.

I wouldn't say mana works for everything equally well, I don't subscribe to this dangerous underground cult that you refer to. I've listened to my system on and off mana & prefer it on.

You seem to have had a pretty grave system change there & it is conceivable that you couldn't see the wood for the trees with all the changes; I concede that there may be equipment out there that isn't influenced by what it sits on, but I do find it unlikely.