Colonel_Mad
pfm Member
Bet he gets some inky blacks though, and the picture is like a dirty window pane has been removed.
Mana Acoustics
- Thread starter FC united
- Start date
Bet he gets some inky blacks though, and the picture is like a dirty window pane has been removed.
Colonel_Mad
pfm Member
I have a hunch that there is no audible effect on the performance of an electrical item sitting on a solidly supported glass shelf, no matter what is doing the solid supporting.
Dozey
Air guitar member
Experience tells me your hunch is not right. However experience also tells me that there are people out there who refuse to even try something before dismissing it.
If you're on the fence about buying 'audio furniture' to isolate your solid state components, this article is definitely worth a read:
https://www.audio-forums.com/articles/microphonic-effects-on-solid-state-circuits.17/
If you're already sold on isolation for solid state components then there's probably not a lot that could be done to change your mind. But try and read it anyway.
If you're using isolation for valve components and/or turntables, that is probably a good case for isolation! Microphonics can actually be an issue in that case!
https://www.audio-forums.com/articles/microphonic-effects-on-solid-state-circuits.17/
If you're already sold on isolation for solid state components then there's probably not a lot that could be done to change your mind. But try and read it anyway.
If you're using isolation for valve components and/or turntables, that is probably a good case for isolation! Microphonics can actually be an issue in that case!
Darren L
Egalitarian
Depends very much on the component, especially a mechanical component like a TT, IME glass is the last thing you want to put it on, especially if supported by a steel frame.
Or, you could just try it? And who said anything about isolating?
Well, the website for the company that bought the trade mark describes Mana as:
"... the pioneers of the glass and spike isolation system..."
If you don't attribute changes in sound to isolation, what are you supposing is the cause? And are you using it for solid state, valve, turntable, etc.? I don't own any valve devices or turntables and I think the article/experiment I linked to above should help others understand my doubts.
Alex S
carbon based lifeform
Weed.
Dozey
Air guitar member
The cause? One has to speculate but perhaps dissipation, a bit like a mechanical equivalent of an electrical earth.
For solid state, valve, turntable?
Dozey
Air guitar member
Yes. A lot of companies are incorporating vibration management in solid state electronics these days (Naim, Auralic). It has been known about for a long time with vacuum tubes and mechanical systems like turntables.
With active speakers the electronics does not have to be located in the speaker.
With active speakers the electronics does not have to be located in the speaker.
Yes, but that same company also said they were improving the way it was welded together and using toughened glass. Whether they will or not I don't know but I do know that it suggests they don't know how it works. Ask them how it works? Ask them exactly what it does?
I thought I would ask some people that use Mana. I guess that was a mistake?
I get that -- it's a selling point (whether it serves a purpose or not). The article I linked to (but I don't think anyone is looking at) offers some evidence that microphony is a non-issue for solid state. Mr Pig says isolation isn't the aim when using Mana. So I'm wondering what is?
Who really cares? Either you like what something sounds like or you don't. Either way, I don't care.
You're a 100% fruitcake.
Yeah, I might say I had a vague idea of how it might work but in all honesty, I don't know. It was arrived at by trial and error following a fortuitous observation and I doubt John Watson knows exactly how it works, although I suspect he has a better idea than most.
If you care to look, you can find the science behind the idea that electronic components are sensitive to vibration but even that doesn't fully explain it. There is something else going on. I say that because Mana doesn't actually isolate from vibration. Not in the way we might expect.
Cav
pfm Member
No one knows how, or even if, any hi-fi furniture works. I have seen no truly scientific proof of much of what is claimed in the world of hi-fi. The only thing that matters is what the user believes.
I had mana but now use domestic wooden furniture. I enjoy the music replay I have and have little time for the "this hi-fi stand is better than that" brigade.
GRC
More Red Wine Member
Oh I'm loving this blast from the past.
This was JW's setup at one time.
This was one of his more enthusiastic supporters.
This was my old (and slightly more modest) setup with Naim CDX/XPS/NAC52/NAP135 and Dynaudio Contour 1.8 MkII.
And you were no-one if you didn't have the accompanying CD:-
Certainly a "left of centre" CD but I remember liking it in the Mana room at a Heathrow show many many years ago. May have to dig it out this evening and see how it sounds on a completely different system.
I actually loved what Mana did with the Naim Olive boxes but I've moved on (too many boxes, cables & stuff plus Mana is a complete dust magnet) but Devialet on Ikea certainly doesn't sound the same. Sold it all to a guy in China who paid a fortune for UPS to bring it over. Whatever . . .
This was JW's setup at one time.
This was one of his more enthusiastic supporters.
This was my old (and slightly more modest) setup with Naim CDX/XPS/NAC52/NAP135 and Dynaudio Contour 1.8 MkII.
And you were no-one if you didn't have the accompanying CD:-
Certainly a "left of centre" CD but I remember liking it in the Mana room at a Heathrow show many many years ago. May have to dig it out this evening and see how it sounds on a completely different system.
I actually loved what Mana did with the Naim Olive boxes but I've moved on (too many boxes, cables & stuff plus Mana is a complete dust magnet) but Devialet on Ikea certainly doesn't sound the same. Sold it all to a guy in China who paid a fortune for UPS to bring it over. Whatever . . .