Can anyone advise me if this is a good upgrade? I have used Mana elsewhere with great success. The speakers are quite heavy so I am also wondering about the difficulty of set-up.

Any views will be well received.

many thanks in anticipation.

David

David

What is the floor surface?

Have you read this:

http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=67019385&f=48019385&m=955108762


Emil

David -

I use Mana Soundbases under my SBLs and it is a serious upgrade - especially for the money. They sit on a bare wood floor.

According to a half-remembered conversation with Mana, the Soundbases can handle some very serious weight - but of course it depends what kind of ATCs you have...

Tim

Thanks Emil,

The floors are concrete and the room maybe 8mx5m. The speakers are about 1m from the side and rear walls.

Tim, they are the 50s, which by coincidence is their weight in kg!!

David

David

Don't worry about the weight. DBLs are over 100kgs. No problems for the soundbases.

I only don't know how mana is working on a concrete floor.

Emil

Hi Emil,

That is good news.

I have been using Mana equipment stands for a number of years on concrete floors. The results have been very good indeed.

David

I have a pair of Atc Active 50's and have used both the mana and "standard ATC stands. The price difference (40% higher for mana)to me and I stress, to me does not warrant utilization and the fact that the "standard" stands let you move the speakers about if necessary without big headaches are to me a big plus.

Thanks Rick,
But what was the difference in sound quality between the two? I dont anticipate moving my speakers EVER, once I have them set up in the optimum location. I agree though, that they are easy to slide around.

David

The Mana stands under the active ATCs make for a much more powerful, dynamic sound. I have both stands. Rick is absolutely right: the ATC stands are far easier to use when positioning your speakers. But if you're going to set them once and leave them, the Mana stands will make a big difference. Assuming you get them set up properly, that is.

That said, the price for either of the stands seems to bear little relationship to the manufacturing costs. A common complaint in the hifi world, though, innit?

quote:

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I only don't know how mana is working on a concrete floor. /Emil F.

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No problem here, Emil. On floppy floor the Mana effect is slightly more obvious as on concret floor. Thats because (IMHO) the sound of a system on floppy floor isnt that solid as on concret floor. I used to play my system on both floors.

In the end you get the Mana Effect very well on both kind of floors.

Hermann

Thats great news thanks Jim.
I will place the order today!
david

I of course will defer to Jim L. In my usage, as Jim knows, I used the mana's prior to the standard stands and did not do a "A/B", rather a "A", then to a "B"(at a later time). I can tell you that the factory basically has no opinion, one way or the other.Your ears will tell you what is right for you. (political? Oh yea!), One should wonder though why one should "sweat" or agonize over stands and pay up to $1200.00 US, when the (tri)amps themselves are directly installed into the speakers themselves (no isolation).

And I should throw in the fact that Rick's system, with his active 50s on the factory stands, sounds very, very good. The last time I heard it I was startled out of my seat when Louis Armstrong suddenly blasted away on the trumpet - I didn't know he was on the track we were listening to. So in the right setup and the right room, the factory stands can do the job.

It may be that the carpet in my room is thicker than that in Rick's room. When my speakers are on the factory stands - which lack spikes, and sit right on the carpet - the sound losed a bit of impact and drive. On the Mana stands the speakers sit much more rigidly.

Hope this helps,

Jim

I will let you know how I get on!!

David

Well, they arrived. I spent alot of time with the set up at once in place, it was always going to be very difficult to relocate them.

But the patience has paid off. There is a definite improvement in top and bottom end and significant extra detail. Somehow, they are more dynamic.

So, it was money well spent and I would recommend this modest upgrade to any other ATC 50 owners.

David

Hi David,

I'm glad this worked out well for you. Wouldn't want to have encouraged you to spend money badly.

What is the rest of your system? What interconnects are you using between preamp and ATCs, assuming the preamp is a Naim?

Jim

Hi Jim,
The interconnect is Linn Silver.

The rest of the set up is LP12/Armageddon/Aro/Troika
CDX/XPS
52/SuperCap
PS Audio P500
All on Mana

The P500 gives a read out of peak power consumption. With the 52 at 9 o'clock the total power consumption of the system on CD is about 180-195 Watts. At 10 o'clock (as loud as I ever need to go) it is 250-275 Watts. So those power amps are just cruising!!

David