It's a question, not a slight on Brit M**a fanatics. I have an old Tripod system that is pig-ugly. Are there any good rack/shelf systems for my stuff? LP12/Lingo/Aro + 72/HICAP x2/NAXO/NAP135 x4. To survive (Sound of fiancee sighing and rolling eyes at the current setup) it needs to look as if someone from Ligne Roset or B&B Italia designed it, yet meet the needs of Hi-Fi dom. Any suggestions greatly appreciated...by my fiancee...

Le Chef

The german Pagode HD stands had a brilliant "1-page" write-up by Martin Colloms in HiFi News & record review, September 00. They look beautifully made in a understated classical way. Available in natural maple and anthracite paint finish. Although not very well known, these seem to be "top of the tree" sonically, and as an architecture lover I could easily live with them. Doesn't seem to be any user experience on this forum though.

MC is very familiar with mana, felt the Pagode HD gave greater benefits with significantly more neutrality. Downsides are:
- limited distribution. Ex factory from germany, Audiofreaks in the UK, dunno who in US but the Stereophile review would suggest a local distributor
- expensive eg. DEM 4,500 for 4 level stand, GBP 2,295 for 4-shelf + base stand in the UK

see <A HREF="http://www.finite-elemente.de" TARGET="_blank">www.finite-elemente.de</A> under "Pagode HD" for more details

also <A HREF="http://www.audiofreaks.co.uk" TARGET="_blank">www.audiofreaks.co.uk</A> will send you a copy of the review - look under "reviews" on their site. I see from this site there's also a review of the Pagode HD03 in Stereophile July 99

Hutter is also well-regarded sonically, and the hutter "basic" has OK (?) aesthetics.

You should definitely check out the pARTicular racks. They are really beautiful - very modern, and IMO the best looking racks out there. There are several types of shelves available. I highly recommend the Black Acrylic type. The Birch shelves sound sort of boring. You can also fill the support posts with sand or lead shot. Volmar (pARTicular's owner/designer) makes a model called the Novus, which is available especially sized for Naim components. I have my system (CD-X,102/PSC/HICAP/250) on a semi-suspended Novus, and it sounds great! I've also had very good impressions of the Ypsilon, which is really cool looking.

Here's his web site:

http://www.particular.com/

If you like Ligne Roset, check out the Finite Elemente Spider range. I suppose it's easier to have them send to the US as well than the Pagode racks.
You can have a look at the Stereophile review Peter mentioned on the same site under the link "Press". As for the Martin Colloms review, which does not appear (yet) on the site, I read it, but it wasn't clear what he used. Was it a normal Pagode rack or a Pagode heavy duty rack? The latter are nearly twice as expensive!
For a Forum member's experience with Finite Elemente, do a search on "Richard van der Laar" and Finite Elemente, you will find his (negative) experience with Finite Elemente.

Good luck!

Willem

last weekend I enjoyed a good listening session at a local dealer / among the awesome equipment, he also had the most beautiful racks I have yet to see...

try www.rixrax.com canadian firm...

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Hi,

I've seen a rather nice rack designed by an italian and produces by a brit company called solidsteel. It has grey mdf plates and 4 slim, silver coloured metal legs. it sounds a little bit harch, but looks a little bit like B&B.
There's a german company called (www.)phonosophie(.de), that produces tuned tripod stands in different colours. Even one in silver (Delivarable from march or april.)
If you can't find it in the web try the telefonnumber of a german dealer called goethe studio ++49-511-320534