I had the MAPLESHADE SAMSON audio rack, with their HEAVYFOOT brass footers , along with their FINISHED air-dried MAPLE BLOCK 4" ISOLATION PLATFORM WITH ISOBLOCK SUSPENSION accessories.
In brief:
Butt ugly set-up so WAF was never blessed ... Putting that aside for the moment....
The Mapleshade system was a replacement upgrade to a prior DIY cheap maple butcher block rack / platform.
The Butcher block DIY rig was an abject failure ...a complete placebo and useless step and a total waste of time and money in my experiences. It was mercifully junked because the it was no better than any simple basic cheap audio rack.
The MAPLESHADE arrangement above was isolating the components and especially the source (hi-end $14,000 CDP/DAC ); and a matched $14,000 integrated ss amp.
-- the 4" thick maple block was its own thick isolation platform sitting first on Isoblocks coupled first to the top shelf of the SAMSON rack.
-- Then the brass Heavywight footers were placed between the 4" maple block platform and the CDP/DAC.
-- Now the source was further isolated by sitting first on the Heavyfeet brass footers coupled first to the Platform block, and the latter sitting further on Isoblocks coupled to the top shelf of the SAMSON rack.
This was a plesant audio performance improvement immediately (and curiously) over the prior DIY kiln-dried butcher-block rig. No doubt out it, but I can’t explain it , but it was still expensive and still a butt ugly tweak/upgrade.
NOW.....
I was introduced by my dealer to chuck the entire MAPLESHADE rig above in favour of his NAIM FRAME bespoke custom clone audio rack system: his professionally made bespoke custom-made clone of the NAIM cup-and-cone conduit rack system including bespoke glass shelves a la NAIM FRAIM.....the latter website:
https://www.naimaudio.com/product/fraim-0
I had just moved up to a brand new audio $40K system costing 5 X what my prior one did. So he offered up a challenge ....that we do an actual A-B shoot-out: a in-house actual demo bake-off: my Existing MAPLESHADE first and then his BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE .
The BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE was a very large audio performance immediate step up in everything: including inter alia: overall clarity (like a thin veil was suddenly lifted): an expanded wider and deeper soundstage, distinct deeper bass response and impressive bass slam ... go figger.
In short, it simply smoked the MAPLESHADE rack and all its accessories with isolation approach by MY new vibration conduit system....full stop.
YOUR TAKEAWAY: Any audio rack choice and resulting synergy (or lack thereof) is system dependent
(1) My noble first attempt with a DIY Butcher block cheap short-cut to a cheap DIY isolation rack swap-in was a waste of time and money on an illusory tweak that offered nothing but an expensive drain on my wallet.
(2) The MAPLESHADE custom isolation approach above was an improvement over (1); but it still MAY NOT be the cat’s ass in all circumstances = system dependent ....full stop.
(3) The BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE cup and cone conduit system was a very large audio improvement over (2) in my new system by a large measure ...full stop.
YOUR TAKEAWAY:
(a) The comparatively light weight BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE system (Euro approach) that conduits vibration away instead of a bulky and heavy US model isolation approach reigns supreme in my "A" system.
(b) I sold the bulky MAPLESHADE SAMSON audio rack with my wife’s sigh of relief. It was an improvement over my DIY butcher block cheap knock-off approach for sure,,,,but ... was still a distant pretender to the BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE contender/winner.
(c) I still use the Mapleshade 4" maple block platform, and their Heavyfeet brass footers and also their isoblocks for my ’B" system. Its an audio improvement over sitting on a bare shelf, but .......
FWIW ....
In brief:
Butt ugly set-up so WAF was never blessed ... Putting that aside for the moment....
The Mapleshade system was a replacement upgrade to a prior DIY cheap maple butcher block rack / platform.
The Butcher block DIY rig was an abject failure ...a complete placebo and useless step and a total waste of time and money in my experiences. It was mercifully junked because the it was no better than any simple basic cheap audio rack.
The MAPLESHADE arrangement above was isolating the components and especially the source (hi-end $14,000 CDP/DAC ); and a matched $14,000 integrated ss amp.
-- the 4" thick maple block was its own thick isolation platform sitting first on Isoblocks coupled first to the top shelf of the SAMSON rack.
-- Then the brass Heavywight footers were placed between the 4" maple block platform and the CDP/DAC.
-- Now the source was further isolated by sitting first on the Heavyfeet brass footers coupled first to the Platform block, and the latter sitting further on Isoblocks coupled to the top shelf of the SAMSON rack.
This was a plesant audio performance improvement immediately (and curiously) over the prior DIY kiln-dried butcher-block rig. No doubt out it, but I can’t explain it , but it was still expensive and still a butt ugly tweak/upgrade.
NOW.....
I was introduced by my dealer to chuck the entire MAPLESHADE rig above in favour of his NAIM FRAME bespoke custom clone audio rack system: his professionally made bespoke custom-made clone of the NAIM cup-and-cone conduit rack system including bespoke glass shelves a la NAIM FRAIM.....the latter website:
https://www.naimaudio.com/product/fraim-0
I had just moved up to a brand new audio $40K system costing 5 X what my prior one did. So he offered up a challenge ....that we do an actual A-B shoot-out: a in-house actual demo bake-off: my Existing MAPLESHADE first and then his BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE .
The BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE was a very large audio performance immediate step up in everything: including inter alia: overall clarity (like a thin veil was suddenly lifted): an expanded wider and deeper soundstage, distinct deeper bass response and impressive bass slam ... go figger.
In short, it simply smoked the MAPLESHADE rack and all its accessories with isolation approach by MY new vibration conduit system....full stop.
YOUR TAKEAWAY: Any audio rack choice and resulting synergy (or lack thereof) is system dependent
(1) My noble first attempt with a DIY Butcher block cheap short-cut to a cheap DIY isolation rack swap-in was a waste of time and money on an illusory tweak that offered nothing but an expensive drain on my wallet.
(2) The MAPLESHADE custom isolation approach above was an improvement over (1); but it still MAY NOT be the cat’s ass in all circumstances = system dependent ....full stop.
(3) The BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE cup and cone conduit system was a very large audio improvement over (2) in my new system by a large measure ...full stop.
YOUR TAKEAWAY:
(a) The comparatively light weight BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE system (Euro approach) that conduits vibration away instead of a bulky and heavy US model isolation approach reigns supreme in my "A" system.
(b) I sold the bulky MAPLESHADE SAMSON audio rack with my wife’s sigh of relief. It was an improvement over my DIY butcher block cheap knock-off approach for sure,,,,but ... was still a distant pretender to the BESPOKE CUSTOM CLONE contender/winner.
(c) I still use the Mapleshade 4" maple block platform, and their Heavyfeet brass footers and also their isoblocks for my ’B" system. Its an audio improvement over sitting on a bare shelf, but .......
FWIW ....