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Shelf Material - Neuance

I started a thread a month or so ago trying to find opinions on the best shelf material. I got some good new ideas, and tried them all out - except one, Maple Butchers Block. McMaster did not reply to my emails concerning Maple Butchers Block - not unusual, I have found many US companies turn a deaf ear to anyone from another country. I did try some local butchers block - stips of heart timber glued together, and the spectral balance was very good, but pace was poor. If Maple is better then it must be much lighter than what I was using (Weight = energy storage = poor pace). The best I tried was a very classy looking Neuance shelf, which you can find out about at www.neuanceaudio.com. I think subaruguru was also trying one and so it will be interesting to see what he thinks. It has a sound, but one that is difficult to pin down. It did not work well on my transport, flattening mid-range images for some reason, but worked well on everything else. I will order some more and therefore be able to get a better measure of its performance, and will try again with the transport (I have since learnt that I should not have used up-turned spikes). The Neuance is fast, it almost spotlights mid-range detail (you hear everything a vocalist is doing), it is very extended top and bottom. It might have a tad too much warmth in the lower mids and upper bass, but I am not sure yet. I love the way pianos sound with it - very much like the real thing (my daughter plays piano and so I hear it every day) - no exagerated presence, but all the natural harmonics of a real piano. I find it works best resting on small 1mm thick hard rubber pads, on a sand filled steel rack, with Vibrapods between shelf and component. I did not particularly like up-pointed spikes underneath it when I tried it but will experiment some more when I have some more Neuance shelves - it is hard to get the full measure of this shelf when I have only one. But I suspect this really is very close to an ideal shelf - very light, very rigid, no noticeable resonances - as I am using it at present. If, like me, you have been looking for a top quality shelf, then the Neuance is well worth a try. My only relationship to Neuance is that the man behind it offered me this ex-demo one for the cost of freight in response to my original post. When I order the next three shelves from him I will be offering to pay more generously for the first one.
redkiwi
sean
6,231 posts
 
I'm surprised that your using cones point-side up. I have always found this to be REALLY bad sounding. Bass is muddied and bloated with pace and musicality taking a major hit in the nose. By using them point up, the much larger flat side of the cone that is making contact with the shelf is now concentrating all of its absorbed energy into the point which is now supporting the component. Another thing that you may want to play with in terms of "tuning" your rack and support shelves is how much the shelves are tightened down. Making a rack more rigid will typically add weight to the bass, but it is not nearly as well defined. I could not believe the difference that this made when i recently changed racks. I began to experiment at the suggestion of the rack's manufacturer. The results were startling and eye opening to say the least. Sean >
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
You misunderstand me Sean. My reference to up-pointed spikes was the interface between the rack and the shelf. The two reasonable ways to do this is with up-pointed spikes or a soft bumper of some kind. I was referring to the fact that up-pointed spikes (while working well with say MDF), did not work so well with the Neuance (nor does it work well with Corian). I agree that up-pointed cones sound terrible under components.
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
redkiwi: you've obviously done a lot of work that is of great value to all of us here. many thanks for sharing your experiences. might just go out and try to find some of that neuance.
subaruguru
1,369 posts
 
Greetings, Mark. I bought a Neuance shelf, but embarrassingly have not taken the time to A/B it yet. I simply "stored" it on TOP of my Rotel CDP (which sits on an air bladder for now), not thinking much about it. Subsequent listening sessions sounded mysteriously better than I had been used to, so I wonder if this lightweight, REALLY well-made device isn't somehow vetting steelcase energy off the top of the CDP, and thus cleaning up the top octaves a bit? Could be placebo, or that my Aleph 2s have finally broken in? I'll perform more-structured experiments after the holidays. I find your results remarkably perceptive already, Mark, but I'm not sure that multiplying the number of shelves you use will result in percetual differences that are linearly additive, given different types and constructions of components. Try not to make the experimental matrix TOO complex, bro! Happiest holidays to all. PS Heard the latest Patricia Barber?...or the Burns Sisters holiday CD?
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
I really like the new Patricia Barber - "Nightclub" is it? Have not heard the Burns Sisters but will check it out. I have driven my self to distraction auditioning different shelf materials, different racks, different interfaces between rack and shelf and different footers. You are right Subaruguru - the permutations are endless. But I really have felt that what I have used previously (most things under the sun it seems) have been letting my system down. This is because trying different things would shift the result quite noticeably. Anyway, my theory is - light, rigid, releasing its energy quickly and yet damped so that energy release is not peaky. The Neuance is very very close to that ideal, in a way that no other shelf I know of is - even the ones I have only read about, such as the BDR and Polycrystal shelves (too much mass to work I reckon). Right now I am getting really good results from the Neuance, significantly better than anything else I have ever tried. I am using a sand filled welded steel rack. The Neuance sits on small, thin hard rubber pads, that really don't compress more than a gnat's whisker, and then the component sits on the Neuance using only conventional small hard rubber feet. With any other shelf, this would sound blurred, and would be improved upon by either using up-pointed spikes between rack and shelf, of using a footer like Walker or BDR cones, or Vibrapods. But the Neuance sounds vibrant, balanced, very detailed, and I am just loving the music that I am hearing. Fancy footers make it sound worse, ie. destroys the balance and overaccentuates detail. I am getting two more Neuance shelves in the new year and am very confident I am on the right track.
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