At 4:50pm, the rack was standing there waiting to serve Marvel bro. What will be sitting on them? The long awaited 3-Motor Raven will see daylight soon! Marvel will have a hell of a night to do workout reconnecting all the stuff!
The Rack is really crazy in a way it floats all the images up leaving an unprecedented (yes, unprecedented in my setup) dark background. I can hear lots and lots of details especially on the bass compartment which in the past, I believe it was mudded with the vibration of my hutter racks.
3 motor Raven (see pic) is finally in action. My initial impression is on the extended dynamic range with extreme transparency and again bass compartment seems to be much 'stablised' and full of variations and contrasts. I cannot compare between the 1-motor and 3-motor version as the change was coupled with the move to the Craz rack at the same time. The combined effect of both is a significant improvement on the bass layering and transparency.
Everything on the Craz rack becomes crazily real!!
Another angle. I was told that there is in fact an aluminium rack inside the wooded rack and the shelf is called soap stone. When I set it up last night with a friend, both of us were shocked as well as exhausted by the rigidity and various vibration techniques deployed in this rack. I am very confident that the SRA amp stand coming forth for my Baldur will be another pleasant surprise! Lucky fellows for those who have placed the order a few weeks ago!
A report comparing FE MR versus the CRAZE by an actual user forwarded by SRA to us
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve long been an advocate of proper isolation when it comes to the extraction of maximum performance from audio gear—be it amplifiers, preamps, front-end components, line conditioners, whatever. There is no doubt that, when properly executed, isolation can make an overwhelmingly positive difference in how a piece of electronics performs. I consider it essential.
That said, many months worth of research lead me to Silent Running Audio and its founder, Kevin Tellekamp. I’ve always been impressed with SRA’s “custom-fit” design methodology, and now own a number of Ohio Class XL+ isolation bases, as well as a four-shelf Craz rack, which have elevated the performance of my system into heretofore unimagined realms.
I could go on ad nauseum, but I’ll focus on what I consider the foundation of my system: the Craz. I’ve owned some very good equipment racks in my time, including, most notably, the Finite-Elemente Pagode Master Reference.
Before I acquired the Craz, the Master Ref was easily the best-sounding and -looking rack I had ever owned. A work of art in terms of aesthetics, the MR also matched its stunning looks with superior performance, providing huge gains in dynamics, background silence, and resolution over my previous references.
Enter the Craz. I had always been intrigued by Kevin’s products, but had never pulled the trigger before. Looking back on it, I’m not quite sure why. Anyway, after speaking with SRA at a recent CES show, I decided to buy my Craz. As I said before, I strongly believe in Kevin’s custom approach to isolation. In terms of sheer performance Craz makes much more sense than the ubiquitous one-size-fits-all approach used by most manufacturers of isolation gear. Every base and Craz is designed from the ground up specifically for the exact dimensions (including weight) of the component that’s going to rest on it. In my opinion, this is by far and away the best way to handle component isolation. No other manufacturer—including some of the big boys, such as Grand Prix Audio, Finite-Elemente, and HRS—can make quite the same claim.
After getting it installed—no mean feat, considering that, with shelves installed, it weighs close to 400 pounds—I sat down to listen. It still makes me smile thinking about that moment. As great as the Finite-Elemente was, the Craz was simply from a different sonic universe. Until then, I was never aware of how much information I was missing. Compared with the Master Reference, the Craz peeled away multiple layers of grunge I never knew was there, revealing low-level information and spatial cues that had previously been buried in the sonic mire. The blackness of background it created was stunning. The bass was also greatly improved, with increased speed and power. Dynamics and transient responsiveness, which I consider essential to accurate and involving music reproduction, were amazing, making the MR, already a powerhouse in this regard, seem downright sluggish and compressed. To say I was impressed would be seriously shortchanging how good this thing truly is.
I personally don’t consider aesthetics a priority—I’m a sonics-first kinda guy—but the Craz delivers here as well. It’s truly a work of art, from stem to stern. The level of craftsmanship wouldn’t be out of place in MOMA. My cousin is a master carpenter who has several local celebrities as clients, and even he was knocked out by the fit-and-finish of the Craz. And this guy can find flaws in anything!
Long story short, as long as SRA is in business and Kevin is manning the ship, I won’t even consider another isolation product. That’s how confident I am in not only his skills but his business integrity. In my mind, SRA simply makes the best products of its kind. Nothing I’ve heard has convinced me otherwise—and I doubt anything will.
I have no experience on FE although in many occasions I was inch close to buy one including the most recent one when I thought I can use a wide version of FE for the Raven. I worried about the support of the FE in the middle as it may not hold the weight of the Raven and I have seen one FE bending in the middle which really scared me.
As I mentioned above, the improvement on LP is a combination of 3-motors and the rack and for a moment, I would just put my comparison using the Zanden as a source. First and foremost, the rack by Franck is already stunning in terms of putting every images into clear separation and background darkness and quietness is at a reference level, no doubt. However, my preamp, some of the power supplies which were not put on Franck's rack are all now in the Craz rack resulting in a significant improvement on the layering, timbre details that I could hear across the whole varieties of musical intruments and frequency spectrum. Putting them all on the Craz simply 'rectify' all the errors in the reconstruction of the details due to vibration not just from within but also from the external (ie sound waves produced from the speaker, weighty people like me walking around, etc) that hits back to the chasis of the equipment...Everything just normalised and rationalised....
I am having the amp stands from SRA and I just cannot wait to hear how Baldur could produce an even more thrilling soundstage that they are producing currently.
Your system is certainly dearable from every aspect. I have never seen or read any comments about the performance of Jazz music on products carried by AE. A good system especially at such price bracket should play all kind of music well.
I briefly listened to a set of Syren and Cantata 300B driving horn speaker in Heathrow hi end show last year. The raven with the Schroder and dynavector xv-1s was spinning the records of Coltrane and Duke Ellington. They were magnificient sounding with life like tempo. Attacks of the trumpet are fully captured by the Tron electronics.
I have not personally heard the Baldur but it may be a poweramp that excels in different areas. From your description, the soundstaging capability is superb, and will be good for symphonic scores. Your syren, in my opinion, has a closer-in perspective. While I am sure you sound quality is superb as commented by Srajan, I wonder if there is a fundamental mismatch of different philosophy. Maybe, your system will sound much more synergistically with the new AudioValve master reference preamp. A pair of cantata 300B with the syren will be another truly exotic taste. Fusing both of them together may not yield the best "musical" result.
Just my two cent. I can imagine a pair of cantata sitting inside your craze rack with syren up above. But then your speaker will become the bottleneck. The pairing of master reference preamp with your baldur is equally marvellous too.
Comments
3 motor Raven (see pic) is finally in action. My initial impression is on the extended dynamic range with extreme transparency and again bass compartment seems to be much 'stablised' and full of variations and contrasts. I cannot compare between the 1-motor and 3-motor version as the change was coupled with the move to the Craz rack at the same time. The combined effect of both is a significant improvement on the bass layering and transparency.
Everything on the Craz rack becomes crazily real!!
Marvel
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve long been an advocate of proper isolation when it comes to the extraction of maximum performance from audio gear—be it amplifiers, preamps, front-end components, line conditioners, whatever. There is no doubt that, when properly executed, isolation can make an overwhelmingly positive difference in how a piece of electronics performs. I consider it essential.
That said, many months worth of research lead me to Silent Running Audio and its founder, Kevin Tellekamp. I’ve always been impressed with SRA’s “custom-fit” design methodology, and now own a number of Ohio Class XL+ isolation bases, as well as a four-shelf Craz rack, which have elevated the performance of my system into heretofore unimagined realms.
I could go on ad nauseum, but I’ll focus on what I consider the foundation of my system: the Craz. I’ve owned some very good equipment racks in my time, including, most notably, the Finite-Elemente Pagode Master Reference.
Before I acquired the Craz, the Master Ref was easily the best-sounding and -looking rack I had ever owned. A work of art in terms of aesthetics, the MR also matched its stunning looks with superior performance, providing huge gains in dynamics, background silence, and resolution over my previous references.
Enter the Craz. I had always been intrigued by Kevin’s products, but had never pulled the trigger before. Looking back on it, I’m not quite sure why. Anyway, after speaking with SRA at a recent CES show, I decided to buy my Craz. As I said before, I strongly believe in Kevin’s custom approach to isolation. In terms of sheer performance Craz makes much more sense than the ubiquitous one-size-fits-all approach used by most manufacturers of isolation gear. Every base and Craz is designed from the ground up specifically for the exact dimensions (including weight) of the component that’s going to rest on it. In my opinion, this is by far and away the best way to handle component isolation. No other manufacturer—including some of the big boys, such as Grand Prix Audio, Finite-Elemente, and HRS—can make quite the same claim.
After getting it installed—no mean feat, considering that, with shelves installed, it weighs close to 400 pounds—I sat down to listen. It still makes me smile thinking about that moment. As great as the Finite-Elemente was, the Craz was simply from a different sonic universe. Until then, I was never aware of how much information I was missing. Compared with the Master Reference, the Craz peeled away multiple layers of grunge I never knew was there, revealing low-level information and spatial cues that had previously been buried in the sonic mire. The blackness of background it created was stunning. The bass was also greatly improved, with increased speed and power. Dynamics and transient responsiveness, which I consider essential to accurate and involving music reproduction, were amazing, making the MR, already a powerhouse in this regard, seem downright sluggish and compressed. To say I was impressed would be seriously shortchanging how good this thing truly is.
I personally don’t consider aesthetics a priority—I’m a sonics-first kinda guy—but the Craz delivers here as well. It’s truly a work of art, from stem to stern. The level of craftsmanship wouldn’t be out of place in MOMA. My cousin is a master carpenter who has several local celebrities as clients, and even he was knocked out by the fit-and-finish of the Craz. And this guy can find flaws in anything!
Long story short, as long as SRA is in business and Kevin is manning the ship, I won’t even consider another isolation product. That’s how confident I am in not only his skills but his business integrity. In my mind, SRA simply makes the best products of its kind. Nothing I’ve heard has convinced me otherwise—and I doubt anything will.
Sincerely,
Andy C.
I have no experience on FE although in many occasions I was inch close to buy one including the most recent one when I thought I can use a wide version of FE for the Raven. I worried about the support of the FE in the middle as it may not hold the weight of the Raven and I have seen one FE bending in the middle which really scared me.
As I mentioned above, the improvement on LP is a combination of 3-motors and the rack and for a moment, I would just put my comparison using the Zanden as a source. First and foremost, the rack by Franck is already stunning in terms of putting every images into clear separation and background darkness and quietness is at a reference level, no doubt. However, my preamp, some of the power supplies which were not put on Franck's rack are all now in the Craz rack resulting in a significant improvement on the layering, timbre details that I could hear across the whole varieties of musical intruments and frequency spectrum. Putting them all on the Craz simply 'rectify' all the errors in the reconstruction of the details due to vibration not just from within but also from the external (ie sound waves produced from the speaker, weighty people like me walking around, etc) that hits back to the chasis of the equipment...Everything just normalised and rationalised....
I am having the amp stands from SRA and I just cannot wait to hear how Baldur could produce an even more thrilling soundstage that they are producing currently.
Marvel
Your system is certainly dearable from every aspect. I have never seen or read any comments about the performance of Jazz music on products carried by AE. A good system especially at such price bracket should play all kind of music well.
I briefly listened to a set of Syren and Cantata 300B driving horn speaker in Heathrow hi end show last year. The raven with the Schroder and dynavector xv-1s was spinning the records of Coltrane and Duke Ellington. They were magnificient sounding with life like tempo. Attacks of the trumpet are fully captured by the Tron electronics.
I have not personally heard the Baldur but it may be a poweramp that excels in different areas. From your description, the soundstaging capability is superb, and will be good for symphonic scores. Your syren, in my opinion, has a closer-in perspective. While I am sure you sound quality is superb as commented by Srajan, I wonder if there is a fundamental mismatch of different philosophy. Maybe, your system will sound much more synergistically with the new AudioValve master reference preamp. A pair of cantata 300B with the syren will be another truly exotic taste. Fusing both of them together may not yield the best "musical" result.
Just my two cent. I can imagine a pair of cantata sitting inside your craze rack with syren up above. But then your speaker will become the bottleneck. The pairing of master reference preamp with your baldur is equally marvellous too.
Happy Listening