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General Asylum: REVIEW: Machina Dynamica Nimbus Accessory by rhyno General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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Model: Nimbus Category: Accessory Suggested Retail Price: $800. Description: Active Air Base Manufacturer URL: Machina Dynamica Manufacturer URL: Machina Dynamica
Review by rhyno ( A ) on February 16, 2003 at 06:55:34
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for the Nimbus
not a no brainer by any means.i'll refer you to http://www.machinadynamica.com/ for an explanation on what it does & how it looks. real quick, its one of the only racks that provides 6-degrees of freedom from vibration (along X, Y & Z axes). very clever product, as some serious engineering know-how went into it.
couple quick drawbacks: it takes up space, and in my 12*11 room, space is at a bigger premium than in downtown tokyo. also, though i like the way it looks, i could understand if WAF is low. maybe you could sell it to her as modern-art w/ utility; fortunately i don't have to worry about that. also, if you have bad / curious cats or are prone to stumbling, you could bump into the nimbus and potentially send the component on it flying. i've mitigated this by placing a 10lb plate on top my transport which rests on the nimbus, i recommend doing likewise.
using it underneath my G&D UTP 1 transport (as opposed to on the top shelf of a mediocre rack), the biggest thing i noticed was an increase in 3-dimensional staging. digital is notoriously flat, painful and frustrating. with the nimbus in place, all images on the stage have more body, better depth, more-vinylesque goodness.
highs / mids were improved with increased low level resolution noted, particularly with instruments that have the potential to be 'whitish' on underachieving systems (which mine is not). cymbals have better tonality with the nimbus in place. an untreated cymbal can have all its brassy character wash together and sound indistinct in the varying tones that come with the decay of the cymbal. the nimbus keeps the decay in order and it simply sounds more realistic as a result. --again, these affects were more than subtle if you're already at reference level, but no doubt the effects will be less so if you've got issues elsewhere.
i'm sure that i would get better effects from the nimbus if i didn't have TG audio cone footers mounted to the transport (excellent cone footers btw), as they do a great job to begin with. but the nimbus is not a minor afterthought tweak, like cone footers often are. this is the real deal. if you have a good turntable and cannot afford one of the air-suspension jobs from rockport, this would likely prove a major step in the same direction. if i had a rega TT or most any TT, if i could get it on the nimbus, i would. same for any reference level transport / cd player. if its not air loaded (forsell), chances are you've not heard it at its best until its on the nimbus.
having said all that, this product should definitely be in your upgrade path, but only after you've taken care of other things. if you haven't done your power cords / AC yet, do that first. if you haven't treated your room, do that first. those improvements were bigger for me than the nimbus is. but i've reached and passed the point of cheap and obvious incremental improvements long ago. and if its getting harder and harder to wring out incremental improvements from your system without multi-$$ investments, then this product is then, and only then, a no-brainer.
rhyno
Product Weakness: WAF, space requirements. Product Strengths: better staging body / depth; better highs & low level resolution
Associated Equipment for this Review: Amplifier: CTC BBQ Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): G&D custom Sources (CDP/Turntable): G&D UTP1 > Entec 2.2 w/ TG Audio mods Speakers: Merlin VSM-M Cables/Interconnects: TG Audio Music Used (Genre/Selections): all Room Size (LxWxH): 12 x 11 x 8 Room Comments/Treatments: room lenses in place; more to come Time Period/Length of Audition: couple weeks Other (Power Conditioner etc.): TG Audio Bybee PC, TG Audio SLVR Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
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Topic - REVIEW: Machina Dynamica Nimbus Accessory - rhyno 06:55:34 02/16/03 ( 2)
- What a pain - Jon L 12:29:24 02/17/03 ( 1)
- agreed - rhyno 14:11:47 02/17/03 ( 0)