There is also a fairly obvious, second alternative: putting the ReFract beneath the component. I’ve been using Acouplex shelves for quite some time, in both my Grand Prix Audio and HRS racks – and as interleaving layers on the Hutter RackTime and Blue Horizon PRS racks I also use. Having now tried the ReFract in between products and the bamboo or laminated MDF shelves of the Hutter or PRS racks, they offer similar benefits over the standard Acouplex shelves as they do atop components. The slight complication here is that to get the maximum benefit from the ReFract in this role, you need to bypass the component’s ‘isolation’ feet, direct-coupling its base-plate to the ReFract. Frankly, you should be doing that anyway, but in the Acouplex world that’s best done using the matching pucks or cones (that consistency thing again). There’s a range of different heights available so you should be able to find a workable solution – and in extremis you can always remove the unit’s feet – but it does leave you experimenting with optimum location/number for those couplers. Past experience suggests that four is the ideal number: Three placed asymmetrically to support the unit, placed according to the sources of mechanical energy it contains (transformer, power supply caps, transport…) and a fourth to resist the almost inevitable bowing in the base plate – or just to provide necessary stability. It’s a tedious and convoluted process, but the musical results are worth the effort.
The ReFract panels were designed with the CH components in mind and there’s no question that in that context, they are mightily effective. They don’t bend or warp the sound of the CH units. They just build on their considerable strengths, making them a better and more musical CH. Anybody who has invested in CH Precision equipment should hear what the ReFracts bring to the party – especially as installing and audition them is so simple. Once heard, they’re hard to live without. The fact that they work with other equipment very nearly as effectively just adds to their appeal. I’ve said before that Music Works are onto something with Acouplex. The ReFract just rams that point home – and puts a shine on it.
Prices and availability
ReFract panel – £825 ea. (inc. 20% UK sales tax)
Acouplex cones and feet – from £40 ea.
MusicWorks
The AudioWorks Ltd
14 Stockport Road
Cheadle
Cheshire
SK8 2AA
UK
+44 (0)161 428 7887
