Dear Sir,
In the picture, it seems the Select components are designed to allow stacking up on top of one another. The designer of this brand doesnt leave anything for granted. Have you tried stacking them on top and maybe only use some sort of vibe mgt platform under only the first component?
Kind regards,
Tang
Hello Tang,
Only the top (occupied by Select Transport) and bottom levels of my rack have room adequate for stacking the Powerbases up.
I didn't try and compare the the placements bcos I was quite exhausted after setting them up in the current config.
Yes, the chassis of Select Series is designed to be stackable.
However my local MSB dealer told me that they give better sonic performance if are placed separately.
I guess Mike can give more comments on this aspect as he has Tana platforms and tried so.
the Select II works best with each box on a separate shelf. my units came with soft rubber footers that can be used for stacking, which i did briefly try when i first got it when i only had the single power supply. quickly i changed to separate shelves, and later added the Taiko Tana under the main dac box. and more than separate shelves, improving the decoupling method for the power supply boxes matters too for performance, as does grounding. i even use BDR (Black Diamond Racing) carbon fiber cones from my Taiko Tana shelf interface with the MSB dac box.
recently MSB changed the interface from the rubber one's to better one's but i have not tried the new one's as i have no interest in stacking. i think that MSB is seeing their customers find additional performance and following their lead.
talking to Emile and Ed from Taiko about their research, they found that sympathetic resonance from stacking components became additional noise by a multiple of that resonance. maybe Emile could comment.
aesthetically no doubt stacking looks awesome, like CH Precision does. but i find every piece of electronics i've used benefits from isolation both electromagnetically and mechanically. observe the extreme efforts made with solid billet casework and internal isolation. huge efforts along those lines are found more and more as we go up the food chain.
MSB Select II will sound great when stacked, but it's not optimal. when you have made this level of commitment to the highest level of digital performance you need to finish the deal.