Hold on to your hi-fi hats, we’re about to delve once again into the exciting world of hi-fi furniture! On today’s menu we have the rare and somewhat limited concept of the wall shelf – something we think might be about to take off in a big big way. Why? Well, because of this…
That right there is the rather special Audio Suspension ASU 100 Wall Shelf. Quite simply, it’s a wall bracket designed for keeping your hi-fi gear high up and out of harms way. It can be used for anything and is particularly well suited to all-in-systems like the Naim Uniti 2, but is most commonly used with turntables, as you can see. But there’s more to this shelf than simply ‘somewhere to put my turntable’, as you will see…
With wall shelves, what you see is usually what you get. However, This model departs from the traditional design. Most are made out of either wood or metal and have a perpendicular back plate, but the ASU 100 is far more stylish with an acrylic platter and suspending metal cables that go from the shelf to the back wall… hence the term Audio Suspension!
While it departs from the more traditional wall shelf, it is still very effective. The clear acrylic means it will go with pretty much anything, blending into its background quite effectively. No matter what the rest of your furniture looks like, this will match it nicely. And if you want it to stand out a bit more, there’s also a special edition version which lights up with LEDs! We only make 15 other wall brackets from the likes of Quadraspire and Hifi Racks, and the most popular so far being the Apollo WT1 Se – but this one could be a game changer.
What’s worth remembering is brackets are more than just a convenient way to keep your turntable out of reach of small, clumsy hands (although that’s definitely a bonus!) even though racks do offer a level of isolation for fragile analogue signals, wall shelves and brackets are even better at keeping the signal as pure as possible. And a better signal, means better sound!
It really does sound good too, which is another argument for the use of acrylic. Acrylic is beoming an increasingly popular choice for the platters of turntables in general, and that’s because it promotes a nice, mellow and natural sound over that say of metal, which can add a little brightness at times. So it only makes sense that the furniture starts making notes!
In a nutshell, it looks good (and will look good anywhere too!) and it will make your turntable perform better, all the while being kept safely away from small hands. And if you like that kind of thing, you can make it light up. If you’re sold (and you should be!) take a closer look a the full specs by clicking here.