AV Racks. What difference does it make?

Viggen: That "naked baby pictures" was a great analogy i.e. it made me chuckle out loud : )

Gunbei: Shame on you : )

I would LOVE to have enough time to sit down and actually measure / chart / document "vibrations" using various types of racks / footers / treatments, etc... using an accelerometer. I bet it would be a VERY interesting and enlightening experience. Sean
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I used to think that one would want the heaviest, most rigid rack possible and then i bought one just like that. Each shelf weighed almost 25 lbs by itself and the entire rack fully assembled was 150+ lbs. I sold it a few months later as my system sounded like absolute crap.

Quite honestly, I could not believe how much something as simple as a "rack" could change the sonics of a system. This was not my imagination either as my Brother came by and thought my system sounded terrible too. I went back to using the 28 pound homebrew all wood rack that i had previously built and the sound was back to normal i.e. MUCH better. I have since changed racks again using a different design approach and it seems to be the best that i've had so far.

My current rack uses a metal structure with wooden shelves. I would like to use an all wood rack, but i can't do that and achieve the versatility that i like. As such, it is kind of a trade-off that i'm willing to live with.

To sum it up, I would not have believed that a rack could have made a sonic difference, let alone a DRASTIC sonic difference, the way that my first expensive "Audiophile approved" rack did. Those results were NOT "good", so don't think that more expensive is better. I would take a lightweight all wood rack over a heavy metal based rack ANY day of the week. Sean
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Slappy: I think that you'll find that there are MANY schools of thought as to what makes for a "great rack" ( oooh boy.... ), but there is no single ideology that covers every aspect perfectly. That is why there is such a vast market of products available in terms of racks, isolation, damping, absorption, coupling, etc... I think that this is something that people have to learn / experiment with on their own and learn from that i.e. the hard way. It seems to be about the only way that people "open their minds" when dealing with controversial subjects like this.

Unfortunately, this can be both expensive and time consuming, so try and learn as much as you can from others and be selective about what you spend your money / concentrate your efforts on. There are quite a few excellent suggestions in various threads here on Agon and at AA made by people that have spent the time and money to learn the hard way. Let their experiences work for you and i think that you'll find that you are both happier and not quite as poor as others that aren't quite as open to suggestion. Sean
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