Equipment Rack - How important in the grand scheme of things?


I have a fairly nice system ($25K or so invested) but I am currently using a cheap rack bought off ebay (1/2" glass shelves with plastic cylinders between the shelves). My amp is sitting on a granite slab (left over from kitchen remodel) on carpet. My system is all solid state with no turntable. My rack is sitting on a tile floor over concrete slab. 

I realize that "everything matters" at least a little, but the question is - how important is the quality of the equipment rack compared to other upgrades I could consider? Have those of you that have switched from a cheapo rack to a nice one noticed much improvement (particularly with SS systems and no turntable)?

On a related note, one of my local dealers sells Solid Tech racks. Anyone with experience with these racks?

Thanks,
Jay


128x128jaytor

Showing 1 response by bdp24

1- Buy a rack or two from Sound Anchors (they’ll make it/them with as many shelves as you want).

2- Make of have made shelves using two stiff and dissimilar materials (slate and Baltic/Russian Birch plywood is a good combo), with constrained layer damping ’tween the two. Take a look at Wall Damp by Acoustic Sciences Corp. (the Tube Trap company).

An alternative to those shelves are those offered by Symposium Acoustics. Their design is a foam center with a sheet of stainless steel on either side. Not cheap, but some love them.

3- Use isolation devices of your choosing between each component and the shelf it sits on. Roller bearings, springs, Townshend Audio Seismic Pods, IsoAcoustics GAIA, etc.

You’ll never need to replace the above.