How to keep ic's and power cords from touching

Go to hardware store & get small diameter pipe insulation. You can cut small lengths w/scissors & slip over cable where touching. Doesn't add any weight. I use a combination of misc. pieces of foam to separate cables.

To keep cables off the floor, I use small terra cotta pots w/a piece of self adhesive foam on top.

Cable elevators sold by audio companies are just bullshit, keep your money for records and just use any piece of foam or wood you will find.
My 2cts.

Personally, my experiences with elevating cables have been two-fold:

If you are not careful in elevating the cables correctly, there is a chance of increasing the potential anomalies that could arise from introducing interference. What I mean by this is that depending on your flooring, you have to choose the correct material that the elevators are made of. Ceramic based elevators work the best with wood flooring due to the differences in resonant frequencies. Do not use wood-on-wood elevators. I have found that any microphonics that the cable is picking up will undoubtedly be increase. That’s a big no-no.

If using carpeting, my preference would be some form of open cell foam elevators. The lightweight nature of the foam will allow for further decoupling from the floor and aid in rejecting vibration that could and will induce microphonics into the cable. Personally, I use neither. I tend to twist-tie all the cables together, as tight as possible. This adds mass to the overall cable ensemble, which in my specific case, further anchors my components to their respected platforms, and keeps any and all possible vibrations from entering the system. Of course, my entire rack is suspended in mid air, from the ceiling. Good luck in your endeavors. Cheers

OMG...Trendy,
You just broke the most sacred law in high-end-audio-forum-thread-response-remarks. You definitively stated your opinion about a product without trying to appeal to the majority who participate in the art of audiophile voodoo. I foresee that you just eliminated yourself from having a "non-threatening" je ne sais qua persona that many of us here try to hold on to. You undoubtedly will be on your own now.

CONGRATULATIONS! :)~

Just take a thin flat sheet of plywood and screw j-hooks into it and loop the slack through them. It's cheap and it works.

Small blocks made from hard wood work great. Dialing in a system, it's all in the details :)

I put them in different chairs and tell them the next one that touches the other gets a time out.

sorry I could refuse ;-)

Pierre would have a heart attack if he saw mine; the first thing he always does is to make sure the your cables are properly aligned. Personally, I have given up ; if you attempt to put 4 amps , a preamp,a separate phono stage, a SUT , 2 DACs, 2 transports, 1 or 2 tables , a speed control box, and God knows what else in close proximity and change it around quite often the best you can hope for is no hum. I do artistically drape the speaker wires around the stand and subs so it doesn't hit the floor, the rest falls into the "life is too short" category.

Agree with Stanwal.

I have a clusterfu** of cables in 3 listening rooms and no hum to show for it.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Kite String, velcro, zip ties.

I like the pipe coverings idea and the CC foam for lifting cables from the floor. Now that one I'll try despite the fact the wires will bitch about laying on a lumpy surface rather than a smooth one.

I've seen velcro strips online with adjustable rings thru which one can trace cables up.

Usually though, I resort to string or zip ties on my six shelf rack. On the cheaper Wally world rack I just use tape and self adhesive conduit I cut to fit. That one holds all the cheap stuff though escept for a couple items.

True too... there is only so much you can do when a big rack is filled up. you can't put just anything anywhere on mine either. I ran out of room real fast.

Addi in the fact not all the power inlets on components are on the same side and likewise the signal connections, and it can be a mess back there. Especially if you run SE vs. XLR.

More importantly I'm now run out of dedicated ckt/outlets. Amazing.

Pipe insulation. Hmmm. Good.

Thanks everyone for sharing their tips and experince... This has been most helpful. I plan on purchasing some pipe foam insulation today and giving that a try.

One more thing to add, I also have most of my components on one large rack/stand/thing. The back of the rack/stand/thing has a purposefully cluster#$@% arrangement of both interconnects and power cables. Every interconnect is zip tied to a power cord running alongside. Why you may ask? Well, as you may have heard (mainly from my big mouth), I make interconnects. This is how I test for interference rejection. And honestly, don’t let anyone fool you by stating that its easy to have pollution from power cords, inferior IC shielding and the like. You would have to have a completely unusual/unrealistic scenario to be effected in this way. Most hum/buzz issues arise from almost every other issue than pollution through cords. My phono cable from tonearm to phono pre is completely surrounded by 3 power cords feeding my amps. Zyx .24mv cartridge, ~65db MC output from phono pres. DEAD SILENT. Cheers.

Plastic spark plug seperators. You can get them at most auto stores.

Aptquark's post immediately above makes a very good point, as confirmed by this excellent paper written by a noted authority:

http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/an004.pdf

Regards,
-- Al

I agree that cable risers are a " myth". Get the pipe insulation tubes at Home depot. Cut them up acordingly to your liking ( 2" to 4" lenght) then insert your ICs thru the splits on the side of the tube. Nice looking and dirt cheap.