AV Racks. What difference does it make?

I hear Gunbei, all these little things that supposedly make a difference do seem far out. Just keep an open mind and observe the sonic effect of these quirky variables before fighting for a rationalization.

To add to the list of vibration effects including the ones I mentioned above, vibration produces microphonics in susceptible devices (wires, tubes) and also produces chassis ring if the chassis is flimsy. These effects manage to superimpose on the audio signal.

A High End audio system does not sound wonderful because it has "magical" speakers, the best tubed amps money can buy, or super expensive interconnects. Every small tweak from positioning and balancing the speakers, using special wall outlets, dedicated lines, room acoustic treatments, cleaning the stylus, using record clamps, cleaning the RCA jacks, isolating the componets on the shelves, using a rack that is not prone to transmit vibrations, etc. all add up to let your system perform to its best ability. The old phrase, "THE SUM IS EQUALL TO ALL OF ITS PARTS" applys very well to our hobby of reproducing music in our homes. The system sounds so real and natural because of all of the small things required to eliminate the negative aspects of the very componets we spend big money on to listen to music. For years, I had a solid wood rack with glass doors made by CWD. It retailed for about $700 dollars. I replaced it with 2 Sound Organisation racks, Z-560, Z-545. My entire system was transformed into a more solid, open sound. It can't explain why this occured, but is was worth the effort to switch racks.

Edartford, regarding TWL's posting, I believe it was you who used the word 'rediculous' for those believing anything other than what you believe in this regard.

Although I may have chosen different wording, I think TWL made some excellent points in every respect.

Prlscs also makes an excellent all-encompassing observation about the sum being greater than it's parts and is right on the money IMO. Even though I disagree with his chosen methodology for the handling of vibrations and resonance.

-IMO

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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