How important is a good rack?

Thanks Dougdeacon, that's helpful; I can certainly see why racking matters for turntables.

I'd be very interested to hear accounts of people doing serious ABs comparing a "merely competent" rack (say like my homebrew rod and block) with a SOTA rack, say like a Finite Elemente, which costs 10 times more.

What I was wondering about whether investment in racking yields cost commensurate improvements comparable to other elements in the chain, once the fairly modest "threshold" I suggest has been reached. My speculation is that for many of us, the money might be more noticeably placed elsewhere.

Best,

John

While the theory that a component such as a turntable is better low rather than high, the top shelf is probably easier to play records.
To solve this issue, I simply "attached" the top of my rack to wall studs. I can't budge my rack in any direction no matter how hard I try.
I'm sure many can be done in a somewhat similar way if you just give it some thought.

I am going to put my table on a wall shelf and amp and dac on butcher blocks on the floor, just get rid of rack all together.

Very good and effective plan.

"So Mapman what your saying is if your turntable is on the top shelf the closer it is to the ground helps with vibration?"

Yes. Lower for turntable is easiest to provide the desired solid foundation. The higher up the harder it is.

The thing is with a vertical rack the turntable usually goes on top for easy access. That's the worst place though in terms of managing vibrations that can affect performance.

If you can put the table on a low solid platform, bench table, whatever separate from teh rest, that is a cheap easy and effective solution, if you have room for it.