[Karnaaj]

Looking to get an audio rack pretty soon to replace the cheapy I got at Best Buy over 10 years ago.  Was thinking about an Atlantic 5 shelf stand but could use other ideas.  Not really looking for any DIY stuff right now.  Also, what are some good online stores for such gear? TIA

[The Killer Piglet]

I've been looking around recently; here are some product sites.

http://adonacorporation.com/

http://www.soundorganisation.net

http://www.soundanchors.com/page36.html

http://www.zoethecus.com/

http://www.symposiumusa.com/products.shtml

http://www.billybags.com/productsfr.html

http://www.grandprixaudio.com/idx_products.htm

KP

[zybar]

Looking to get an audio rack pretty soon to replace the cheapy I got at Best Buy over 10 years ago.  Was thinking about an Atlantic 5 shelf stand but could use other ideas.  Not really looking for any DIY stuff right now.  Also, what are some good online stores for such gear? TIA

Check out www.timbernation.com

Great work at a very good price.

George

[JLM]

Equipment racks fit into basically three classifications:

Relatively cheap (looks like a rack, no real audible improvements designed into them, same design used for A/V systems)

Audiophile racks (higher quality, more expensive, marketing references made to increased mass and rigidity)

Integrated isolation "systems" (isolation platforms are built into the rack)


Performance principles pertaining to equipment racks:

Increase mass and rigidity to lower the resonant frequency (below speaker output and where it takes much more energy to excite vibrations).  Note that this applies to the component as well as the entire rack/component assembly.

Isolate each component from airborne, self-induced, and floor based vibrations.

Here's a good starting point for explanations of the underlaying theories by one of the grandfathers of the business:  http://www.brightstaraudio.com/

[woodsyi]

I got a modular 45 rack with 3 shelves from Adona when they were just starting up and selling them on E-Bay.  Since then I have added 2 more posts and 5 more shelves to make it a double width, 8 shelf rack.  They are really solid and a great value.  You can adjust each shelf to any height and level each independently.  With particleboard/cork base and a 1/2" thick granite for each shelf that sits on 4 leveling screws damped with rubber stoppers it has great isolation features.  The whole rack also stands on leveling metal cones.  Paul was always a pleasure to deal with and he can cut the posts to make them any height you want.  I think he is selling his stuff throug Audiogon now.  I got in early and got a great deal,  but I think it's still a great buy at the current price.

[cryotweaks]

I second the timbernation.com product.  I purchased an heirloom quality audio rack made of solid cherry.  Shelves are 2 inches thick, total weight is 200 pounds.  It does more than look nice in my home.  The additional mass of the rack reduces the transmission of vibrations to my components.



You can see more pictures of the rack at the link below.

http://www.cryotweaks.com/RefSys.shtml

Regards,

Mike

[JazzCat]

Dumb question - is there something really sonically special about using maple wood? Or can the heavy wooden plinths that reside under our equipment be made of some other wood, such as birch?  I found a good, cheap source for 2"-thick plinths made from birch and was wondering if I should bother.  Is there that much of a difference?

[PhilNYC]

Jazzcat,

I've not tried other types of wood, but yes, there is supposedly something special about maple that apparently particularly good to use with audio gear.  Something about its particular resonant frequency.  The folks at Mapleshade have reportedly named their company after trying a lot of different types of wood.

I used to use maple cutting boards from John Boos under my gear and was happy with the results.  Later, I got a massive rack from Billy Bags (www.billybags.com) and have taken all the maple out (I still use a variety of different cones).  To my ears, the maple proved to be far better than the old Ikea particle-board stand I used to have, but while I could tell differences between the Billy Bags stand with/without the maple boards, it wasn't clearly better with the boards...just different.

Phil

btw - fwiw, I once tried using maple blocks underneath my speakers, and I found that it colored the midrange far too much...

[JLM]

Some on-line rack vendors:

http://timbernation.com/ampstand_PopUp.cfm (big heavy wooden racks)

http://www.brightstaraudio.com/  (one of the grandfathers in the business that seems to have the theory all together)

http://www.gingkoaudio.com/index.html  (uses rubber balls and acrylic shelves)

http://www.pandathumbaudio.com/  (inexpensive pliable feet, Gary posts here often)

http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/index.php  (purist recordings, lots of accessories, including monster maple versions of the TNT DIY flexy-rack)

http://michaelgreenaudio.com/  (big into "tuning", sells rack systems that clamp components)

http://www.neuanceaudio.com/index.html  (sells well respected shelf replacements)

http://www.polycrystal.com/pc-mainframe.htm (sells solid surface like shelves)

http://www.silentrunningaudio.com/home.htm  (the stealth based supports)

http://www.vibrapod.com/index.html  (one of the original inexpensive pliable feet products)

http://www.audioadvisor.com/  (offers a wide variety of products)


Don't know your budget, but these products range in price from under $10 for a set of feet to thousands for a rack with built-in isolation features.


Personally I look for these features:

Quality of construction (at the price audionuts pay it better be well built)

Price (keep it in line with the cost of the rest of your system)

Flexibility (as you said, it could be with you a long time, so it'd better be adaptable)

Appearance (you gonna be looking at it, a lot)

High mass/rigid design to lower resonance (in the rack components and to load/couple each piece of equipment, few seem to account for this)

Provide for dampening of vertical movement (bouncy floors, few seem to account for this)

Use of a combination of different materials to cancel resonances

Relatively spread out support frame for better stability

Dampen self induced vibrations (such as turntable or CD motors, few seem to account for this)

Account for very small components (such as DAC's or pre-amps, few seem to account for this)

Avoid rollers as they cannot provide lateral stability (I've heard a couple of these products briefly and couldn't hear a real difference, and they're a PITA especially for turntables or CD players with heavy cables)


Summation:

I'm assembling a new system (with a budget in the neighborhood of  $4,000) and feel that 20% is too much of the overall budget to allocate to equipment support/isolation.  Based on the features I'm looking for I'll probably go with a simple, attractive, and well built rack and add pliable feet.

[Tonto Yoder]

Dumb question - is there something really sonically special about using maple wood?.......

I was trying to think of exceptions to the Rule of Maple.  Two I came up with are Russ Andrews' Torlyte
which is a wood composite (he also advocates OAK as equipment feet).
Cardas promotes myrtle for equipment feet, but I've never heard of it being used on a grand scale--i.e. a whole platform or rack.

[hmen]

Here's a good vendor

https://www.sanus.com/

[jermmd]

Check out Audioadvisor.com. Great selection, great prices and great company.  Timbernation is nice too but business is so good it will take 6 to 8 weeks for delivery and it's not cheap.  Timbernation is high quality furniture that will last forever.

Joe M.

[JazzCat]

I hate to say it, but a cursory glance at some of those links provided above yielded an assortment of some really boring, unexciting, and ugly stands to put our cool-looking equipment on.  In fact most of it shows a real dearth of imagination, creativity, and excitement, design-wise - just plain dull IMO.  Is there a link to anyone who makes audio furniture as cool as the gear that sits upon it?  Like modern, perhaps.  At least the TimberNation stuff is inoffensive looking.  I just do not see any reason for this.

[Val]

I also recommend Sanus racks, EFAB II and EFAV II, filling them with shot and then using individual coupling/decoupling. What I specially like about Sanus stands is the possibility of keeping them short and wide, even if that means I have to kneel down to change a CD! The reason is that placing a tall rack between the speakers, as lots of people do, or worse, the picture above of that huge rack right beside a speaker, which itself is right against a room corner are basic no-nos for soundstaging and imaging (and flat bass). I can't understand spending lots of dough on a speaker and then shortchanging it during placement, but that's me.

Val

[dado5]

For best price/quality/appearance, I would recommend you contact local cabinetmakers in your area and work out a custom design.  Depending on how big and/or ornate you want the rack, you should be able to undercut any upscale dedicated audio manufacturer and have a much more visually pleasing result.

Personally, I don't get the glass/steel thing that is so common in AV furniture. Wood is the way to go IMO, for both form and function.

Good luck,
Rob

[Tonto Yoder]

I hate to say it, but a cursory glance at some of those links provided above yielded an assortment of some really boring, unexciting, and ugly stands........

Finite Elemente makes great-looking stands.

pARTicular stands
could be considered works of Modern art.  As I remember, they're quite expensive (but NOT boring).

[bubba966]

I'm using Boltz stuff if it's not something I built myself.

Looks much better in person than it does in their pics.

[JLM]

I agree, with the simple boring stuff that's already overpriced and Tonto Yoder's suggestions coming in 5 times my entire audio budget!

This looks like a wide open opprotunity for someone to start their own business, rescue all of us with a decent audiophile oriented rack at a reasonable price, and still make a pretty penny.

[ohenry]

Salamander makes some pretty good mid-priced stuff.  I recently bought some audio/video stands to please the better half and it is well made and works better than I thought it would.  It's pretty heavy. solid and expandable/accessorizable.  But if it were entirely up to me, I'd spend the cash on a more open design that's more friendly to stiff cables, etc.  I got mine at audio advisor.

[orthobiz]

Check out quadraspire.com.

Flexible, not the most expensive out there, and have a great look. I have matched the wood finish on my modular desk that also has black circular legs and my new LP rack from amusicdirect.com.

Bought them from my local (200 miles away) retailer who shipped them to me. They have curved surfaces and are beautiful. And, like a recent post I read, they don't have a sealed back (so you can get to the cords easily).

biz