No equipment rack between speakers

andycsb · « **on:** 1 Apr 2016, 11:54 am »

Hi Guys,

Seeking feedback from forumers who have relocated their equipment rack from between speakers to sidewalls. My rack is a wooden 2 shelfer...4 feet long. Speakers are monopole 2.5 way MTM slimish floorstanders 6.5 feet apart. Positioned almost a foot in front of rack. Front baffle approx 36 inches from front wall. Distance from each side wall approx 20 inches measured from middle of speaker.

I suspect it would affect (hopefully improve) staging and imaging but would like to know if there was any effect on bass, mids, Hf, density and size of instrument image (scale?). I would have to get longer speaker cables; an extra expense that i would like to avoid if relocation of rack would be a marginal improvement at best.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 12:01 pm »

You are correct, mainly in dipole speakers as planars and direct fullranges.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 05:29 pm »

Supposedly it's imaging and soundstage that are affected. I'm facing the exact same question as I'll be setting up a dedicated listening room this week and would also need new speaker cables to make it work with the rack on the side walls. Also could put the rack on the back wall next to the main listening chair which would be very convenient as well as helping out with that imaging issue. The reviews of my new (to me) speakers encourage installation without anything between the speakers. I thinkI'll try it with the rack between and behind the speakers as you described and see how it sounds before investing in new cables.

stereocilia · « **Reply #3 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 07:53 pm »

I've tried it both ways, and I prefer the sound without the equipment between the speakers, but I don't have space to recess the equipment at all. I just got some cheap zip cord to do the experiment first.

timind · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 08:08 pm »

I recently moved my equipment rack off to the side, but kept the amp between the speakers on an Aurelex SubDude. My equipment rack is very small by most standards so it probably had minimal effect on sound. I do like the way it looks now though.

undertow · « **Reply #5 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 08:14 pm »

It can come down to many factors not just the fact the rack is between them. Sometimes it will make little to no difference. The room acoustics themselves will play a bigger role, and also help or hurt the equation of whether a rack inside or out will be more optimal.

Most people are restricted to location simply due to factors like:

cable lengths
space
wall setup
door ways etc...

You just gotta make the best out of the scenario you can.

I will say this if you need to have a rack in the middle it's not the end of the world, and not necessarily a bad thing if you can keep it really short, basically some will get 2 shelf shorter racks, and this help keeps everything closer to the floor in general by putting stuff side by side instead of a straight up, and down in a tower of power.

The other big problem with gear in general is isolation. If your speakers are producing a lot of vibration transfer into your rack you will have issues anyway so just do the best you can to isolate.

Obviously turntables, and tube gear are even more affected by airborne, and structural vibration. But as for image smearing or any direct physical acoustic issues having gear in the middle, honestly a rack is fine if you can do the more modern "Low stealth" designs without a 3 or 4 ft tall tower of components hanging out right between the speakers.

twitch54 · « **Reply #6 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 08:34 pm »

in agreement with all of the above .......

JLM · « **Reply #7 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 09:59 pm »

I replaced a small rack with a single shelf spiked to the floor between the speakers and about 3 feet from the front wall. Note that my system is quite small and simple, and located in a dedicated room.

Yes, the soundstage now fills in the space left by the rack.

ACHiPo · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 Apr 2016, 11:28 pm »

Losing the rack between speakers has a big impact on imaging. No real impact on tonal balance (in my experience). If you've already positioned the speakers for optimum tonal balance, you'll be amazed at what moving the rack will do for the 3 dimensionality.

gregfisk · « **Reply #9 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 02:40 am »

Quote from: ACHiPo on 1 Apr 2016, 11:28 pm

Losing the rack between speakers has a big impact on imaging. No real impact on tonal balance (in my experience). If you've already positioned the speakers for optimum tonal balance, you'll be amazed at what moving the rack will do for the 3 dimensionality.

I couldn't agree with this more, I moved the rack to the side wall and it made a huge difference. The main thing I noticed was the sound stage is now the entire front wall, not just each side of the wall. The music blends together much better now and the sound stage is much larger.

I have another system at a small beach house, sounds like similar style speakers to the OP. I have a small dining room table between the speakers, they are out about 3 feet from the front wall. The only thing I can say is a good thing is that stereo separation sure is good

zybar · « **Reply #10 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 11:13 am »

Besides the sonic benefits already mentioned, I think the "cleaner" look is better.

My rack is off the right of where I took the picture below.

That said, I am going to try putting a few more pieces on the ground (no rack) behind and between the speakers.

This will allow me to go from using 25' of xlr between my preamp and amp to just a few feet. Besides reducing the length, I can use a different xlr that in theory will sound better.

George

Syrah · « **Reply #11 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 02:23 pm »

The only problem with the rack on the sides is cable length. I did this with long run RCAs to mono blocks next to the speakers. The RCA runs were too long and led to audible humming from RFI/EMI, even with well shielded cables.

My rack is still on the side, now with the mono blocks next to the rack. But now I have very long speaker cable runs, which also compromises audio, not to mention the cost of cabling. So keep that in mind too.

If you have balanced XLR interconnects, it's a whole other game.

andycsb · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 04:53 pm »

Thanks Everyone for all the input. Really appreciate it! Yeah...I always liked the "neater" look of not having anything in between the speakers. Besides probable improvement in staging and imaging, I am hoping for meatier/3d bass and lower mids. It could be a visual thing, but having the rack there is quite distracting, for me.

I will probably have to run long speaker cables. Between 15 to 18 feet with 14 gauge for now. Anyone running long speaker cables? Your thoughts?

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #13 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 05:03 pm »

Of course the shortest cables are better for quality and for the pocket.

undertow · « **Reply #14 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 05:18 pm »

Shorter speaker cables are better... 6 ft to 8 ft are best. However, longer interconnects are fine up to around 15 to 18 ft on RCA as long as they are shielded... If you have XLR length won't really matter up to 50 ft. It would be best to put an amp on amp stand in the middle of speakers, and run longer interconnects back to your preamp on the side rack setup.

timind · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 05:36 pm »

Quote from: undertow on 2 Apr 2016, 05:18 pm

Shorter speaker cables are better... 6 ft to 8 ft are best. However, longer interconnects are fine up to around 15 to 18 ft on RCA as long as they are shielded... If you have XLR length won't really matter up to 50 ft. It would be best to put an amp on amp stand in the middle of speakers, and run longer interconnects back to your preamp on the side rack setup.

That's what I did. Depending on the amp I'm using it will be balanced or single ended rca cables. Cables are only 10 ft long.

Syrah · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 05:42 pm »

I had noise in my system with 15ft RCA cables, even trying different shielded cables. I have very long speaker cables now, which seems to work better in my system. It makes high end speaker cables prohibitively expensive though.

rbbert · « **Reply #17 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 06:39 pm »

My experience? Having an "open" rack (not a cabinet) about 30" behind the front plane of the speakers resulted in much better sound than having a rack to the side with the amp on the floor between the speakers. The speaker cables were the same either way, but with the rack to the side I had to use 15' balanced interconnects.

Wayner · « **Reply #18 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 08:09 pm »

I would rather see the rack in between as well. Better there then along the side wall, interfering with the first refection off the wall. Then it would also be asymmetrical first wall reflections at least on one side, hosing up the sound stage.

My 2 cents.

Phil A · « **Reply #19 on:** 2 Apr 2016, 08:28 pm »

I decided to go with a low equipment rack. The rack is about 2 feet tall (and wide) and the speakers are about double that with the (coaxial) midrange/tweeter unit near the top of the speakers.