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Rack recommendations

In addition to Jem’s advice above (and I’m a bit of a bore on this subject) let me suggest that the best rack might be no rack or a smaller rack.

It costs nothing to experiment with resting amps or sources on alternative pieces of furniture. I have had a monster NVA power amp on a sideboard with everything else in a rack (the phono and phono psu being kept as far apart as possible). This phono/amp combo is currently in storage and I’m listening to a Pioneer A-9 which was top of the range in its day with a matching tuner and a PL71. All are on top of the sideboard and I’ve no complaints about the music.

So try something different; it might save you a lot of money !
 
I have moved away from using a rack. Turntables are now mounted on an MDF shelf that has runners underneath, themselves on a substantial MDF cabinet, part of a full wall of shelves and cupboards.

The pull forward shelf allows me to drop spare cable lengths down the back and out of view. With one turntable I had the amp also on this shelf - the cable gap at the back was most useful and pulling the shelf forward made accessing the wiring mess accessible.

Not heard anything detrimental yet...
 
In addition to Jem’s advice above (and I’m a bit of a bore on this subject) let me suggest that the best rack might be no rack or a smaller rack.
I certainly support this approach. You can stand the stuff on anything, in practice. I have made a hifi rack from Ikea shelving that I have cut and shut to fit, it looks nice and sounds as good as anything else I have heard. Most components can be put in a ventilated cupboard, I remember doing this for my folks, I moved it all into the bottom of a china cabinet. It got hot in use, I was mildly concerned until I realised that the heat was from the lighting in the china cabinet. Without that it was perfectly cool, there was enough leakage through the doors to ventilate the area.
 
Clearlight Audio Aspekt RDC rack.
Nice looking, three point design, clever vibe absorbing materials that really do work.

Got mine used for £250

Bargain
 
An Ikea Lack hack is an option I’ve considered and there is a theory that the honeycomb structure channels away the vibrations. Would be interesting to see some proper scientific analysis applied to that theory.
 
An Ikea Lack hack is an option I’ve considered and there is a theory that the honeycomb structure channels away the vibrations. Would be interesting to see some proper scientific analysis applied to that theory.
None needed. It's a composite. Composites absorb vibration. Cardboard is really good at this. Test this by sealing a transistor radio, running, in a cardboard box. Put that box in another box, tape it up. Carry on. You won't need too many boxes to soak up a lot of sound vibrations.

Metal doesn't absorb vibrations. Hit a piece of metal with a hammer, listen to it ring. Now hit a pile of cardboard.
 
Maybe it's not quite as simple as that? MDF is a composite, and is certainly widely used. IME, doesn't sound particularly good though.
 
No, I think Steve has oversimplified things, given a Hifi equipment support needs to be a rigid structure in order to hold a platform level ( though this could be suspended or have compliant mounts) if it's made out of metal, wood, wood composites, paper, glass, acrylic, etc they all will make a sound when hit with a hammer and probably all have a measurable resonant frequency, whether this matters or not when supporting electronics is probably a subject for debate. It certainly matters when supporting different types of turntables and speakers.
 
Thanks Graystoke, although as an ERB fan I have to tell you that you have spelled your name incorrectly ;). (Some people will know what I’m talking about.). Now you must excuse me, I have to get back to the Red Planet . . .
 
No, I think Steve has oversimplified things, given a Hifi equipment support needs to be a rigid structure in order to hold a platform level ( though this could be suspended or have compliant mounts) if it's made out of metal, wood, wood composites, paper, glass, acrylic, etc they all will make a sound when hit with a hammer and probably all have a measurable resonant frequency, whether this matters or not when supporting electronics is probably a subject for debate. It certainly matters when supporting different types of turntables and speakers.
As someone alluded to earlier, I think we are concerned with 2 sources of vibration; external getting into your equipment and the vibrations created inside the equipment that needs dissipating. Personally I think the latter is the major concern but unlike the earlier poster I think all electronic devices / speakers suffer from this to a lesser or greater degree. So that leads me to think that ideally you need a system for dissipating those vibrations. That’s why Visco-elastic materials like Sorbothane work because they turn vibrational energy into heat. I’m not sure of the precise mechanics of springs but they clearly absorb vibrations, perhaps by turning them into kinetic energy (small movements in the coils)?
 
iu
 
Ive got a quadraspire rack that I don’t use anymore pm if your interested and I’ll send some pics if you leave a email address,
 


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