Equiptment racks

[admin_exported]

hi guys

do equiptment racks make a vast difference to a system if so would it be possibal to make your own out of mdf and install a floating shelf of some sort using a 6mm glass shelf set on top of the wooden shelf with some sort of rubber between them to isolate them?

 

[Anonymous]

u could do that but i recon ull get better build quality and sounds improvements from a rack u get in a shop dont need to spend much mine was £100 from richer sound and it did make a diference

 

[Thaiman]

Even butcher blocks make a lot of different to the sound so dedicate hifi rack is a must!

 

[Anonymous]

I was lookin on richer sounds web site and they have a gale vetro for 120 quid or a pixel pxhs30 for 150 quid or would my money be spent better else were any views would be gratefully received

 

[Thaiman]

If you have a branch near you, an offer of £100 would be very reasonable as I think that is the same model as audio innovation rack which worth £100!

 

[Anonymous]

do you think 100 pounds is enough to spend on a rack or would i be better of waiting a week or two and going for the likes of an atacama equinox it is to house an av amp, integrated amp, cd player and turntable

 

[Anonymous]

I,m going to go against the grain here,as say it doesn't make any sonic difference.Kit should definitely be isolated or decoupled,kit should be isolated to let the kit dissipate heat ,and to stop it picking up interference.a good rack will do these things and allow kit to give it best.

A turntable will benefit immensely,so do speakers,but SS electronics are fine on anything as long as they do as I sated above.IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Silly to some extent

I think that you equipment rack should be one of the last things you upgrade. If you have a cheap system, theres little point spending good money on an expensive rack. Sure make one out of MDF.

If you have a really good turntable or CD player then a rack will certainly make the difference. Even more if you turn your music up loud!

Remember, the vibrations the speakers make interfere with the sound source so if its up loud, you will get your CD player jumping up and down! - Of course rubber feet, or cork etc will help, but its still going to be a problem. Ideally the CD player would be in another room on its own! - but then you have the problems with the length of the interconnects from CD to amplifier etc...

Basically get your system right first, then worry about what its standing on.

 

[Anonymous]

i have the gale vetro but it was £100 from richer sound i use it for my cambridge audio sistem its fine does its job and looks good too

 

[Thaiman]

Silly.....

So your cd player and amp are sitting on the carpet (or wooden floor) then? The sonic improvment is may not be that great but a good cd player does benefit from siiting on a dedicate stand or a butcher block! and for just £100! C'mon silly, don't be silly!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Thaiman,

Nooo,they are not sitting on the floor.Nor are they sitting on top of each other for the reason I gave in my previous response,they are sitting on a sort of Ikea looking piece of furniture,with air around them,and isolated...job done for me.I would rather spend the money on room acoustics as that is where I hear my problems,and no rack will cure that,but if I was to chose a dedicated rack,it would be made of Acrylic,glass would be the last support I would chose.

 

[Thaiman]

Now you really confuse stormheader! Room correction er....Are you a wammer then?

 

[Anonymous]

What's a wammer?

 

[Anonymous]

Surely, the main answer is to have a rack that's

[*]
heavy (so it doesn't move)
[*]
Flat surfaced
[*]
level.

 

[Thaiman]

Sorry mate, don't worry about it.

As a room correction is concern, the whole project is very expensive + complicated. So I cheated and bought a "Behringer ULTRACURVE PRO DEQ2496"
The build in DAC is not very good but the room correction fuction is excellent.

 

[Anonymous]

Not always,look at for example the Quadraspire refrence rack,it wobbles?so do some of the isolation supports on the market, (Symposium)there is more than one way to skin a cat

 

[Anonymous]

Room acoustic needn't be expensive,you can find many ideas and solutions looking on the net,from bass traps,to broadband absorption,to Helmholtz resonators,OK,they can be unsightly in your room,but they treat the room,modes,nodes,etc,a Behringer,just treats the freq response where you place the microphone,it's just a plaster for me,it doesn't cure room modes,nodes,etc,it just changes the freq response at measuring point.

 

[Thaiman]

Silly, any link about room accoustic correction or any advise would be very welcome.

I only use the Behringer in digital domain only. The digi out from transport to Behringer and digi out to DAC so the whole process is done without any lost of quality of the signal. Read here if you have time. I was very sceptic (as always) at first but it prove me wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for all your opinions guys i have a day off tomorrow i might get a chance to go shopping and see what options are available to me

 

[Anonymous]

Thaiman,

It's best to type in room acoustic,or bass traps into google and read what it turns up,just to get the basic ideas it is trying to put across before you get into the science and maths of it all,I'm glad the Behringer is working for you.

 

[Miker]

I also was going to start a thread on this. I am thinking of siting my replacement Cyrus CD and amp, phono stage and Linn LP12 TT side-by-side on a GPlan sideboard which in turn is on a Wilton carpet. Should I put anything between the wooden surface and the hihi equipment?

 

[Anonymous]

I must completely disagree with anyone who says a rack is a waste of money. I heard the difference after putting my kit on my Soundstyle, and what I heard was exactly what the reviewers had commented on.

 

[Anonymous]

If you want to make your own rack you could do a lot worse than look at these three:

TNT-Audio Flexy Table

Humble Homemade Hifi Flexy Table Plus

Humble Homemade Hifi Flexy Table Reference

I must get around to trying one of them soon!

 

[Anonymous]

The TNT racks look great,especially the acrylic one.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks jaykay70 those links have given me some fantastic ideas i am on my way to local builders yard to see what i can get