Which Rack Is Better?


I am in the market for an audio rack, and I've narrowed my options down to three: in order of increasing cost, the Atlantis Reference, the Polycrystal, and the Zoethecus Reference. As I see it, the advantages of each are as follows:

1) The Atlantis Reference is very heavy and sturdy, it has a larger space at the bottom for a power amp, all shelves are 3/4-inch MDF and are spike-decoupled, and the price is only around $500.

2) The Polycrystal has anti-resonant shelves, and has adjustable spacing between shelves. It has been very well reviewed, and costs a lot more money.

3) The Zoethecus has the anti-resonant z-slab shelves, is superior aesthetically to the Polycrystal, and is even more expensive. I would need to special-order it, unless I could find one with a larger space at the bottom on Audiogon.

I believe that my system (Denon 1650AR/Bryston BP-20/Aragon 8008BB/Thiel 3.6/Pro-SilwayII/Oval9) is good enough that I would hear any significant sonic differences between the racks.

Which of these racks would be the better choice, i.e., would there be enough of an improvement over the Atlantis Reference to justify the higher cost?

Thanks for your input.

Alan
a_hayman
Drubin: I mentioned to John @ Studio Tech that the upturned spike design feature (for all of the shelves) is what most of us are now looking for in equipment racks as it opens up the possibilities quite a bit. Perhaps if you reiterate this to him he will consider coming out with a "new" design using this feature. I also pointed that one piece frames are also desirable, but of course are more expensive to warehouse and ship. I doubt if I would have had a problem though with the stock rack, though, as is was very solid, but decided to follow the Neuance formula and welded it into a one piece unit. I also mentioned to John that the hook on the PA series was the "price" as it had the features (upturned adjustable spikes for each shelf) that I needed at way less that what the competition charged for the one piece units equipped with such.
PS: The savings literally allowed me to update two of the "key" stock shelves with Neuance shelves and it sounds much better than my old setup.
Dekay: thanks for all of this. Would the rosewood finish be just on the shevles, or is it the posts also? Because if it's just on the shelves and I went Neuance on all the shelves, the rosewood wouldn't matter.
I seem to recall from the Audio Advisor photos that the finish was just on the shelves, though I would double check with John as to this. I originally tried my player on one of the stock shelves and it sounded better than my previous setup (heavy cabinet/Pods/Maple/cones). The Neuance though was even better. I just set up the DAC and power conditioners on the lower two shelves (which are stock) and could again hear an improvement over the pods/Maple/cones that I had on these before. I will have to mess around with the stock shelves and different footers some more. I have a pretty basic system, but if I went back now I would purchase the 6 shelf model which would cover more bases in the future.