How important is a good rack?

Keep the reports of careful ABs indicating dramatic differences coming! ;)

John

How important is a good rack?

"Music is good for your ears but bad for the gear that reproduces it. Musically induced vibration physically alters audio equipment. A vibrating printed circuit board flexes all its components to a degree. The result is audible signal distortion. For example, consider what happens if the music you’re playing matches the resonance frequency of a capacitor -- say, a nice V-Cap CuTF like the ones in my Atma-Sphere preamp. The physical oscillation of the Teflon causes small variances in the spatial relation of the capacitor’s copper plate that yield tiny yet measurable differences in its capacitance. A few microns of displacement can result in a small voltage deviation. Compound that effect across all the caps in your system and then amplify it and you have chaos.

Airborne energy does the majority of harm to signal accuracy, but it is not the sole source of problems. Structural elements in your home absorb and transmit energy to each other and anything in contact with them. Wood floors resonate and flex; massive, rigid concrete makes an excellent vibration transmitter. Not only is your system bombarded by air- and floor-borne energy, your components generate and propagate vibration as a byproduct of their own operation: power-supply transformers hum, digital transports whir, turntables turn. All of it contributes to that veil of distortion hanging between the listener and the music."

Read more here at The Audio Beat.
 

I use a low mass stable little table for my turntable just like Linn suggests, and everything else is on a relatively stable (unlike myself) cheap but nice looking rack with a bottom drawer for storing extra tubes and maps of Cuba...I have vibrapods or other sorbethane type feet under everything (not the rack's feet...there's only so much rubber I can take) except the Linn which has its own rubber feet which seem to work fine...no feedback (or feedbag) or footfall issues, and the whole thing makes me seem more interesting than I actually am.

The Audio Beat's review of "The Scuttle" rack states that Silent Running decided it was "time to make an affordable rack" so they pitched the basic model at $6600 upwards.

Some vendors have a skewed understanding of the word "affordable"....

I compare equipment racks to loudspeaker cabinets in that the most cost effective solution is to minimize them with the ultimate goal of getting rid of them completely. If the goal is to prevent outside vibration from influencing equipment, then footer and spikes take priority over a rack. That said, equipment racks have a high convenience value and some are very visually appealing.