Here's How I Make My Equipment Racks

At the risk of sounding incredibly naive (which I probably am), how does the expensive rack systems help the sound quality of one's setup? Please note that am excluding all front end (i.e. TT and CD units) from this question since the needs in this area seem obvious. How does it, rather, effect the performance of the amp, pre, phono stage, etc.? I would think that if the unit were rock solid and allows for adequate heat dissipation, that would be sufficient for most applications. I am not saying others are wrong (my intuitive sense has been wrong on many an occasion), I would just like to get some insights as to the benefits of the high priced rack systems over something more moderately priced, or even hand-built. At least when TT's are excluded from the equation and are assumed to be "mounted" separately. Thanks

I have an IKEA rack made with the coffee tables for my tube preamp and DD turntable. Awesome PRT...

I am not privy to the details of the physics, but vibrations are generated by amplifiers, and they have an effect on the electric signal. There are also other sources like sound waves and other components that introduce vibration to the amplifier. Higher quality electronics are typically more affected by vibrations and their sound can change considerably with the whatever is placed beneath them. A good rack, imo, will try to dissapate all the vibrations (just different forms of energy). Its just like spiking speakers and isolating sources, but on a bit of a different and usually less important level. There are lots of discussions about it on the various audiosites.

4yanx, i can understand your not understanding : )

I too was in the same boat. I thought that vibrations could SURELY alter the stability of a phono system and probably even play ( smaller ) games with digital front ends, but amps ????

I went from a sturdy yet somewhat lightweight all wood rack that i had constructed to a very heavy duty threaded rod design. Everything was ROCK solid, level, etc... on both designs, so there was no reason that i should have had such a drastic difference between the two. The threaded rod rack COMPLETELY altered tonal balance and gave me so much added "boom" , "bloat" bass ringing that i could no longer enjoy the system at all.

After playing around with every component and various types of isolation, damping, etc... i had to resort to substituting components until i could find the source of the problem. Luckily, i have multiple spares of everything, so this was not a problem. When all was said and done, substituting an amp of similar sonics but with notably less bottom end cleared the majority of problems up.

My one and only conclusion from all of this ???

Everything affects the sound of your system, even things that you would never think of. If i would not have heard it and experienced it, i would not have believed it. As such, i've since moved onto other racks and learned quite a bit in the process. Sean
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