Anyone use Salamander Design racks? Comments?

I have two 40 (black/rosewood) with two bridges in between carrying very heavy stuff (McIntosh MC 2000 and Revel LE-1, which are 140kg alltogether!) The front end such as transport, DAC, Pre, DAT-recorder, harddisk DVD etc. fits nicely into the two columns, the turntable "crowns" the right top shelf. The whole thing really stands like a rock (probably because of the heavy weight in the lower centre) so I don't need to care about vibration control at all. Bottomline: the thing looks beautiful, is very rigid and offers you every thinkable way of putting the shelves.

Salamandar stands look great with lots of accessories, but have no vibration control. I own one for home theater. Even with vibration control tweaks, there is no substitute for a stand that starts out addresssing these issues. Check out Music Direct's new line called Solid Steel. They are great stands and I have placed two of the 3 shelved units side by side and it looks like a low boy stand.

Rigidity is great, but it does not preclude other aspects concerning vibration from factoring in on sound quality.

If memory serves, the Synergy system got a great review in Stereophile. Vibration control was considered excellent except when placement is on the "top of the top" panel. Then, a simple cone or something like that clears things up easily. It's built like a tank, no A/V store phony garbage here, sorry. Design choices can easily compliment most interiors. I added the "extra weight" isolation shelf option ($50) for my amp and it works very well.

I am using a Twin 40. With two six shelf stacks, it accomodates all my stuff. I have a larger turntable and a digital source on the top shelf. I don't have any side panels or doors due to concerns about ventilation and the need for regular access. Also, I have some components that extend past the edges of their shelves, and a side panel might not allow this.

The corner post architecture is effective for stable support. The rack is in a corner of the room, and I have braces between the top shelf and the two adjacent walls. The result is a very rigid set up, especially with my heavy amps on the bottom level. There's absolutely no swaying or low frequency sensitivity.

True, there's no real vibration control, and I have thought about special supports or platforms like the Gingko Audio and Vibraplane systems but haven't invested in them yet.

Before the Twin 40, I used two Standesign racks, the Design 4 and 5T, that had shelves attached to single posts in the back of each. I found the post got in the way of cabling for some deeper components. The lack of vertical adjustability of shelf positioning was inefficient for allocating vertical space. Finally, the shelves would sag/dip down under the weight of my heavier equipment. In the long run, these negatives offset the positives of a visually attractive design: with the higher shelves indented/slanting backward and no vertical rack elements visible from the front -- the shelves appearing to float in the air with no support.