Equipment Rack - How important in the grand scheme of things?

Hi!

The stand was $1995.00 for a five shelf unit measuring 24" wide x 18" deep x 44" in height.  The vertical spacing is 8 " above each shelf.  I chose the dimensions and Mike confirmed with a line drawing on graph paper e-mailed to me.  He never made a 5 shelf vertical stand prior to mine.  He had to construct special gigs for the spacing of the many notches involved for mine.

Regarding the cost:  $400.00 of this was for the custom color dye he had to mix for the exact shade I wanted.  A standard dye would be much less.  He only charged me $50.00 for personal delivery to my home.

I mentioned photo progress:  Mike even e-mailed me pictures of the raw wood maple boards he picked out at his lumber supplier before he began building the stand.

Mike's customer service is exemplary as is the quality and care of his finished product.

i hope i helped you to make a fair decision.

The wood rack you shared is truly gorgeous.  I recently bought a rack from Timbernation.  It looks much like the one shown in link provided with Tiger wood maple shelves - 2 inches thick and for me, I had the legs died dark cherry to match the wood color in my speakers.  Mine is 3 tiers and must weigh about 200 llbs.  I paid for Nickel Cones for the four feet of the rack.  All told, including shipping it was $2450.  Better sound than what I had before.  I don't think so.  Does it look better.  Absolutely.  In a most aesthetic way it displays what I've ended up with in the way of my ideal audio system.  

I use a standard 19” studio rack for all the electronics, sitting on a thick piece of foam for vibration isolation. More elaborate stone stand for my TT. 

Millercarbon, would you know if the BDR Cones and Round Things are substantially better than the Vibrapod equivalents? They are substatially more expensive and I’m wondering if there’s enough difference to warrant that extra expense.

Anyone else with an opinion on this?

Mike

I usually try to find Vintage or Danish stereo consoles but since my new tube amp weighs 68 lbs., I've had to get creative.  My main concern is not to have a rack with reflective surfaces.  But something heavy, wooden and well ventilated with the right proportions is tough to find these days.

I have Mapleshade LP racks which are well constructed solid oak. I put my LPs in these racks but I bought 2 extra racks and drilled some holes for push-in shelf standards for my lighter equipment.  For the top, I made a simple oak ply where the amp and TT sit.  It is very solid and acoustically sweet. Plus the way the LPs and equipment blend together look pretty nice.

I placed this on the side walls so my speakers had nothing between them on the end wall.  Now in my new place, the rack is on the end wall...sounds pretty good.  It's also relatively cheap...and looks 'right' and also low key.