Hi End rack really deliver?

You bet you can hear the difference!

I went with the Mapleshade solid 4inch thick maple racks. The difference was far from subtle. If I had to quantify my gains in percentage basis I would say somewhere between 10 to 20 percent better depending upon which individual characteristic your talking about. It was literally jaw dropping how much better it sounded than sitting on a concrete floor and a mediocre salamander rack.

When I switched to the Copulare racks, http://www.copulare.de/english/home.html I found that the music was more intimate, more detailed and the bass more solid, all of this was missing on my ad-hoc home made wood platforms. I was balancing the edge between the Finite Element and the Copulare, until Mr. Copulare came to my house personally and let me test several products, and lelft them with me for about 2 weeks to experiment, well I was sold after that.

V/r
Audioquest4life

The fact is, any type of rack system with good decoupling, good damping and offering a somewhat solid build will be a benefit then a standard piece of granite on cinder blocks or pieces of Ikea cutting boards on cinder blocks, not exactly what I had before, but close, haha. I still like the looks of the Finite Element stuff and might experiment with the amp stands to compare to the Coppulare.

There is no doubt in my mind that a good rack will upgrade the quality of what the listener is hearing in better details, accuracy and lower backgroud noise. Then of course, you can further experiment with spikes, anti-coupling absorbers and the like until you go crazy.

One of the best looking stands, at least to me, are the new SolidSteel HS stands.

I have all my components on SolidSteel Series 5 stand and I have heard a clear sound improvement going from VTI to SolidSteel. BTW I have the spikes on Target Spike Shoes which also help with vibration. I would not hesitate to recommend SolidSteel. Reasonably priced and effective.

Joe, I also live in Honolulu. You don't necessarily need to order your audio racks from the mainland. Since you live in Honolulu, I recommend you visit Audio Lab, on Ala Moana Blvd. Tom, the owner, is a great guy and very knowledgeable. He should be able to show you a number of good racks, as well as other hi-end equipment. Good luck on your search.