Hi End rack really deliver?

It's unfortunate that the Grand Prix racks are so expensive but they do sound great. I'd never want to be without mine. If you have a very nice system it will be richly rewarded by a top notch rack like the Grand Prix.

yes, Racks do make a diff.... but one doesn't have to pay a ransom for great sounding racks either.

A friend told me once… Mass. Density. Non resonant. Well damped.

Good luck getting all the above in one item without paying lots.

I’ve had several racks. Mostly non descript MDF or laminated particle board . Even constructed one or two myself.

The best move I made in the ‘rack’ department was acquiring a Sound Anchor upright rack preowned. Lots of folks gave me plenty of advice, and shared numerous experiences with me in how a rack will help a system reach another level.

Solidsteel, Finite elementee, Systrum, Bags, Isis, Adonna etc. What to go for, esthetics, isolation, or both? Naturally both is the ticket. That ticket is a substantial sum usually.

I went with the Sound Anchors products for a few reasons… I got it reasonably priced, less than half it’s orig value. It is exceptionally well constructed, and damped. It looks pretty good, in a mechanical, contemporary, manly sort of way as it’s massive uprights and cross members speak strength. It’s flat black color allow it to hide out some by not drawing attention to itself.

Mine is hidden entirely. It’s in another room altogether. Though I’d not be opposed to having it in my listening room if that room were larger.

What it did for the sound was add another level of coherency and cohesiveness. Balance…. And bass. In fact I liked what it did so much so, I bought more Sound Anchor products. Two amp stands, and a pair of speaker stands.

Mine is tall though… were I able to be picky, and have it in my living room, I’d go with several two tier racks, or have them all combined into a low boy approach, and if monos are in use, add a pair of amp sands for them, thereby limiting the vertical expanse of the equipment rack and keeping things low key…. Less noticeable.

Low profile doesn’t catch the eye quite so easily and allows it to become less obtrusive. Bob at Sound Anchors is indeed a good person to deal with, and naturally, customizing their inventory is what they do.

Heavy, well damped, value, and with shelving options and an item that will blend in are points I would seek out.

Do yourself a favor and try to avoid MDF and particle board racks they do nothing to aid the sound. Also, hollow metal, racks were trouble for me…. Even after filling them.

Flick it with your finger nail, or rap it with your knuckles. Whatever sound you hear will be added to your system…. The less sound the better. IMHO

The Adona racks look great, the shelves are adjustable, and are very solid. I use the "Monster" rack myself that has 4 shelves. A good rack is essential for good music reproduction.

Solid construction & heavy weight does not translate to better sound, unfortunately.

As Frank pointed out, I also own a 300lb granite that is used in multi-million dollar semiconductor equipment. For those who knows, it's for reticle inspection. Like wafer inspection, to resolve that 20nm geometry vibration has to be well controlled. In typical wafer inspection system, regardless bright field or dark field, chuck that holds the wafer will sit on a massive slab of granite which is suspended by air table. But to completely eliminate vibration introduced by the stage which moves the chuck, active damping is required to compensate the force exerted from the stage.

So in theory, one can build an active vibration control rack by reading in the sound, reverse the phase like noise cancellation headphone, and counter the vibrating transmitted thru air and floor with active device. It will probably cost half million to build such rack, maybe with all the insane audiophile on earth we can volume productize it and lower the cost to $100k. But when your system cost fraction of that amount, it does not make economic sense.

Grand Prix Audio designer was a race car chassis designer (Swift engineering who dominated CART in the early 90's). He knows the drawback fighting vibration only with mass, so he came up with something more creative, a combination of geometry, material, and assembly. Go read his white paper, I don't believe you can buy a more advance rack for less money.

Agree with Ejlif and others - Grand Prix Monaco modular racks and amp stands are expensive, but definitely worth it!