Hi End rack really deliver?

don't think of it as a rack. a rack is like a drill. and when you buy a drill, you don't buy a drill. you buy holes...

the rack is to do 2 things (aesthetics excluded): safely support equipment, and isolate gear from horizontal & vertical vibrations. the first is paramount in any rack.

the 2nd can be had after the fact w/ footer & shelving combinations.

and here's a hint (which the author of the grand prix dealer trick hinted at): if you don't hear improvements w/ source gear, you shouldn't expect anything else to improve either.

Haven't read all the posts here, but I'll chime in for a quick second to say that racks definitely influence sound.

I've never owned a nice rack, but I used to have my system on a cheapo tv unit... Moved it to another cheapo Ikea tv stand...the thing looked nice, but was hollow on the inside. Well, wouldn't you know it, the system took on a 'tubby', 'hollow' sound coinciding w/ the rack on which the equipment was sitting. Upon switching everything back to the old rack, everything snapped back into place audibly speaking. I further experimented by putting equipment on tempered glass and lo and behold, the system took on a bit of a sharper edge.

I am a firm believer that the item on which equipment rests influences its sound character beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Yes, isolating one's components, reducing vibrations is very important.

Semi. The Adona shelves are made of combination of MDF material joined with granite. Yes, they are solid, but also scientifically enginered (check out their website). I'm not financially in your leauge. I've heard what the Grand Prix's can do and I would buy them in a heartbeat, but the $1000 I spent was well worth it for the Adona rack. Good listening, Jeff L

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.