How important is an audio rack?


The difference in opinions is almost as heated as the great cable debate. Many claim solid hardwood is best. Others like no shelves but some even defend mdf shelves. One store owner/salesman stated the audio rack should be considered the most important component, even with a very modest system! My opinion is much more moderate, but i'm curious what others think.
dayglow
If you have a turntable then the rack is very important. For all the solid state gear, it doesn't matter at all. No impact.

To suggest the rack is more important that your speakers is beyond ridiculous. Let's say you had $3k to spend on rack and speakers, how would you divide it up? Me, I'd spend $2950 on the speakers and $50 at home depot for cinder blocks and a 2x12.
Jaxwired, to say there is no impact of racks is ridiculous, but I agree that to spend more on the rack than the speakers is ill advised.
To say hi end racks don't work period and solid state electronics can't benefit at all from isolation or vibration reducing tweaks is insane. You probably never tried I'm going to try and remember these names so I can never take anything they say about audio on this forum seriously.
Ejlif - if you start that now you are going to have a long list of names! :-)
It is much easier to set down the names of those who do know something; saves a lot of paper or electricity also. Whatever you place your gear on has an effect on sound quality; as do various suspension devices. I demonstrated this to a couple of skeptical friends recently. A simple method is to separate the responses of those who have actually tried something from the ones who "KNOW" in advance what would happen. Many companies do their best to isolate their products from mechanical vibration; my Naim Superline's circuitry rests on springs for isolation; some of Conrad Johnson's preamps do something similar; external crossovers are generally conceded to give the best sound. All good racks and isolation devices do is to apply damping externally rather than internally. Unlike some audio accessories it is quite easy to make measurements of vibration; that such vibrations have no affect on sound quality is simply as assumption that is contradicted by the experience of many of us.