Karls: The tests that i've seen on speaker cabinets shows that going from .75" to 1.5" does reduce resonance and ringing, but not by what one would think. When one gets up to 2.25" to 3", the differences really come into play. As such, your idea about "super thick" shelves may have some validity but i'm not about to try it out myself : ) Personally, i've had much better luck with relatively low mass yet rigid wood that offers good internal damping. The shelves on the other "double thick" rack weighed something like 23 lbs apiece whereas my current shelves clock in at about 4 - 5 lbs each. The other rack also had the shelves acting as part of the support structure whereas these shelves are free-floating. I think that these are the two major differences in what i'm hearing / experiencing.
Lgregior: I basically agree with what Bob had to say. If you can get the rack behind the speakers, that would work much better than having it on the same plane. If you can get the rack far enough back so that the rear of both speakers is visible when looking from the side with no interference from the rack, you should be pretty good in terms of soundstage, imaging, etc... As far as the woofers pushing air / vibrating all of the gear situated behind them, that may be another story. Moving the rack to another part of the country might reduce this, but the cables would have to be awfully long : ) Sean
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Lgregior: I basically agree with what Bob had to say. If you can get the rack behind the speakers, that would work much better than having it on the same plane. If you can get the rack far enough back so that the rear of both speakers is visible when looking from the side with no interference from the rack, you should be pretty good in terms of soundstage, imaging, etc... As far as the woofers pushing air / vibrating all of the gear situated behind them, that may be another story. Moving the rack to another part of the country might reduce this, but the cables would have to be awfully long : ) Sean
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