Twl: Sorry for sidetracking your thread. This was not my intention. I only intended to introduce another product of similar pedigree into the conversation. Some of my "generic" comments were misinterpreted as being specific and for that i apologize.
Brulee: I understand exactly what you are saying. In effect, you believe that only sonics matter, the ear is the final judge and personal hands-on evaluation "rules". I think that this is "partially" wrong and here's why:
It's kind of like buying a highly recommended car that only goes 70 MPH. You initially don't know about the limited speed and even if you did, you might not see this as a problem because that is as fast or faster as you normally drive. Other end users that recommended the product may not have ever pushed the envelope to find out exactly what the product was capable of. As far as they are concerned, it always worked fine for them so they are happy and recommend the product.
One would only recognize this as a flaw once they tried to exceed the level of performance that they now can't achieve. If they would have read the specs and done the math, they would have known about the limitations involved in such a design. Even if one can't do the math, there are those that can and could have helped prior to finding out the hard way.
Audiotweak: I did not use the MGD rack as a clamp-rack although i could have. It was the same basic rack ( Deluxe Adjustarack ) but not set up to clamp. It still suffered from the darkness and compressed dynamics that you mention. I attribute this to the massive amount of weight / energy storage of each individual shelf.
General public: As to the Grand Prix rack, my thoughts are that the company actually took time to measure, look at the results and refine a product using comparative evaluations performed in a scientific manner. I was not aware that such a product even existed until it was pointed out to me and I wanted to share this information and product just as someone else had shared it with me.
Although all of the design / research test curves might not be posted, some of the figures that were derived during testing were posted. They obviously have the means to do such testing and understand the results given their background. The rack is more "involved" than any other design i've seen, although i will agree, simpler IS sometimes better. Their design deals with resonance transfer, damping, absorption, etc... As far as i can tell, it does this all at the same time and seeks to do so with great efficiency. As i mentioned to Ken Lyon though, i think that the shelves are the weak point of the design and probably need to be changed for best results.
Other than that, buy and use what you want. I've never suggested anything less than that in any of my posts. I say this even though i may have negative personal opinions about a product and shared them. We all have different tastes, goals and ways of thinking about things. One has to do what they think best fills their needs.
That is what i did and why i don't have a rack that is a commercially available product. I can't say that it is better than everything ( or anything ) else out there, but i can say that it suits my personal needs better than anything else that i've tried. I think that is what Twl was trying to say and i'm glad that he ( and obviously, more than a few others ) are happy with their purchases and took the time to share their results and findings.
I'll shut up now and hope you can understand where i'm coming from. Sean
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Brulee: I understand exactly what you are saying. In effect, you believe that only sonics matter, the ear is the final judge and personal hands-on evaluation "rules". I think that this is "partially" wrong and here's why:
It's kind of like buying a highly recommended car that only goes 70 MPH. You initially don't know about the limited speed and even if you did, you might not see this as a problem because that is as fast or faster as you normally drive. Other end users that recommended the product may not have ever pushed the envelope to find out exactly what the product was capable of. As far as they are concerned, it always worked fine for them so they are happy and recommend the product.
One would only recognize this as a flaw once they tried to exceed the level of performance that they now can't achieve. If they would have read the specs and done the math, they would have known about the limitations involved in such a design. Even if one can't do the math, there are those that can and could have helped prior to finding out the hard way.
Audiotweak: I did not use the MGD rack as a clamp-rack although i could have. It was the same basic rack ( Deluxe Adjustarack ) but not set up to clamp. It still suffered from the darkness and compressed dynamics that you mention. I attribute this to the massive amount of weight / energy storage of each individual shelf.
General public: As to the Grand Prix rack, my thoughts are that the company actually took time to measure, look at the results and refine a product using comparative evaluations performed in a scientific manner. I was not aware that such a product even existed until it was pointed out to me and I wanted to share this information and product just as someone else had shared it with me.
Although all of the design / research test curves might not be posted, some of the figures that were derived during testing were posted. They obviously have the means to do such testing and understand the results given their background. The rack is more "involved" than any other design i've seen, although i will agree, simpler IS sometimes better. Their design deals with resonance transfer, damping, absorption, etc... As far as i can tell, it does this all at the same time and seeks to do so with great efficiency. As i mentioned to Ken Lyon though, i think that the shelves are the weak point of the design and probably need to be changed for best results.
Other than that, buy and use what you want. I've never suggested anything less than that in any of my posts. I say this even though i may have negative personal opinions about a product and shared them. We all have different tastes, goals and ways of thinking about things. One has to do what they think best fills their needs.
That is what i did and why i don't have a rack that is a commercially available product. I can't say that it is better than everything ( or anything ) else out there, but i can say that it suits my personal needs better than anything else that i've tried. I think that is what Twl was trying to say and i'm glad that he ( and obviously, more than a few others ) are happy with their purchases and took the time to share their results and findings.
I'll shut up now and hope you can understand where i'm coming from. Sean
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