How important is the rack you use for your components

I went from a cheap glass and tubing rack to one of steel and air dried maple; as currently configured, the m/t rack weighs 250 lbs.  At the time of change, everything was SS, and was not much above entry level.  After moving the equipment to the new rack, I had instruments appearing seemingly out of nowhere in music I had listened to for 30+ years.  racks make a great deal of difference.

Polkalover

Coming to an audiophile forum and asking if changing something will affect the sound is like visiting a New Age Therapy Fair and asking people “do you think this crystal bracelet will help my arthritis?”  The answer you’ll get is “Of course it will!”

;-)

Given the methods most audiophiles use to decide these things, I’m just cautioning that some skepticism may be in order here.

(And I’m going through some of the same questions in getting my own rack ready for my new turntable.  It can be very hard to weed through the veridical claims vs the nonsense claims about what will actually result in audible differences).

Roxy

If you were doing science you would be controlling the variables, including the variable of bias, when testing for the audible effects of a rack on a piece of gear.

Have you been doing that?

(The mantra “Trust your ears” is really no different than the New Age Guru saying “trust your feelings”)

I’m not declaring that an audio rack can’t have a beneficial audible effect on certain types of components (turntables being more plausible).  But I’m saying the methods often used in the audiophile community are so loose and rife with bias that we get to a place where  it’s thought “everything makes an audible difference.”

I'm using a Salamander Synergy Triple Unit SL20 A/V cabinet. It's essential in terms of housing my audio and video gear, but in no way do I believe it contributes positively or negatively to the sound or picture quality.