New rack or power conditioner

Woodworker,

My perspective is that for any audio system, you want to get its foundation as good as possible. To me, that means getting the room acoustics as good as possible, the speaker setup within the room as good as possible and getting the electrical power as good as possible. Once you have these done right, then you can work on items like vibration control (racks), etc. So, bottom line, if you can improve the quality of your electricity that is what I would do first.

Arnie

Quadraspire Sunoko vent. I've never experienced such a dramatic improvement from a single ancillary change in 40 years of this sometimes ridiculous hobby. Corrected most of my perceived room acoustics problems. Simply stunning. System on the rack is Manley, Rega, Decware.

Expensive, yet stunning in its positive effects.

Later, chase down a Furman 15i power conditioner.

Thanks for the responses. All cables are Synergistic Research Res. Ref.
No room treatments other then heavy drapes.

Buy a Pure Power 2000 AC regenerator; it will make a bigger sonic improvement in your system than a new rack!

The reason I asked about your system was to see if a new rack was the right choice for an upgrade. For example, if you really needed a new pre amp, it would be foolish to put the money somewhere else. Assuming your system is in good order, you really need to look at your components themselves. The type of components, and how well they are made will dictate how bad you need a new rack. Sources with moving parts like TT's and CD players and components that use tubes, tend to benefit the most from a good rack. Also, some components are designed in such a way that they are less prone to vibration. A good example would be my Wadia 861. It sounds the same no matter what you put it on. My Rotel 1072, on the other hand, improved when put on a good rack. Even more so with cones.

All things considered, the best overall approach may be to go with a good quality, but not ultra expensive rack, and then treat each component individually with things like cones and tube dampeners. If you have a TT, you may want to consider a nice base for it. Doing it that way is the best value because it lets you put the money where you need it most.

I buy these types of products from The Cable Company. You pick whatever you want and they send it out to you to try in your system first so you don't waste your money.