New rack or power conditioner


Hello, new to this forum. I am a long time looker however. I am in the market to up grade my rack, which is a 15 yr. old home built 1 1/2" mdf shelves and 3/4" allthread supports, and a Tice power conditioner. I only have funds for one item and was woundering what is the most important, the rack or power cond.

Thanks for the input.
woodworker501
Since everything has some effect, it's hard to predict, in the abstract, which will make the most positive difference in your system:
I'm not a naysayer to power conditioning, but once I did dedicated lines, I eliminated some highly regarded power conditioners- the system sounded better without them. (It's not that the dedicated lines 'improved' the sound, but they did eliminate one additional variable in AC power noise and interference and I generally have pretty quiet power, with the occaional spurious noise). Power conditioners and regenerators will make a difference, whether it is better is a separate question and depends in part on how nasty your AC is to begin with. (Note that I have invested in a very expensive power system for my next room, so I'm not negativing the value of dealing with AC power, just talking priorities, especially at a budget).
Racks- big improvement in that department, but you should know that even bigger improvements may be obtained by using a less fancy isolating rack and going with a very basic rack that allows you to use decoupling devices, like the Stillpoints. Having gone both ways (system currently uses some fancy Grand Prix Monaco stands and a very basic Adona platform combined with Stillpoints Ultra SS, you may find that the latter is more within budget and gives you considerable flexibility).
I would first check with the people at Star Sound.

They built and worked on your type of racking format for years. We have a few older versions of Mike Green racks in house and RobertÂ’s affordable recommendations worked out so well we kept them.

Quite possibly you could serve two masters with a single budget.

I would second the Stillpoints as they made a nice improvement to my sound. You might try adding Stillpoints to what you already have before replacing your rack.
Thanks, that might be the way to go. I see they have a few different types, is there one that I should be looking at?
Woodworker- the Stillpoints are no bargain either. The Ultra SS can be bought in sets of 3 or 4, and the Ultra 5, i think it is called, is a more massive one that apparently provides even more effect. They also make a cheaper one, i think it is from aluminum, less of what Stillpoints can do from what I gather, but I didn't try those. If you search here, you'll see a ton of discussion about these products. The price can add up quickly, and many people who use them start putting them under many components in addition to their speakers. I guess the way you might approach it is to get a dealer to loan you a set or two, and try them under your CD player, line stage and/or amp(s).
I had Adona make me a very simple platform for the tube rectified power supply of my phono stage, and then proceeded to try all sorts of devices under the power supply. The results were interesting, and I posted them on another forum. Bottom line- I found the Vibrapod cones, plus pod (or disc) to show a demonstrable benefit and these are cheap as fast food. Other devices, like Aurios, were killer in terms of tightening up everything, but added a harshness that I couldn't tolerate. The HRS footers were good, but not as good as the Stillpoints SS. I also tried some proprietary rollerblocks, which gave some of the benefit of the Aurios, but not quite as strident. Of course, that's in my system, with my components.