Equipment: To Hide or not to Hide

A good audio rack looks nice in the living room although your SO may not agree. It often provides better support than a cabinet which was not built to the purpose, and its open shelves provide better ventilation.

Thanks for the responses so far, and keep them coming. I probably need to hear this over and over.

kas

Turntables and tubes are best kept in another room, that way there is virtually no acoustic feedback and harmonic interference with the equipment. Once you put these in another room you will be amazed with the improvement in the sound. Call it the ultimate tweak. An added benefit is that interconnects can be very short, with only the speaker cables long runs. Additionally, air circulation can be maxed, and if necessary a fan can be employed to extend equipment life.

My amplifier is on top of the cabinet, in the open; my CDP is inside the cabinet, behind a door.

Hiding gear is naturally more work and expense and makes changes much more difficult than when everything is left out on the floor or an open rack.

On one hand it is probably better to put things away and expose them to less vibration/dust/kids - keeping everything neat and tidy. On the other hand, poor ventilation may shorten equipment life and unless you automate gear and use remote repeaters then you will probably end up leaving the cabinets open during play anyway - which looks uglier than leaving everything on display in the first place.

Does it affect the sound - probably not enough to matter either way unless you are with vinyl or tubes - both tubes and vinyl can pick up acoustic feedback and will benefit from acoustic isolation.