Equipment stands

[realysm42]

Can you recommend me one?

I've got limited space and a limited budget (most I could afford is about £300).

I only need 2 shelves/platforms (amp and dac), really I don't want it to be too "deep" (50cm front to back is about right).

What do you have, why do you like/hate it and why would you recommend it?

[Artifolk]

I had an Atacama years ago, gave good all round performance from what i can remember.
Pretty sure they still do a two shelf version, which you can add extra shelves to, if needed.
.

http://store.atacama-audio.co.uk/products/productdetail/Equinox+Hi-Fi+%28Standard+Glass%29+Value+Packs/part_number=Equinox%20Hi-Fi%20%28Standard%20Glass%29%20Value%20Packs/758.2.4.3.108004.32922.0.0.0?pp=12&

[hoopsontoast]

Ikea Corras, not sold anymore but you can usually find one for £10ish!
Does the job, three shelves including the top area.

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4026/4713869827_0bfb9edd27_z.jpg

[realysm42]

Good suggestions gents, please keep them coming!

[Tarzan]

For 300 sobs could you knock up something yourself using timber, etc? ( If you was that way inclined):)

[realysm42]

For 300 sobs could you knock up something yourself using timber, etc? ( If you was that way inclined):)

I could yes and it's not out of the question; have you done this yourself? If yes, what did you use?

Can anyone here vouch for racks improving the sound of their stereo? I keep an open mind but I find it hard to believe?

[Ali Tait]

Here ya go -

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/flexye.html

[webby]

I've got two racks I don't use anymore but they've got 3 or 4 shelves.

[Artifolk]

Another good place to try is one well known auction site.

If your lucky you may even find a lovely Mana (my second favorite rack ) Awesome sound quality from one of these, but do need setting up right to extract the best from your equipment.

[realysm42]

@Ali - can you vouch for that design?

@Webby, if you're offering them for sale, do you have more details please?

@Artifolk cheers, I'll have a little read into that.

[Tarzan]

I could yes and it's not out of the question; have you done this yourself? If yes, what did you use?

Can anyone here vouch for racks improving the sound of their stereo? I keep an open mind but I find it hard to believe?


No, just because l am a lazy so and so, this will make you laugh, l got one of those IKEA record holding units( forget the name) filled it with records, plonked me gear on and that was a vast improvement on what l was using before(IKEA Lack stands stacked), my equipment seems to like mass- and probably damping too:)

[webby]

Sure, Check this thread http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7156

[Reid Malenfant]

Can anyone here vouch for racks improving the sound of their stereo? I keep an open mind but I find it hard to believe?
You have seen all the guys on here going on about different feet for the Techie 1200 series turntables haven't you :) Well if feet can make an improvement to the sound then it's not going to be any leap of faith that what the thing is sat on is just as if not more important :eyebrows:

Yes, a good rack will make a decent difference! A poor one might make things worse though it depends on what you kit is sat on now ;)

[realysm42]

You have seen all the guys on here going on about different feet for the Techie 1200 series turntables haven't you :) Well if feet can make an improvement to the sound then it's not going to be any leap of faith that what the thing is sat on is just as if not more important :eyebrows:

Yes, a good rack will make a decent difference! A poor one might make things worse though it depends on what you kit is sat on now ;)

Fair point; although no I've not read into any of the analogue threads as everything I have is digital.

See I can understand it with speaker stands, they have something that creates movement (as do the decks you're speaking about). But surely inert things (like solid state amps) aren't affected?

Is it possible to over compensate with what you put something onto, for example, why not use a whole thick slab of bitumen for a record deck, is the idea to have the smallest surface area foot print possible?

[Reid Malenfant]

Martin, there is a problematic thing which is known as "microphony" which is effectively where sounds vibrates an electronic component & affects the output of said component :(

Now admittedly it does tend to be on a small scale with solid state components, but the effect is still there! I suggest you do a little bit of experimentation with various cheap things like paving slabs from Wickes (shelf), squash balls cut in half etc (feet) :D I think you'll be very surprised at the differences in sound you get from an amplifier or a CD player :)

You are probably looking at £5 for the above for one item to be experimented on.


Mass tends to be good, mass doesn't get moved very easily. But that's fine for a stand or a shelf. The thing is it might be good to isolate one from the other which is what I have done with my home built rack (The Fridge as Marco calls it :eyebrows:).

The rack is too heavy for me to lift, has glass doors that effectively seal off the inside from the outside & seperate shelves which as it happens are Wickes paving slabs which are decoupled from the rack with 3/8" thick felt pads.



As I say, go spend £5 on a Wickes paving slab & 2 squash balls from JB sports & be amazed :eyebrows:

[Artifolk]

See I can understand it with speaker stands, they have something that creates movement (as do the decks you're speaking about). But surely inert things (like solid state amps) aren't affected?



Removed TEXT ... Reid explained it far better than i could.

We must have been typing at exactly the same time :)

[Ali Tait]

@Ali - can you vouch for that design?

@Webby, if you're offering them for sale, do you have more details please?

@Artifolk cheers, I'll have a little read into that.

No, never heard one, but I can't see any reason for it not to be as good or better, depending on what you build it with, than most commercial stuff that would cost you a great deal more.

[Marco]

It's obvious that I think equipment supports are a load of bollocks...


http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/6482/aosm03.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/aosm03.jpg/)


http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/1197/aosm19.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/aosm19.jpg/)


http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7519/05012009245jh2.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/05012009245jh2.jpg/)



;)

Marco.

[The Grand Wazoo]

As you can see, Marco, the hi-fi fiend has a dedicated shelf for each & every particle of audiophile dust in his listening room, whereas us troglodytes allow it to collect any old where that it happens to land.

[Artifolk]

Bloody hell... and i thought those days had long gone Marco, nice to see some Stainless steel in there.

How much would that now cost, i shudder to think, makes my Phase 3 look silly:lol:

[Marco]

Hehehe.... Btw, in this one (under my RCM) you can see the £6k 200W ECS solid-state monoblocks (each with its own 1500VA transformer inside), retired by my copper amp (and a 30W Chinese valve amp before it):


http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8440/aosm07.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/aosm07.jpg/)


One for our resident 'sandboys' to savour, perhaps? ;)

Marco.

[Marco]

Bloody hell... and i thought those days had long gone Marco, nice to see some Stainless steel in there.

How much would that now cost, i shudder to think, makes my Phase 3 look silly:lol:

Hehehe... Well, Charles, work it out for yourself, matey. I have 34 Soundstages in total, which were originally £200 EACH, a 2-tier amp rack, at originally £300, and a (very rare) Mana non-magnetic stainless steel 6-tier rack, at originally £1600 ;)

The only original bit of Mana is the 6-tier rack (the rest of the original Mana was sold at a very good price), and everything you can see in the photo I've had fabricated myself in non-magnetic stainless steel, at the cost of £35 a Soundstage. Yes, I made a decent profit from the sale of the original stuff - lol! :D

The 2-tier amp rack cost me £80. Incidentally, all the screws and nuts used are also made from non-magnetic stainless steel, which I also had made by a local metal fabricator.

Sonically, it, erm, does 'what it says on the tin' - and then some! :eyebrows:

Marco.

[Artifolk]

I hope your using all upward facing Stainless steel spikes.

Seriously tho.. how long to set it all up, you must be a wiz at it, takes me approx 2 hrs for just Phase 3 :doh:

[Marco]

Well, originally it took a good few hours to set-up, as you can imagine, as each piece of Mana has been painstakingly levelled as accurately as possible, and 'tuned' correctly in the required way.

However, I haven't touched it in about four years. It simply sits there and does its job very effectively (isolating the equipment from the sonically harmful effects of microphony). I don't even notice or think about it now - I simply enjoy the music that my system makes :)

Here are the Spendor SP100s I used before I entered the world of big Tannoys, both are on Phase 4 Mana and dedicated Mana stands (btw, the door shown is simply a cupboard):


http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7150/aosm06.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/aosm06.jpg/)


Marco.

[Artifolk]

Marco

Thanks for sharing.
has given me an idea

[Marco]

Yesh, dahling? :eyebrows:

Marco.

[Artifolk]

Thinking of having two wall shelves/ref tops made in 316 stainless, just need to find some dimension.
BTW.. What do you use for the shelves Wood wise?

And are you using Float or Toughened Glass?

[Marco]

Just clear 5mm glass (I think, if I can remember correctly) with polished edges. Fortunately, as I am a self-employed picture framer I can get glass fairly cheaply at trade prices, and also delivered to my door ;)

The wood used is simply painted MDF. The original Mana boards were laminated in black, but they sounded worse. The lamination existed simply to provide a more professional finish, but added an unwanted sonic coloration.

Marco.

[Tim]

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7150/aosm06.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/aosm06.jpg/)
Marco everytime I see a picture of your room it scares the livin' daylights out of me..... I fear if I ever ventured in there, firstly I would need a girdle to hang on to my insides, but more so that I would never get out alive! http://www.bluedive.co.uk/musicserver/images/woofer.gif

:eyebrows:

[Marco]

Lol - it was like that with the Spendors. With the Lockwoods in full flow, your insides are viciously removed, hung out to dry, and than plastered onto the back wall, to form a nice mural :D

Marco.

[Artifolk]

Marco

This may interest you, My Brothers company.

http://www.sudbury-picture-frames.co.uk/

None of the cheap old tat there.
Bit of a coincidence. :eek:

[The Grand Wazoo]

Marco everytime I see a picture of your room it scares the livin' daylights out of me..... I fear if I ever ventured in there, firstly I would need a girdle to hang on to my insides, but more so that I would never get out alive! http://www.bluedive.co.uk/musicserver/images/woofer.gif

:eyebrows:

...........it ain't nuthin' compared to what lies beyond The Door of Doom.
And according to Hamish there are devillish rabbits hiding in the speakers - Beelzebub's Bunnies in fact!

[Marco]

Very nice, Charles. I seem to remember that name... It reminds me of how my business website used to look before I took a major step back, after many years of continuous hard graft (and with it fortunately financial security), and became semi-retired at the age of 43.

These days, I simply fulfil the needs of my larger corporate clients (hotels, restaurants, nursing homes, etc), by supplying them with framed artwork for their public areas.

My wife and I are slowly winding down to full retirement and a life of leisure (where we can spend time travelling the world), which we should hopefully achieve by the time we are 50 :cool:

Marco.

[Alex_UK]

...........it ain't nuthin' compared to what lies beyond The Door of Doom.
And according to Hamish there are devillish rabbits hiding in the speakers - Beelzebub's Bunnies in fact!

Yep, toe mangling bunnies from the spawn of the devil's trumpet! :eyebrows:

I love AoS thread drift! :lol:

[Marco]

...........it ain't nuthin' compared to what lies beyond The Door of Doom.
And according to Hamish there are devillish rabbits hiding in the speakers - Beelzebub's Bunnies in fact!

Not forgetting Tabatha's tunnel of torture.... Here she is behind the cupboard, deep within the labyrinth of secret rooms, having some fun with a 'special friend': :eyebrows: :eyebrows:


http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/740/hifig.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/97/hifig.jpg/)


Marco.

[Artifolk]

Most of his work seems to come from the Middle/Far east and London galleries , as you say, serious hard graft though. I'm in total awe when i see some of the frames/size/workmanship involved. :eek:

Sorry for highjacking the thread.

[Marco]

Nice one, Charles. Don't worry, I know all about it and have done the 'all-nighters', over the years, often necessary to get an order for 1500 pictures out in time for delivery to multiple outlets of a hotel chain! :rolleyes:

Still, it makes up for it all when the cheque comes through ;)

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

I would look for a second hand Clearlight Audio Aspeckt rack.


http://www.clearlight-audio.de/content/pics/rack3bla.jpg

You should be able to get one for about £300 or so.


Regards D S D L

[Marco]

Wow - given the current mood of the thread, that was a rather 'sober' reply! ;)

Marco.

[Tim]

Keeping it sort of 'on topic' (I love the late night thread drifts too :eyebrows:), does anyone have a comment to make regarding tripod type stands like the one Neil just referred too? The reason I ask is I currently have a 3 leg Soundstyle rack and like three legs, but would like a wooden stand and fancy one of these in Cherry;

http://www.hifiracks.co.uk/images/podium-trios-s.jpg
Source (http://www.hifiracks.co.uk/hi-fi-racks/1/podium-trios#)

The question is do people think a 4 leg rack is better than a 3 leg one?

[The Grand Wazoo]

You'd need to check with PWB on that score.

[Spectral Morn]

If its a big bit of gear third leg can get in the way of cables and stuff at the back. So a four leg stand is better.

I have run into this problem a few times.

However the Clearlight Audio racks are very good.


Regards D S D L

[realysm42]

Thanks for the suggestions (and the trip through the Twilight zone later on). I've seen some interesting stuff.

Kind of going OT slightly, but back to the whole equipment support bit, if I were to get some new "feet" for my amp, would I need to remove the existing ones, or are they meant to fit together? Or does it not matter?

Also, if this is so important for equipment, why don't the manafacturers put more thought into it; keep down production costs?