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A Question About Audio Racks

I have a question about audio racks that I hope some folks here might be able to help me with. I am currently thinking about an upgrade and wondering if I might get even better sonic results from using a mostly wood rack over the glass/steel combination that I am currently using. I live in South Korea, and we don't have access to some of the more interesting racks that can be purchased easily in North America. That coupled with the currently weak currency discourage me from trying to import. I'm currently using this rack: http://audiodeco.com/product/goodsdetail.asp?no=50&cate1=&cate2=

It's served me well for about four years. I'm considering changing to this one:

http://www.carnivalmall.co.kr/mall/m_mall_detail.php?ps_ctid=01000000&ps_goid=51

Obviously this is all in Korean but the Carnival rack uses walnut with a bed of marble in the shelves. Does anyone think this would be much of an upgrade if at all? The glass in the Audio Deco is very thick with little if any vibration. The shelves are adjustable in the steel frame. The Carnival rack is not adjustable. I would like to have a bit more shelving for components, so I was thinking of buying two of these. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.
washline

Showing 2 responses by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
Nice to see a post from Lak, above. I agree with both his and Stanwal's points. It seems to me the move you are considering won't deal with the key issue, which is the material of the shelves. Every good shelf I have seen or heard has used wood or carbon fibre in some way, for resonance damping or tuning, and the support members have been made of metal for rigidity.

For a personal example, my welded steel Target rack uses light, rigid plywood for shelving. The components sit on various antivibration footers. I'm planning on replacing some of those plywood shelves with hard maple.
tobias
1,534 posts
 
Washline, Thom Mackris of Galibier Design has a post on another thread which has led me to a part of his site which could be very pertinent to your issue. If you go to the Galibier site and check out the following page :

http://www.galibierdesign.com/faqs_stands.html

you'll get the benefit of some very dedicated and hard-working people's experience on racks, shelves and vibration control. There is more in the Forums section of that site.

Good luck!
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