Best under- 500 audio stand?

Atlantis Reference. Rock solid and real nice to look at too

Atlantis Reference is excellent, and very attractive, but you are misjudging the Salamander. The "Archetype" series is wobbly and kind of ugly, but the Synergy series is very stable, you can seat the shelves where you like, and the wood is very nice-looking. I recommend the walnut or cherry, with black posts. Looks like a piece of furniture once you screw it together. It is DIY but ends up looking professionally done, and rock solid. I own two!

I have a five shelf top of the line Atlantis with mdf shelves. The steel posts are fillable and all of the shelves are mounted on points. It seems to be a fine, stable and attractive unit.

It seems to be coming down to a choice between the Atlantis Reference or the Salamander Synergy. I can get them both for somewhere between $400 and $500 new. What do you think?

Thanks.

Atlantis has a more "modern" looking design. Salamander is available in several finishes and either silver or black for the posts. The Salamander is flexible in that you can add or subtract shelves later, or even add on a whole new "bridged" unit for HT or a bigger system in the future. I loved them both, but bought the Salamander Synergy because the finish of the wood (cherry) matched my speakers perfectly (and they were called "rosewood"). The Synergy can be ordered w/spikes or casters. Don't know about the Atlantis. From what I remember, the Reference has a fixed height first shelf that is very tall, for amps. I wasn't going to put my amp in that space, so I didn't need the space and wanted to have an extra shelf for components. Therefore the Synergy. You'll have to decide based on all of these (and I'm sure other) considerations for yourself. You won't go wrong either way.