confused about equipment racks


I have been considering either a commercial or a DIY rack for my components.
The problem is do you isolate or couple?
I'm good with speaker spikes which couple the speaker to the house.
But what about a CD player? Isolate? Couple to something massive? Why do I read about Maple butcher block?
I've read about people who swear tennis balls are good. Others use hockey pucks or handball balls, whole or cut in half.
Steel shot, lead shot, cat litter and a host of 'custom' ($$$$) products to fill tubing.
All sorts of weird (to me) theories about resonance / damping / microphonics and related phenom.

Any opinions or stuff I can READ to try to straighten this out. Please, not too much advertiser hyperbole.

thanks in advance::
magfan

Showing 2 responses by tpsonic

I believe in coupling the rack and decoupling the equipment(electronics).Check the "web" for 3/4" brass threaded rods and associated hardware,then decide on shelf material (min:2").I used wood-very easy to work with.
Home-Depot sells a number of 1.25-1.5" OD tubing in various decors (brass,silver and PVC with different cosmetics),whuch can be loaded up with your damping material of choice.This will hide any tarnishing of the metallic up-rights and adds significantly to the mass/rigidity of the rack.