Equipment Rack - How important in the grand scheme of things?

I waited over 50 years to even consider a proper equipment stand.  I never gave it much thought assuming it more for aesthetics than anything else.  The I saw an ad for an audio stand that greatly appealed to me.

You are correct that everything matters.  All things have a resonance, the frequency at which they vibrate in free air.  You want a solid base for your equipment which contributes no unwanted frequencies of its own, much like a properly acoustically treated room.

Most commercially available audio stands are compromises because they are meant to ship.  The are broken down into flat sections to facilitate this.  So you must put them together.  How tight are the screws...too tight or not enough?  The stand may twist or get loose over time, requiring re-tightening of the few screws provided or worse. Some use threaded rods which are awkwardly striking against nicely finished wood.  Some stands use metal which rings without reinforcement or messy filling of some kind

I saw an ad for Saluda River Audio Stands which appealed to me enough that I gave Mike a call.  Mike prides himself on not making furniture but audio stands exclusively.  Mike will e-mail you a graph diagram with your prescribed dimensions before he starts. 

Mike uses 2 inch solid maple shelving.  The 4 inch by 1 /3/4 inch vertical supports are cut in to match the perfect indentation of the shelves they mate with.  These joints are then glued.  They are further strengthened by inserting 2, not one, German made screws at each mating point. 

The finish is a custom dye.  The color of my choice required Mike to mix 5 separate dyes for the desired shade.  This is finished with six separate coats of a custom sealer.

Quality craftsmanship this takes time.  In my case it was 10 weeks from start to delivery.  Along the way, Mike kept me informed with e-mails and photos of the very stages of progress and completion date estimates. 

Shipping damage is eliminated because Mike is willing to deliver the stand to most locations for a very small fee.  If the destination distance is just too great Mike fabricates custom crates for freight delivery.

All this care and craftsmanship is at a very modest price.   My five shelf stand was $2K with $400.00 of that being for the custom dye I wanted.

How does it sound?  Properly designed, as this stand is, there is no sound of its own.

I have no monetary or business interest in Mike's company.  I am a very happy customer and wish him much success.  My system can be views under "Member Lookup" username "Kodak805."

Saluda River Audio Stands website is here:

https://saluda-river-audio-stands.business.site/

I hope this helps!

I have entered a direct link to my system to make it easier to view my particular audio stand example.  Mike will make a stand according to your dimensions.  The unit is very heavy and inert.  I measured every surface and angle myself on the finished unit.  Every dimension is exact.  Note the side openings make for adequate ventilation.

A brief note Mike sent me early in the process to indicate that no detail is overlooked in the building of his stands:

"One of the things I do that is different than any other wood stand builder is I not only notch the supports ( which is all the other guys do) I also notch the shelves. So they lock together."

...and also,

"I use only dyes, no stains, I use only alcohol or waterborne finishes. Please be very leary of any audio stand that uses oil-based finishes ie, lacquer, they can color the sonics of your system, and never for the good."

You can easily spend $5K or $10K for a stand of this quality if you can find one on the same level.  You can even spend many multiples of this on a Stillpoints or HRS unit.  However, why pay for marketing with little or no demonstrable sonic benefit over the Saluda River Audio Stand?

The beauty of the stand is quite something.  My wife has absolutely no interest in anything audio.  However, when she saw the finished stand she was as happy as I was and could not stop looking at it.  She is actually encouraging me to order the matching amp stands so as not to waste the remainder of the custom dye color Mike has remaining.

Here is my Audiogon system link:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8501

I hope all this helps!

.

Hi!

The stand was $1995.00 for a five shelf unit measuring 24" wide x 18" deep x 44" in height.  The vertical spacing is 8 " above each shelf.  I chose the dimensions and Mike confirmed with a line drawing on graph paper e-mailed to me.  He never made a 5 shelf vertical stand prior to mine.  He had to construct special gigs for the spacing of the many notches involved for mine.

Regarding the cost:  $400.00 of this was for the custom color dye he had to mix for the exact shade I wanted.  A standard dye would be much less.  He only charged me $50.00 for personal delivery to my home.

I mentioned photo progress:  Mike even e-mailed me pictures of the raw wood maple boards he picked out at his lumber supplier before he began building the stand.

Mike's customer service is exemplary as is the quality and care of his finished product.

i hope i helped you to make a fair decision.