Help? Quadraspire Q4 Evo stand v SolidTech Radius?

After putting together my retirement "Lifetime Achievement Award" all McIntosh system I decided on a 4 shelf Quadraspire Sunoko Vent T rack, with all black vented shelfs and black posts at lengths that fit my gear like a glove. Cosmetically the unit almost disappears and just showcases the Mac gear and the big blue meters. It just looks great. In addition the Vent T series has the heavy solid wood shelfs with the larger vertical posts which was a must for the heavy Mac gear as the MC452 amp. alone weighs 130lbs. Another plus is the rack assembles, simply and flawlessly in just minutes and what a relief that is! The rack and the gear sit like a rock with no sway or give on carpet with the modified tapered feet (it also ships with a set of flat feet). It turned out that not only is the rack Wifey friendly but we both independently came to the instant conclusion that the rack is very, very neutral but so significantly extended the mid-range we now have a system we never get tired of listening to, and I guess that is what the audio quest is all about. Hope my experience with Quadraspire helps.

Hi guys

Sorry for the delay in responding to this - thought audigon emailed you when someone responded to posts - guess not!! Thought nobody replied=).

Well, I ended up buying a very good value and mint condition used Quadraspire Q4 Evo. Mostly because the price was literally 1/3rd the cost of the Solid Tech. Just assembling it now and will reply/post a review as to my thoughts.

thank you for responding it helped greatly!!

Andrew

Hi all,

Well.. I just wanted to provide an update on this, and obtain your thoughts ?

I recently acquired (at a great price) a Quadraspire Q4 Evo stand. In short, it has some good sound aspects and, some negatives (compared to my older, cheap, but sand/leadshot filled rack).

Positives : Very musical, rhythmic, and neutral in tonality. Music DVD's are very enjoyable.

The negatives : (And these are big ones to me) - the dynamics, and bass.

It's strange - compared to my 15 yr old rack (Goldring - 50/50 sand and lead filled rack - a no-name rack brand as far as I've researched), I've found the Quadraspire Q4 Evo to be very bass-shy, and lacking in dynamics. Case in point - playing a 5.1 Surround Blu Ray Disc on my Quadraspire I actually had to check my subwoofers to make sure they were working. They were ; I measured them with an SPL meter to confirm. During a movie soundtrack though, very bass and dynamic-shy ; obviously so in comparison to my old sand/lead filled rack.

Long story short - the Quadraspire Q4 Evo I've just bought is back on the market. I love music on this stand but, movie-watching is a very underwhelming experience as far as dynamics and bass are concerned.

Have any other owners of similar UK-style ('lighter-is-better') racks, found the above observations? Or, not..? I'd love to hear of others' thoughts.

After this experience I'm wondering if I should go to a Solid Steel, or Solid Tech stand - ie, one that is mass-loadable. I know when I mass-loaded my old rack the bass and sound improved substantially - more powerful/tighter bass, dynamics, etc.

In short, maybe this was just a purchase down the wrong path. Perhaps I should have gone with a mass-loadable rack ie, the American style mass-loading 'heavier-is-better' school of thought. I say this on the basis that my old rack (filled 50/50 with sand/lead shot) absolutely destroys this new Quadraspire in the areas of bass power and dynamics.

Sigh.. stands and racks. Such a difficult guessing game.

Any input would be appreciated!!

Thanks