Need a new Hi-Fi rack?

I got the oil idea from Chris Brady of Teres Audio. He tested different materials for his turntable. In my situation the oil is just barely enough to coat the sand when thoroughly mixed. Just enough to eliminate dust and scatter. 

The "well" is an indentation for the sand that was cast into the concrete. Most people would use a box or tray to hold the sand. With concrete and granite the damping from sand is essential as concrete and granite really are not good by themselves. Massive and stiff but poorly damped, they ring real bad. That's why nothing sits directly on concrete or granite, and not even directly on the sand.

That rack was built around 2003. The sand at the top has a 150 lb granite plate sitting on it. The sand at the bottom has four MDF footers supporting a phono stage. Neither has shifted at all in what is now nearly 20 years.

Here is a very old photo of my system from 2004. http://theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm
Not to say "do this" but to give some idea just what it takes to make a rack that’s better than the floor. It ain’t easy! The floor has all the advantages. But with just 700 lbs of concrete, sand, granite, and carbon fiber it can be done!

All humor aside it shows cheap material like concrete can be cast into graceful curves that when painted don’t look at all like concrete. The ABS columns are polished and in person you’d never think ABS. Concrete doesn’t have to mean cinder blocks. Doing it again today I would probably use real wood veneer. Still might. Could be added any time.

Whatever you get, if its low and squat, stiff, solid and massive, especially with most of the mass up high and as near the turntable as possible, with as little on it as possible (ideally table and phono stage is all) then you should be fine. Whatever you do plan on an extra 6" or so. Because no matter how good the rack it will be even better with something on top. Sand box, big thick butcher block, BDR Shelf for the Source, whatever it is, be thinking about it, because of all the things you do this will probably be the most important and cost-effective.

Low is good. Floor is better. Impractical, but better.

Nothing I tried that was anything like all the stands you see came anywhere close to the floor. My system is all laid out to maximize my audio dollar and performance. Power conditioner on the floor by the front wall. Power cords going left to sub amps on the floor, to the integrated sitting on the floor dead center and a bit further out, and to the right to the turntable/phono stage/motor controller rack. Being back against the wall and off to the right the one thing that would mess up imaging can't because of where it is. All the other stuff is so low, even sitting on a granite plate and Cones the amp is only 12-18" and even that surface is broken up, so its almost not even there.

That's my tip- low, and broken up. Its better if its not there at all. But if its low and broken up then it will act almost as a diffuser and that's what you want.

Anything beyond that, tap on it. If it the sound is hard and fairly sharp and immediately dies it'll probably be okay. If it rings, or tings, or vibrates or anything at all like that, walk away.

Well first of all that system- Hyperion, Herron, HFT- congratulations! Theoretically yes, you do stand to gain more than just aesthetics, because racks really do make a difference. Unfortunately, nobody wants to hear what works best, and nobody'd make it anyway, because its mass and mass ships expensive. So they mostly wind up being just heavy enough to not be too horrible, and hope that with a good enough shape or finish nobody will notice. Because, I mean, who "auditions" racks in their system anyway?

So pretty much guarantee you buy the one you like the looks of. It is after all what we all do. The one thing I would suggest though is to consider the turntable separately from everything else. Even two of the exact same rack from the same company will be better than putting it all on one.