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No recommending Solid Tech Audio Racks

I couldn’t find an Audio Rack category. I would like to give you my opinion on Solid Tech’s Audio Racks.
They are VERY expensive and a very poor design. Twice I have had 2 of their shelves break and the supporting screws have ripped out of them. The rack itself doesn’t really stand up straight and is kind of a wobbly looking thing. They are made in Sweden. I have the Hybrid standard rack. Their Walnut shelves are $ 400 and are made of fiber wood with walnut veneers. For $ 400 I would expect to have solid wood walnut shelves. I had a horrible experience with them. It took several months for them to send me their product and several times they sent me the wrong items. They don’t stock any spare parts which is bad it you lose a screw. Yes I know we had Covid last year and that was probably part of the problem but the world needs to keep spinning. Very unhappy with the price of their product and the poor design and the poor quality of their products.
londontk
12 responses Add your response
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
So, you are now recommending them?
mitch2
3,968 posts
 
He said, "No recommending" - he doesn't like them
They look techy-tweaky so not surprising.

Hard to beat Sound Anchor for performance at a reasonable price.
Not high tech but simply as solid as it gets.
I have dressed mine up a bit with wood shelves (pic on system page).
Use whatever footers you want on the rack and/or the supported equipment.
MC would probably decouple by putting the whole rack on Townshend pods or podiums.
Mine is on Herbies Giant Fat Gliders but I have thought about using some stiff springs.

ebm
9,311 posts
 
Sounds like pure overpriced crap you should have gotten Symposium or Silent Running both great companies made in USA.I own a Symposium Osiris all copper legs not cheap but a BIG sound upgrade.Sorry about your misfortune.
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
Thanks for the heads up on this Londontk
earlflynn's avatar
earlflynn
461 posts
 
Butcher block, hole saw, threaded rod.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
Thanks for the heads up. Core Audio makes a lovely rack as do some mentioned above. Add HRS to the list.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
To combine two of the above postings/recommendations:

The Core Audio racks are constructed of beautiful Baltic Birch ply for their entire structure; I believe Core also offer individual BB shelves (if they don’t, others do. Alternatively, you may buy a sheet of BB and have it cut into shelf-size pieces.). One interesting idea is to use BB shelves installed into a Sound Anchor stand, imo opinion the best metal stands on the market.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,384 posts
 
I use Solid Steel Audio Racks. They look great, support heavy and large equipment and are reasonably affordable. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
That's the racks I have, @stereo5---three of the original Italian-made Solid Steel 4-shelf Model 44. The rack itself is acceptable (the four corner pillars hollow, sand/lead shot fillable), but the shelves are just 3/4" formica-covered MDF---ugh. I was about to make some Baltic Birch/Slate shelves (with a sheet of ASC Wall Damp constrained-layer damping material between the BB and Slate) when the Pandemic closed everything down. My project for later this year.
jaytor's avatar
jaytor
765 posts
 
I have been pretty pleased with my Solid-Tech rack. I have a four-shelf Hybrid rack with separate corner posts for each shelf - filled with sand. The rack feels very solid to me and looks sharp. 

I just ordered a couple more shelves and corner posts to reconfigure as a double-wide three shelf rack since I have more equipment I need to set up. 

I considered some of the solid wood racks such as Timbernation, but I wanted a rack that can easily be reconfigured and I like the high-tech styling of the solid-tech rack. 
aubullience
28 posts
 

I strongly recommend Solid Tech Racks of Silence for their sonic and aesthetic value. I’ve used them in my system for almost 20 years. They were originally recommended to me by Richard Hardesty, former high-end audio store owner and founder of the Audio Perfectionist journal. He also wrote a review on them which may be somewhere online. They’ve also been favorably reviewed by other respected reviewers (but Richard particular was an especially knowledgeable and no-bullshit reviewer/audio guy).

While I expect that the Solid tech is not at the sonic level of an HRS or Symposium rack, IMO it’s much nicer-looking, and crucially, a much-better value, i.e., you won’t be spending as much or more on an audio rack as a major component (though if you have a very high-end system, the other racks I mentioned may be a more marginal cost for the buyer). I’ve had a variety of heavy (e.g., 30-50 lbs), though not ultra-heavy gear in my ROS’s for years with absolutely no problems at all, and the ROS’s have improved their sound.

That being said, I tried their Discs of Silence footers (and was definitely NOT impressed by them), but their other tweaks, e.g., the Feet of Silence may offer better results.

FWIW, I also own a series of Symposium platforms and roller blocks and think well of them.

pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

I have a long history of using the Solid Tech  'Feet of Silence' and have struggled to find anything to Supersede them in use. The 'FoS' have superseded all footers I have used in the Past under a TT Source and have proved very good under other devices when used as the Footer as well.

Where the 'FoS' becomes extremely attractive, is when used in conjunction with a Plinth or Sub-Plinth that has the Board Material produced from a Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood. 

I can only but recommend the introduction of this Material to be used as the Board to produce the Shelves on the Solid Tech Rack System. Trying one as the Shelve for the Source will be a very good place to commence having the experience.       

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