Positioning Components in Rack For Best Sound


8 components, 6 shelves... something has to double up! Two systems, a pure analog 2 channel and a 7.1 surround Home Theater system sharing space on a rack.

Question: If I only really care about the sound quality of my analog rig-- and the home theater components will not even be powered on while I'm listening to vinyl... does it matter how the components are positioned in the rack? Will it compromise the preamp's sound in any way?

Here is how the rack is currently populated, from top to bottom:

1. Turntable
2. Tube Headphone Amp and power supply (side by side, not stacked, runs hot)
3. AV Receiver (feeds front L&R channels to preamp which passes it along to Amp, disabling it's own attenuator).
4. Tube Preamp with BluRay player on top of it and Digital music/video server on top of BluRay
5. Power Center
6. SS Power Amp

Any recommendations for the rack?

Thanks!
Ag insider logo xs@2xalonski
i have always been in the old school of stacking by weight and use....being...from top to bottom......
tuner,
cd player
dvd
ofcourse not on top of one another, but if you have too do that, then i have found some cork designed units from mapleshade audio that work very well.
pre amp
dvd controler
direct tv?
amps .
all should be on seperate shelving, but if you can't , i would at least put the players and amp on seperated shelving. i don't know that it makes a difference in sound with everything stacked this way, i think it looks better and is easier to operate, but to me the amp should always be low or low on a stand..it is like when you use floor stands for speakers, sometimes it just helps seperation, clarity, lower and upper range to be more cohesive. i hope this helps , it was fun for me to do, so in saying that,good listening..dwhitt
Take the stuff off of the tube preamp !
Put the power center on the floor and move the digital stuff in its place .
Try to get as much airspace as possible between components when stacking them .

Good luck .
If you must stack, use symposium fat pads (they are light in weight and work great and you only need three). Provides isolation and it gives you space between the components.