To all the speculation about suspending shelves and the effect on sound, Arcici Suspense Rack uses air bladders in combination with suspended shelves, $2000+ many good reviews but price is high. I would recommend reading some reviews to understand how this appraoch works. For more info on what a shelf does, and the theory behind proper construction go to Symposium site http://www.symposiumusa.com/index.html My approach which preserves visual integrety and financial sanity is to purchase a reasonable priced rack system like Target, Polycrystal and use stock shelves and fine tune with cheap isolation tweaks, cones...vibrapods....bladders etc. Isolation tweaks have more effect than shelf thickness and what type of wood/plastic you use.
Shelf Material
I have tried so many different shelf materials, and some are better than others, but I feel like I am just spraying bullets that always miss the bulls-eye. So far, I cannot live with the brightness of glass, the ringing of marble or granite, the sluggishness of acrylic, the muddiness of mdf etc. Light and rigid seems better than heavy and dense - in that I can live with the downsides more easily. I use heavily constructed welded steel racks - spiked to the floor and upward spikes supporting the shelves - and I reckon this is right. I like the way bladder products get rid of the resonances that plague shelves, but find that the way they slow down the pace of the music is hard to accept. Does anyone have some answers on this?