Can an audio rack be that important?

I’m really not sure if it does or does not make an audible difference. I also have a mega buck system and I finally went and splurged on a custom rack from Timbernation. Gorgeous solid tiger maple. $2300 plus $400 shipping. I’m still waiting for it to be built. 

Better is better but it's just furniture. A rack is generally not going to improve or even affect the audio itself, but we must consider things like a turntable if part of the system on the rack (let's assume no turntable for a second). We will have all kinds of arguments, but no modern audio gear is going to sound different between racks. If you have enough movement to affect your gear on any decent rack you have bigger structural issues or environmental issues in your building. I have movement issues with my wood frame floors, but no rack is going to change that. Nice well built heavy duty racks are always better, not arguing that. Chances are if you are having issues with a rack it's because it is complete junk, but is still not affecting the audio quality. I have a cheap but decent rack system, but the issue is the wife walking like a sasquatch while the turntable spins, even with sorbothane insulators, not the rack. If you are one of the people who like to get naked and roll in piles of expensive power cords, and interconnects, and spend time preaching about audiophile fuses, then you might feel the need to argue this one :-)  

I find that isolation and vibration control have a big impact on SQ particularly with tube gear.  Having a solid base created through a quality rack provides a solid foundation to executing resonance control.  Platforms and footers work so much better if integrated into a quality rack.

I think it really depends on the room & more specifically the floor. If you have a cement slab floor  it makes life much easier. Generally, you want to couple to that floor as directly & firmly as possible. Putting the equipment right on the floor should be fine or if preferred, any decent rack or even cinder blocks topped w/ a piece of granite or solid hardwood cutting board. Suspended wood floors are much more of a challenge & in my experience, often the opposite is best whereby you want to try to decouple the equipment from the floor it the vibrations & resonances it can create. This is especially true w/ speakers.. There’s a lot different theories on how to do this. I use 4” x 4” squares that are designed to mitigate vibrations for industrial equipment. They’re  layered w/ relatively hard very grippy rubber w/ a core of pretty dense foam. They’re inexpensive & seem to work very well w/ my speakers .

Has anyone ever seen or used the Tri-Art bamboo rack I am interested in a four shelf model for my Auris Fortissimo tube and Sugden a21se signature Goldnote mono blocks Goldnote DS 10 a with PSU Evo 10  and AYON S10 MK ll signature apparently bamboo has some great characteristics for isolation