. I've certainly become less sceptical, if not an all out believer in everything rack reviews try to tell me. ..
Without sounding like an old fart, the history to this can make it a little clearer as to why this ‘industry’ of racks has evolved.
In the good old days of separates, record decks and separate amps , many people placed their kit with the deck say, on the amp and the book shelf speakers on hmmm book shelves.
The move from the book shelf to the speaker stand improved and controlled things.
The close proximity of the amp to the record deck also introduces ‘coupling’ between the amp and deck, ( mainly attributed to the EM field of the transformer and the cartridge)
I had a shelving with what I thought was a reasonable distance between the amp and deck, but when needing to dismantle the set up I played it with the amp further away from the record deck and there was a noticeable improvement, much to my amazement.
The amp then stayed at a much lower height and further away.
This can then be extrapolated to a lesser degree for other sources such as CD players with suffer from microphony, ( the effect of vibration upon electronic components).
Having said all this most of the benefits can be achieved by separation and mounts that isolate the relevant equipment.
Multiple shelves in racks are a convenient solution ( and also a compromise), if done well, but equipment on separate supports will always be the optimum solution.
Be aware that the ‘industry’ is about self perpetuation; other wise it would die, so buy with your ears and in a lot of cases for stands that are made well, with your eyes!!
Matt
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