HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

I am sick of not having any projects completed. The nearest I am is with the LP12 with no springs.

To try and put this right I have made a few decisions. Building my gear into the old chest of drawers is shelved now but might be revisited when I know where I'm going to be living.

I will be going back to my trusty Quadraspire Q4 reference rack. I know racks are not good because things are too close to each other but I have ways and means of getting round this to some extent.

Gone is the godawful stand I made out of fence posts and chipboard, it was only temporary whilst I did all this experimenting. Speakers still across that corner. Look it's gone and replaced with LS6 speaker cable spaghetti



Rack in a corner is a bad idea, take it from me. When I only had CD on there it wasn't an obvious problem. Even with the TT on top of the Quadraspire it was awful at times. So rack is going to be nowhere near the speakers. Here it is with just the left hand speaker in view.



More on the rack and enclosures to come, if anybody is interested

As standard the Quadraspire is set up with a base level that you don't put anything on because it is rigid and not free to move about like the other levels. Not that you could fit anything on it if its over 6cm high.



I've done a bit of jiggling about and increased the height between floor and base level and between base level and the next level up. I only had six usable levels before but now got seven.



Most levels are 16cm above the one below except the last two. All will become clear later.

These racks are good as they are light, intentionally wobbly and have a cut out in the centre of the shelves. Oops. I put that spiked top level on the wrong way round, the curvy bit should face forwards like the lower levels.

I found three identical drawers which are just the right dimensions to go between the lower levels.
They need a lid putting on and a few other bits and bobs.

The lowest one is on the carpet and contains the four psu's for the four nva power amp boards. The drawer above that contains the TT psu, phono stage psu and the CD3.5 psu's.



The third drawer is going to contain the power amp boards, source selector and stepped attenuator. That will be three levels above the nearest psu's.

This rack has spikes at the bottom and for the very top level where the TT is at the moment. I decided to remove the things the spikes sat in for the top level. I replaced them with some rubber anti vibration mounts from a knackered chainsaw



They were a perfect fit, just need cleaning up a bit. I have no idea if these have made any difference to the amount of vibration reaching the LP12 but nothing bad has happened. It also increase the height to the level below which enables me to get the phono board enclosure in there.

RD hated racks and with good reason imo. Everything crammed in and transformers near to sensitive circuitry. It's like electromagnetic interference pea soup.

So to get adequate distance between psu's and sensitive circuitry I have off boarded all the psu's and put them as low down the rack as I can. There is not a single transformer above the two enclosures made out of drawers at the bottom.

I have managed to get 45cm between the upper most transformers and the power amp boards. There is 70cm distance between the phono stage boards and the nearest transformer. That is the best I can do so will have to do. No hum on the phono input.

The CDP sits above the integrated amp and the phono stage above that. I could get away with things being crammed together here as there are no transformers in any of these .

So I have two unused shelves in the middle. Nothing will be going on those. I'm thinking of hanging some fabric down the cut outs in those shelves to hide the power supply wiring

This is the plan.

Another idea for racks which i have seen done is to get a couple of ikea lack tables, cut the legs down to whatever height you need the spaces between shelves to be, stick a square insert into the cut end with a threaded insert in the centre of that for a spike or a foot of some sort, and stack them up on top of each other. Instant russ abbot torlyte style rack system.

Ten quid each and a bit of work.
I do like lack tables for sitting turntables on

That looks like a rack and system anyone would be proud to have in their home Stu.

antonio66 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 2:20 am That looks like a rack and system anyone would be proud to have in their home Stu.

Hopefully you won't be laughing when it's finished

I could build all my stuff into Naim Olive shoebox cases but would probably get lightning bolts from Doc.

Vinyl-ant wrote: ↑Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:46 pm Another idea for racks which i have seen done is to get a couple of ikea lack tables, cut the legs down to whatever height you need the spaces between shelves to be, stick a square insert into the cut end with a threaded insert in the centre of that for a spike or a foot of some sort, and stack them up on top of each other. Instant russ abbot torlyte style rack system.

Ten quid each and a bit of work.
I do like lack tables for sitting turntables on

Aye, lack tables are the stuff of legends. I like a good IKEA hack.