Ictra racks and platforms

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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Hi everyone - check out this video on Ictra racks and platforms.

I’m very curious, as an audiophile, what importance you put on this in your system.

You can start at the 1:45 mark.

 
I was a skeptic.

Then I decided to try for myself rather than listen to people argue on forums over it who had never tried it for themselves.

The difference is huge. BUT - not all works for the better or the same.

For instance IsoAcoustics makes my system sound WORSE. I've had good luck with other ones and it's not always the most expensive that sounds the best in my system.

Also using two different kinds of vibration control on one piece of gear can make a substantial positive difference.

I've tried probably 15 different kinds of vibration control.
 
Michaels HiFi said:
I was a skeptic.

Then I decided to try for myself rather than listen to people argue on forums over it who had never tried it for themselves.

The difference is huge. BUT - not all works for the better or the same.

For instance IsoAcoustics makes my system sound WORSE. I've had good luck with other ones and it's not always the most expensive that sounds the best in my system.

Also using two different kinds of vibration control on one piece of gear can make a substantial positive difference.

I've tried probably 15 different kinds of vibration control.
Click to expand...
And that’s weird. ISOAcoustics was a big difference in my system so much so that I bought their footers for everything. Stillpoints on the other hand were awful.
 
My question is: do audiophiles care about this in a rack enough to pay say 5-10 x over a solid steel or whatever rack.

Why?

Europeans and Asian markets really really care about this.

Does the US Market? If not, why? We buy other items like grounding and cable lifters and fuses.
 
Mike said:
And that’s weird. ISOAcoustics was a big difference in my system so much so that I bought their footers for everything. Stillpoints on the other hand were awful.
Click to expand...
I'm sure Iso sounds great in other systems.

I think vibration control is so highly specific and dependent on your unique situation that it really is something you need to try for yourself to find the right one.
 
Mike said:
My question is: do audiophiles care about this in a rack enough to pay say 5-10 x over a solid steel or whatever rack.

Why?

Europeans and Asian markets really really care about this.

Does the US Market? If not, why? We buy other items like grounding and cable lifters and fuses.
Click to expand...
The difficulty is that it's hard to know if a high dollar rack is going to make enough of a difference to justify the cost. I mean, you can't ask a dealer to move all the equipment from one rack system to another to compare and you can't exactly home demo a rack. So a lot of us, myself included, just opt for a somewhat budget rack (Solid Tech in my case). Not sure how this can ever be solved. I'm thinking most people that really splurge on racks maybe just take a leap of faith??
 
Mike said:
My question is: do audiophiles care about this in a rack enough to pay say 5-10 x over a solid steel or whatever rack.

Why?

Europeans and Asian markets really really care about this.

Does the US Market? If not, why? We buy other items like grounding and cable lifters and fuses.
Click to expand...
Demoing a rack is impractical if not impossible, especially compared with most audio components we buy. For vibration control, is there an SQ trade off between a top end, rack or spending the money on upgraded footers? Some of the most technically sophisticated racks are pretty ugly. And some, if they cannot be reasonably reconfigured, may be more restrictive of future equipment choices. Consequently, I would rather spend more on electronics, some of the accessories you mention, and a more basic rack than a state of the art rack.
 
I had a Salamander rack which was sturdy but not ideal. Upgraded to an Artesania Exoteryc about 8 years ago. While it was a pricey investment, it was not “crazy” money. I’ve been very happy with it.

The good news is that there are a good number of rack companies with products that won’t break the bank. And, some that are quite beautiful like the racks built by Massif out of Canada.
 
GSOphile said:
Demoing a rack is impractical if not impossible, especially compared with most audio components we buy. For vibration control, is there an SQ trade off between a top end, rack or spending the money on upgraded footers? Some of the most technically sophisticated racks are pretty ugly. And some, if they cannot be reasonably reconfigured, may be more restrictive of future equipment choices. Consequently, I would rather spend more on electronics, some of the accessories you mention, and a more basic rack than a state of the art rack.
Click to expand...

All great points. I'm a fan of buying a solid purpose built rack and then tweaking vibration control on the component level. I've often found different gear responses to different products of vibration control differently.

This allows me to buy a rack I like and then get the best sound by tweaking each component with the exact vibration control items that work best with it. It's a highly customizable (and less expensive than buying a super rack) option for me.
 
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