Rack

Making the impossible possible is how you could describe the design brief for the perfect hi-fi rack. On the one hand, the rack has to keep footfall and vibrations away from the gear; on the other hand, it needs to “drain” mechanical energy such as transformer hum. Our rack incorporates simple but effective measures to achieve these goals.

Deflecting vibrations?

The rack’s boards are not fastened to the solid-steel columns but merely rest on spacers. This reduces the transmission of vibrations from the floor into the boards and it also gives the rack a degree of compliance in the horizontal plane, which helps to decouple the equipment. The frequency of any movement is below the audible range and will therefore not lead to interference.

Dissipating vibrations?

The boards are manufactured from laminated MDF. One of the biggest advantages of this material is that it can be machined with a CNC mill. This allowed us to experiment with various milling patterns in order to distribute resonance peaks so that vibration is drained from the equipment but not reflected back. Record players, valve amplifiers and even solid-state electronics benefit from this type of vibration control.

Looking good?

We prefer hi-fi racks that look more like furniture, less like oil rigs. Therefore we incorporated the vibration control features on the underside of the boards, where you hardly notice them. Like the dps record player and our loudspeakers, Willi Bauer’s rack design follows a minimalistic, timeless aesthetic.