Daniel,

Glad to hear your new system is living up to your expectations.

There are plenty of options regarding racks/supports, and where you land on the price continuum as well as the utility vs aesthetics continuum is obviously a very personal decision that is hard to advise on. I have a Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack which I am delighted with, but if it looks like 'furniture' it is decidedly of the carbon fiber-and-perspex variety!

However I would suggest, per earlier posts, that if you haven't considered the effect of your listening space and acoustic treatment for the common problems it introduces, then money spent on expensive supports will be largely wasted.

Sure, you have a great system and it should never sound less than superb, but in order to unlock the real potential, get that really pinpoint imaging in a real walk-about-in-it 3D soundstage, coupled with an even tonal response that does justice to real instrumental timbre and harmonic complexity, you must address basic things like room modes and early reflection points. This could be especially important in your case, as I think you said you have a long thin room with glass down one side and relatively little latitude regarding speaker placement. The effect some simple measures (both placement and treatment) can have is something like a hundred-fold greater than tweaks like supports, cables and power conditioners.

So my advice is, before you invest more, visit http://www.rivesaudio.com and do some reading. At the level of refinement of your system poor room acoustics could easily dwarf or even mask the difference between different equipment supports.

PS I have found my 1000-series Boulder equipment to be relatively support-insensitive, CD transports OTOH are usually a different story.

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Two questions. First, my condo's living area has two exposed concrete pillars, circumference 64", including one in the corner opposite from the long wall where are placed the speakers. Would they be expected to be good for accoustics or bad for accoustics?

Well I am certainly no expert but my understanding is that generally cylindrical surfaces evenly diffuse sound waves which would be a good thing as it would eliminate some reflections. However I doubt that two 20"-wide pillars would make too much of a difference, especially in a large room otherwise comprising hard flat reflective surfaces. I think it is probably safe to say they aren't hurting, but I really couldn't say whether they are helping at all. Maybe one of our resident acoustics experts can chime in?

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Second, do you have any special accoustic things on the wall behind your speakers?

I used to have diffusor panels behind each speaker (can't remember the make for the life of me) but THE BOSS outlawed them on aesthetic grounds. Their removal hasn't made a huge difference in my current room (see pics in the gallery). I bought them in our previous house where the listening room was a lot smaller, whereas my current room is big enough to allow speaker positioning that leaves rear wall reflections well outside the critical 10 ms window.

IME your two likely biggest problems are (i) bass modes (depending on the size of your room usually the 2L/3L/4L and 1W/2W) and (ii) your first reflection points. Deal with those and you are well on the way. Your dealer may have some expertise in this area (or, more likely, know someone that does) or you could contact Rives and ask if they have anyone covering your area. The consultation is well worth finding some budget to 'reassign' to and a good consultant will be able to recommend visually discreet solutions to the most serious problems that won't have you headed for the divorce courts.

Good luck!

Hi, I use BCD Engineering rack which seems to be producing the right results for me. I also have an Teac Esoteric X-03SE you say that you will add a dac at a later date is that necessary with that particular cd player? I connected it to a Musical Fidelity KW dac which sonically did not seem to make any improvements.

good question and responses, etc. But hardly an "Entry Level" situation...