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SAMSON V.2 Rack: three 2-inch thick shelves |
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THIS CONFIGURATION INCLUDES: 3 finished shelves,
4 uprights, 4 brass top caps (2" D), 16 brass shelf nuts (2" D),
and 4 threaded brass footers
Ordering Tips:
• For best performance on uncarpeted floors, choose our standard footer option. Upgrade to Megafeet for ultimate performance.
• To avoid leaving dings on expensive hardwood floors, use our radiused footer options.
• On carpet, it is essential for the points of the SAMSON's footers to penetrate the rug and contact the solid floor underneath.
• For high pile carpet with padding (more than 1/2" deep), you need thick carpet footers to penetrate to the floor.
• For thin commercial wall-to-wall carpet (less than 1/2"), thin carpet footers will sound slightly better than the thick carpet version.
Additional Info:
• To hear the full potential of the SAMSON, we strongly encourage mounting each component to its shelf with our brass footers. Using Micropoint Heavyfeet or Triplepoints to couple your components to the maple will nearly double the sonic improvement you get with the SAMSON.
• Audiophiles seeking the ultimate in performance may want to consider adding a 2" or 4" thick Finished Maple Platform on Isoblocks under key components. Add-on platforms with Isoblocks help isolate each component from vibrations generated by gear on the other shelves. The sonic improvement is especially remarkable under turntables and tubed equipment.
• Users with turntables may want to consider ordering the 4" option for the top shelf; the improvement over the 2" shelf is highly audible (ditto with first rate CD players). On the other hand, adding a 4" maple platform with IsoBlocks onto a 2" shelf sounds even better than a 4" shelf alone--but it costs you an extra 4" in height.
• Those seeking the absolute ultimate in sound quality will want to order the SAMSON with all 4" shelves plus a 4" maple platform on every shelf. This is simply the best-sounding equipment rack in the world, bar none. We have a sizable number of customers who have ordered this no-hold-barred configuration--and who report that installing the second layer of maple platforms onto the 4" shelves turned an already superb sounding rack into a breathtaking one.
• Every SAMSON shelf is hand-planed from rough-cut 2-1/2" and 4-1/2" maple to remove saw marks and surface imperfections. We aim for a true 2" or 4" thickness--as opposed to the commercial lumber practice of undersizing. But, because of variations in the rough-cut timber, the exact thickness may vary by up to 3/16".
Design and Performance:
In order to make better sounding CDs, we have been experimenting for 15 years with better ways of mounting audio equipment. Our experiments have shown:
• Most crucial is to provide an absolutely rigid, resonance free path for vibrational energy to flow out of the equipment into the shelf and down through the supporting uprights into floor. Any plastic, rubber or other damping material introduced for "isolation" into the path from the shelf to the floor induces muddy bass with smeared mids and highs.
• Wood shelves sound much better than metal, granite or glass. They also sound better than Corian, graphite/carbon fiber composite or damped plastic composites. Among the wood alternatives, the worst is particleboard, then MDF and plywood.
• The best of the available woods is maple. Air-dried maple is audibly better than kiln-dried (all lumber yard and butcher block maple is kiln-dried). The normal audio rack shelf thickness of ¾" to 1" is inadequately rigid.
• Uprights for supporting shelves must be solid, not hollow. Damping the very audible resonances of hollow metal supports with sand or lead fill introduces new problems: notably both dynamics and ambience are deadened and sustained notes are truncated.
• Uprights must be much more rigid than needed for load-bearing alone. To transfer vibrational energy cleanly into the floor, uprights must be terminated with massive conepoints, preferably brass.
• The overall rack structure must be unshakably rigid and stiff. Most importantly, there must be absolutely no side-sway (nor fore-and-aft sway). This is a weak point for most audio racks.
The SAMSON addresses these crucial design issues quite simply:
• Shelves are 2" air-dried maple (4" is available as an option). Two inch is approximately 15 times as stiff as the ¾" veneered MDF standard on most audiophile racks.
• Uprights are 1 ¼" solid steel, 8 times as stiff as the typical rack's 5/8" rod or 1" hollow square tubing.
• Shelves are locked to the steel uprights by being captured with crushing force between two massive threaded brass cylinders at each corner. This yields a totally rigid vibration path and zero measurable side sway.
Specifications:
• Solid 2" (or 4") thick air-dried maple shelves finished in clear lacquer.
• 2" shelves will support 300+ pounds; 4" will support over 900 pounds.
• Shelf dimensions are 26" wide x 19" deep; 21-1/2" width between uprights.
• Fully assembled height is 38" from the floor to the upper surface of the top shelf.
• 1-1/4" diameter, solid steel vertical supports, fully threaded for infinite adjustability; available with matte black or nickel-zinc plating.
• When shelves are equally spaced, the height between shelves is about 14".
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