A Long Overdue Addition to Our Family: the Artesania Audio 3-level AV rack in black

[Philip O Hanlon]

We have been big fans of the Artesania Audio triple-suspension shelf-less rack systems and have been importing/distributing their Classic Line (the Exoteryc, Prestige, and the Mini’s) for many years. We were a little late to the party to incorporate their AV rack into our demo fleet as we felt we may not like the potential resonance from the shelves on these racks vs the rest of the Classical Line. Oh man, oh man, oh man, what were we thinking?

With our recent renovations to our listening rooms, (see our latest post for On A Higher Note Update and Upgrade, Part I), with one of the rooms doubles up as a mixed media room where we also watch TV there, we thought it is high time to install one of their AV racks into our living space and try it out ourselves but we didn't know we would be in for a real pleasant surprise.

First off, we love the clean lines.

It's functional as it comfortably houses the needed six components (we squeezed in 7) on the rack without feeling crowded. The middle shelves are height-adjustable. They are made of glass, with a constrained layer of dampening material in the middle of the glass shelf. The spikes to the floor rest on 60mm Decoupling Discs, while the glass shelves rest on a rubber interface.



This three level Artesania Audio “Audio Video” rack with shelves retails at $4,600 for standard graphite finish (with an additional 10% surcharge for any other custom color, including black as shown above), a terrific value for the more budget conscious audiophiles and a fantastic 2nd or 3rd rack in a house with multiple rooms with electronics, or for any hybrid room system. While not offering quite as much mechanical isolation as the more expensive, triple-suspension shelf-less Classic Rack Systems, these Artesania Audio AV racks offer terrific sound quality at a reasonable price.

Give your other components the rack they deserve. By allowing all the music come through once the components are isolated from mechanical resonance, you would be surprised how much better the bass sounds. They also look really smart.

Recommended.

For more:

Go to our “Music Session with Steve Williams” for more details about inexpensive tweaks we made to hear vinyl on the Bergmann Modi playing through the Graham Audio’s LS8/1’s, a flexible system we recommend to install to almost any system, whether you want to gain more musicality, deeper bass, or HF resolution.

See “Early First Listening Notes for Graham Audio LS8/1” for our music notes of music played from this curated Midrange Magic system.

See “On A Higher Note Update and Upgrades (Part I)” for the system used and the room description where this rack is installed.

Philip O'Hanlon
On A Higher Note
(distributor of excellence)
window to the true sound through imported synergistic high end audio components: N. American Importer/Distributor - Artesania Audio, Graham Audio, Gryphon Audio, Moonriver Audio. Formerly Eclipse TD, Luxman, Vivid Audio, Merging Technologies

 

[Addicted to hifi]

The rack looks good and well designed

 

[PhP]

View attachment 81516

We have been big fans of the Artesania Audio triple-suspension shelf-less rack systems and have been importing/distributing their Classic Line (the Exoteryc, Prestige, and the Mini’s) for many years. We were a little late to the party to incorporate their AV rack into our demo fleet as we felt we may not like the potential resonance from the shelves on these racks vs the rest of the Classical Line. Oh man, oh man, oh man, what were we thinking?

With our recent renovations to our listening rooms, (see our latest post for On A Higher Note Update and Upgrade, Part I), with one of the rooms doubles up as a mixed media room where we also watch TV there, we thought it is high time to install one of their AV racks into our living space and try it out ourselves but we didn't know we would be in for a real pleasant surprise.

First off, we love the clean lines.

It's functional as it comfortably houses the needed six components (we squeezed in 7) on the rack without feeling crowded. The middle shelves are height-adjustable. They are made of glass, with a constrained layer of dampening material in the middle of the glass shelf. The spikes to the floor rest on 60mm Decoupling Discs, while the glass shelves rest on a rubber interface.

View attachment 81461

This three level Artesania Audio “Audio Video” rack with shelves retails at $4,600 for standard graphite finish (with an additional 10% surcharge for any other custom color, including black as shown above), a terrific value for the more budget conscious audiophiles and a fantastic 2nd or 3rd rack in a house with multiple rooms with electronics, or for any hybrid room system. While not offering quite as much mechanical isolation as the more expensive, triple-suspension shelf-less Classic Rack Systems, these Artesania Audio AV racks offer terrific sound quality at a reasonable price.

Give your other components the rack they deserve. By allowing all the music come through once the components are isolated from mechanical resonance, you would be surprised how much better the bass sounds. They also look really smart.

Recommended.

For more:

Go to our “Music Session with Steve Williams” for more details about inexpensive tweaks we made to hear vinyl on the Bergmann Modi playing through the Graham Audio’s LS8/1’s, a flexible system we recommend to install to almost any system, whether you want to gain more musicality, deeper bass, or HF resolution.

See “Early First Listening Notes for Graham Audio LS8/1” for our music notes of music played from this curated Midrange Magic system.

See “On A Higher Note Update and Upgrades (Part I)” for the system used and the room description where this rack is installed.

Philip O'Hanlon
On A Higher Note
(distributor of excellence)
window to the true sound through imported synergistic high end audio components: N. American Importer/Distributor - Artesania Audio, Graham Audio, Gryphon Audio, Moonriver Audio. Formerly Eclipse TD, Luxman, Vivid Audio, Merging Technologies

Hi

I know as a specialist in mechanical vibrations that audio racks are not very well engineered. Only 3 or 4 have a real science approach and this with clear audible results, say "absolute" neutrality without damping the sound nor give it a forward sound especially in miss and highs. For music lovers, the good news is that the most expensive racks are often not the best (save 1).
Making a rack in steel with screws and damped points for the shelves or to interface the electronics is a very first step and far from the way to obtain an immersive music at home as "real" as possible.
I will tell more on this subject a bit later as I will tell of a great audio rack that will give music lover the opportunity to realize that it's an important component of the system and this at a quite reasonable price.

 

[Blue58]

Not much difference from the Apollo stands from 30 years ago and could pick up for less than £100

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Not much difference from the Apollo stands from 30 years ago and could pick up for less than £100
View attachment 81589

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

You are kidding right ?
Yes, they are both black and are both made of steel. Just as a VW Beetle and a Porsche 911 are both cars, both are available in black. Both would transport you to a petrol station. There are differences, however...


The Artesania columns are filled with crushed marble to dampen out resonances.
The rack rests on spikes, which in turn sits on Decoupling Discs (with interchangeable floor interfaces) to break the servo loop resonance between the floor and the rack.
The shelves themselves sit on a constrained dampening footer to eliminate resonances.
The glass shelves have a constrained layer of dampening in the middle to further reduce resonances.

Sonically the inexpensive rack sounds dramatically different from the modern high-end rack which while considerably more expensive, gives a HUGE improvement in sonic performance. The carefully engineered modern rack delivers better bass, more coherent & articulate. The midrange is quieter & plays from a blacker background, while the highs are more extended.

Twenty years ago many audiophiles were skeptical that cables, power cords, line conditioners could improve the sound quality of a system. Nowadays they are considered essential. So too with properly engineered racks. An essential component in a reference-quality audio system. If you are serious about pursuing the best sound quality, you should investigate Artesania components further..

 

[Lagonda]

You are kidding right ?
Yes, they are both black and are both made of steel. Just as a VW Beetle and a Porsche 911 are both cars, both are available in black. Both would transport you to a petrol station. There are differences, however...


The Artesania columns are filled with crushed marble to dampen out resonances.
The rack rests on spikes, which in turn sits on Decoupling Discs (with interchangeable floor interfaces) to break the servo loop resonance between the floor and the rack.
The shelves themselves sit on a constrained dampening footer to eliminate resonances.
The glass shelves have a constrained layer of dampening in the middle to further reduce resonances.

Sonically the inexpensive rack sounds dramatically different from the modern high-end rack which while considerably more expensive, gives a HUGE improvement in sonic perfromace. The carefully engineered modern rack delivers better bass, more coherent & articulate. The midrange is quieter & plays from a blacker background, while the highs are more extended.

Twenty years ago many audiophiles were sceptical that cables, power cords, line conditioners could improve the sound quality of a system. Nowadays they are considered essential. So Too with properly engineered racks. An essential component in a reference-quality audio system. If you are serious about pursuing the best sound quality, you should investigate Artesania components further..

Nice to see you back posting on WBF, Philip ! Nobody else makes product introduction as interesting as you, loved the Bergmann Modi posts too !

 

[Philip O Hanlon]

Not much difference from the Apollo stands from 30 years ago and could pick up for less than £100
View attachment 81589

Thank you for the photo. I see there there was a preowned Apollo stand also offered here in the U.S. before for even less. Probably another vintage product as I don't think they make these anymore., certainly not at these prices.

For people looking for racks, the anti-resonance function to me is the most important factor, aside from the practical question of how many components we can fit on the racks. Not unlike speaker stands, you want the legs to be solid and not hollow. Same for the metal racks that connect the 4 legs. A good way to test is to tap the vertical legs and the horizontal bars to see if you can hear any "ringing". Artesania's AV rack and the rest of the Classic Line have solid legs/horizontal support bars with different select materials inside, making them anti-resonant.

As to shelving, we normally prefer Krion shelves for the same reason. With glass, Artesania went the extra mile and makes sandwiched glass shelves where two layers of glass sandwiches an anti-resonance layer of material. You can really tell the difference using these versus the single panel glass shelves.

Artesania Audio is a serious player who keeps innovating.

In a show environment where there are so many elements we as exhibitors cannot control but we still need to make great sound, Artesania is the go-to rack company for us, and for many manufacturers. Here is a showcase which contains some videos showing what important manufacturers, reviewers like Ken Kessler think about them, and why they choose to use Artesania Racks:

Artesania Audio Racks - what prominent industry insiders say on Vimeo

Join the web’s most supportive community of creators and get high-quality tools for hosting, sharing, and streaming videos in gorgeous HD with no ads.

vimeo.com

cheers, Philip