How Much Workspace Behind Racks?

[spiritofmusic]

8’ behind my gear, all components to be 5” off the floor.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Not everybody has the luxury of a 45 foot long listening room!

 

[spiritofmusic]

That’s true Ron, it’s the freedom to have the spkrs totally free of boundaries that is the real bonus here.

 

[Ron Resnick]

That’s true Ron, it’s the freedom to have the spkrs totally free of boundaries that is the real bonus here.

I completely agree.

 

[byrdparis]

8’ behind my gear, all components to be 5” off the floor.

Lucky baster
you have more room behind your racks then my entire width of my listening room
i have less then a foot behind my racks... very very difficult cable management..

 

[spiritofmusic]

Hey ByrdP, it’s all give and take in life.
Would I take yr AF3 and Top Wind Red cart? And give you my bigger space?
Hmm...

 

[byrdparis]

Hey ByrdP, it’s all give and take in life.
Would I take yr AF3 and Top Wind Red cart? And give you my bigger space?
Hmm...

i totaly agree!

 

[marslo]

50 cm approx here which is around 20 inches, right?
Not enough to walk but enough to change cables for auditions for example.
More space behind speakers though.

PS I envy Marc the space he has in the chapel

 

[spiritofmusic]

Marslo, my Zus have never been champions of soundstaging or stage depth.
But being able to move them 9’ from front walls and 4’ from side walls, has together w naturally improved acoustics here, unlocked a lot of potential.

 

[astrotoy]

24". When I had my new projection screen installed, I had the installers, much stronger and younger than me, move all the racks out, so it is very easy for me to walk behind and change anything I want. Fortunately the room is 26' long.

Larry

 

[NorthStar]

24". When I had my new projection screen installed, I had the installers, much stronger and younger than me, move all the racks out, so it is very easy for me to walk behind and change anything I want. Fortunately the room is 26' long.

Larry

A long time ago I calculated what was for me a comfortable space behind my audio racks to play there and move quite freely. @ the time my room was twenty-six feet long. 24 inches was the space I ended up with.
I'm six feet two hundred pounds, I can move easily. If I was larger I'd go with 36 inches. My room today is 29' by 16' by 11'.

 

[BlueFox]

You guys must spend a lot of time messing with your gear. I upgraded my preamp, IC cables, and speaker cables the beginning of the year, and that was the first time in ages I needed to access behind the rack.

 

[NorthStar]

You guys must spend a lot of time messing with your gear. I upgraded my preamp, IC cables, and speaker cables the beginning of the year, and that was the first time in ages I needed to access behind the rack.

So, the space between the back of your audio rack and the wall behind it is ... 6 inches? It looks fine to me; you can access the rear of your components from both sides. I like your power cables, the clean organisation, everything.

 

[Whipps]

Lucky baster
you have more room behind your racks then my entire width of my listening room
i have less then a foot behind my racks... very very difficult cable management..

I'm in the same boat as you, my friend. In fact, my stuff is so crammed up it almost feels like I'm literally on a boat lol.

 

[byrdparis]

I'm in the same boat as you, my friend. In fact, my stuff is so crammed up it almost feels like I'm literally on a boat lol.

i just ordered two new TAOC(japan) racks... to replace my Solid tech reference... may be it will be more comfortable to change cabals and doing things a little tidier.
im tired for that X pattern "shelfs" and rambling around racks.. i want solid shelfs and steady heavy racks for my equipment. it will be nicer on back also i guess.

 

[sleepysurf]

I use an inexpensive rack with casters! Easy to pull back from wall and rotate for access!

 

[bach_king]

This is a really important consideration which Ron has raised not simply because of the obvious need to access the rear of the equipment but also because it impacts the performance of the system. The closer to wall you place equipment the heavier are the standing waves to which it will be subjected. These can have a very deleterious effect of hi-fi equipment which is microphonic. Also important is where you place the kit relative to loudspeakers.

I did some experiments which astounded me. I measured the SPL’s at 10hz intervals from 30Hz to 300Hz which is the most important region for standing waves. I used a signal generator and played it through my system at a constant level which would be sufficient to really excite air inthe room.

Most of us place our equipment between the loudspeakers in the middle and often quite close to the back wall. This is actually the worst possible place it could be. In my room I had standing wave peaks of up to +18db, relative to the mean sound level, which is horrendous and certainly enough to scramble the performance of record decks or CD players. I was astonished at the improvement I got when I relocated the kit to the middle of the side wall. It was a night and day improvement. It meant having long speaker cables (10m) but it was a really effective upgrade. I published an article on Jeff Place an audiophile site run by a gentleman called Jeff Day i the US. ‘How to Get Better Sound FRom Tannoy Westminster Royals’ which you might find interesting. (If you are interested google David King and Tannoy Westminster Royal and you should find it)

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

All the best

David

 

[spiritofmusic]

Hi David, good points.
Luckily my spkrs are 9’ from front wall, which means the gear btwn my spkrs is a similar distance.
I have considered toying w leaving monos there and my sources/pre to side wall, or even the whole lot.
It would just mean extra expense on longer interconnects pre>monos or longer spkr cbls.

 

[NorthStar]

This is a really important consideration which Ron has raised not simply because of the obvious need to access the rear of the equipment but also because it impacts the performance of the system. The closer to wall you place equipment the heavier are the standing waves to which it will be subjected. These can have a very deleterious effect of hi-fi equipment which is microphonic. Also important is where you place the kit relative to loudspeakers.

I did some experiments which astounded me. I measured the SPL’s at 10hz intervals from 30Hz to 300Hz which is the most important region for standing waves. I used a signal generator and played it through my system at a constant level which would be sufficient to really excite air inthe room.

Most of us place our equipment between the loudspeakers in the middle and often quite close to the back wall. This is actually the worst possible place it could be. In my room I had standing wave peaks of up to +18db, relative to the mean sound level, which is horrendous and certainly enough to scramble the performance of record decks or CD players. I was astonished at the improvement I got when I relocated the kit to the middle of the side wall. It was a night and day improvement. It meant having long speaker cables (10m) but it was a really effective upgrade. I published an article on Jeff Place an audiophile site run by a gentleman called Jeff Day i the US. ‘How to Get Better Sound FRom Tannoy Westminster Royals’ which you might find interesting. (If you are interested google David King and Tannoy Westminster Royal and you should find it)

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

All the best

David

I'm with you on that, 100%

• http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=5654&cpage=1

 

[Ron Resnick]

This is a really important consideration which Ron has raised not simply because of the obvious need to access the rear of the equipment but also because it impacts the performance of the system. The closer to wall you place equipment the heavier are the standing waves to which it will be subjected. These can have a very deleterious effect of hi-fi equipment which is microphonic. Also important is where you place the kit relative to loudspeakers.

I did some experiments which astounded me. I measured the SPL’s at 10hz intervals from 30Hz to 300Hz which is the most important region for standing waves. I used a signal generator and played it through my system at a constant level which would be sufficient to really excite air inthe room.

Most of us place our equipment between the loudspeakers in the middle and often quite close to the back wall. This is actually the worst possible place it could be. In my room I had standing wave peaks of up to +18db, relative to the mean sound level, which is horrendous and certainly enough to scramble the performance of record decks or CD players. I was astonished at the improvement I got when I relocated the kit to the middle of the side wall. It was a night and day improvement. It meant having long speaker cables (10m) but it was a really effective upgrade. I published an article on Jeff Place an audiophile site run by a gentleman called Jeff Day i the US. ‘How to Get Better Sound FRom Tannoy Westminster Royals’ which you might find interesting. (If you are interested google David King and Tannoy Westminster Royal and you should find it)

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

All the best

David

I agree that placing front-end and pre-amplification equipment between the speakers is very sub-optimal!