The Q4 Evo is a modular rack system that is both beautifully crafted and very stylish. The shelves are available in a variety real wood veneered and available in Cherry, Maple, Oak, Black, Dark Oak and Black finishes. Glass is also available as a no cost option, although for best sonic performance we’d recommend the wood for most systems.

Each tier comes with a set of legs or feet finished in either Silver or Black with heights of 100mm, 140mm, 180mm, 216mm, 256mm and 326mm, the legs are available in either 19mm or 32mm diameter.

The shelves have an external width of 59cm and depth of 39.5cm (from the tips of the corners to the rear), with an internal width of 49cm (assuming the 19mm legs are chosen).

-Quadraspire Q4 EVO 19 shelf with 19mm diameter legs: £95 per level (so as an example, a 4 tier rack would cost £380 including spikes).

-Quadraspire Q4 Evo 32 shelf with 32mm diameter legs: £130 per level

Quadraspire have an excellent ‘product builder’ section on their Quadraspire website, which makes designing a rack very easy.

The Q4 Evo is fully interchangeable with its predecessor, the classic Q4 rack, the difference is the new Evo version has some resonance reducing machining's to the underside of each shelf which are invisible in normal usage.

The Q4L is a deeper Quadraspire rack with the same appearance and finish options as the Q4 detailed above. The depth is a more substantial at 47cm from the tips of the curve to the back.

-Quadraspire Q4L19 shelf with 19mm diameter legs: £105 per level

-Quadraspire Q4L32 shelf with 32mm diameter legs: £140 per level

The EXR has been derived from the reference XR rack detailed below (EXR actually stands for Economy XR). This equipment support features many of the revolutionary elements found in the bigger version, including the tensioned shelf supports. The frame uses a thinner steel skeleton but it’s still made from solid bar rather than hollow tube and is available with veneered MDF shelves rather than the more expensive Dissipating shelves found on the XR. The bottom shelf can also be placed directly upon the frame when using it for less critical items, saving the cost of another tensioner.

This rack is remarkable, as offers real hi end performance at a very reasonable cost. Equipment placed upon it sounds more dynamic, unstressed and refined with improvements in timing and speed. It is also remarkably adept at extracting a lot more performance from budget items than you’d ever expect, and is one of the first upgrades we’d suggest for the audiophile on a budget. What’s more the rack can easily be upgraded as your budget and system allows.

The EXR rack measures 76cm tall (excluding spikes), 58cm wide and 42cm deep. The shelves are 46cm wide and 36cm deep (deeper pieces of equipment can overhang the shelves if necessary).

This rack is available either as individual parts or as a package that’s ready to go. The costs are as follows:

EXR special package price Everything required to support most systems, price includes EXR frame, 3 x tensioners and 4 x veneered 19mm shelves and floor spikes: £350.

EXR rack components
EXR frame (available in Graphite, Silver and Black): £160
19mm veneered MDF shelves (Cherry or Maple finish): £35
Dissipating Shelf (Balsa and MDF sandwich) the best sounding shelf option: £100
Tensioner to support and suspend shelves: £25 each
Missing Link feet (optional) to support the rack for best performance: £120 for four.

The Creaktiv Basic 1 may not reach the ultimate heights of sound quality we get from the Something Solid racks, but these are a very valid option where a high quality modular rack is required with large shelf sizes. The width of 60cm and depth of 48cm means it should house all but the most gargantuan pieces of equipment. The shelves are real wood veneered and the uprights made from aluminium. As standard the shelf spacings are 2 x 180mm and 1 x 210mm, with extra shelves available if required.

A choice of finishes are available, the standard Natural Ash finish shown above costs £300, black and Cherry wood finishes (below) are available for £345.

Regular visitors to the store (and even this website) may have noticed that we are big fans of the Something Solid range of speaker stands. We use them under almost all of the speakers we recommend and feel they represent by far and away the best value for money of any design available today.

However, until now Something Solid have not offered an ultimate equipment support, instead concentrating on affordable entry level racks. But the XR featured here changes all of that.

The basic frame has many of the ideas already seen in the XF speaker stands (i.e. Steel rod skeletal construction), yet it is the shelves and their supports where things start to get really interesting.

A variety of different types of shelves are available (see below) but for the best performance the Dissipating shelf is mandatory. These are constructed from end grain Balsa on an MDF base, edge veneered with a Maple real wood veneer. Each shelf includes a set of dissipating feet which use Carbon fibre pads attached to yet more balsa end grain to go underneath the individual item.

The shelves themselves are suspended on a tensioned Polythene chord which is exceptionally strong (many times greater than steel) that can easily be moved
to vary the spacing between shelves for different components.

When compared to conventional (or many other hi end) racks it becomes apparent that they are adding an awful lot of colourations which tilt the tonal balance in a very false manner, placing an emphasis and resonance at particular frequencies.
The overriding impression of the XR is one of a very natural sound that is unforced yet in no way lacking the dynamic contrasts of other designs - in fact, due in part to the incredibly low noise floor achieved the dynamic contrast are much greater than experienced from the system before.
The mid band quality is especially stunning, with voices sounding very real and present, both tonally and spatially.

The XR rack measures 81cm tall (excluding spikes), 59cm wide and 42.5cm deep. The shelves are 46cm wide and 36cm deep (deeper pieces of equipment can overhang the shelves if necessary).

Despite the very high performance attainable, the pricing for this rack is still rather affordable:

XR Package price, includes the frame in graphite, 4 maple edged shelves and 4 tensioners for £650 (+ £120 for the optional Missing Link feet)

Purchased individually the prices are as follows:
XR frame costs £225 and is available in the Black, Silver and Graphite finishes.
Tensioner costs £25 each and can be used with a range of the following shelves.
Dissipating shelves cost £100 each.
Missing Link feet, designed to replace the spikes underneath the rack, they use the same tensioned string (pictured below) and make an amazing difference when used. Price £120 for a set of 4 (plus they can also make a huge difference when used underneath speakers too).


VMR stands for Versatile Modular Rack and it’s a very appropriate name. This rack combines the clever ideas from the XR rack but with a more conventional appearance.

As with any modular rack you buy each tier individually, the legs (available in Silver or Graphite finish) are made from aluminium and are available in 120mm, 160mm and 210mm as standard, with other heights available to order (plus a surcharge for heights over 210mm as detailed below).

The structural shelves (as pictured above) are real wood veneered in Oak with various stains available including Cherry, Maple, Walnut and Ebony finishes, equipment can be placed directly upon these shelves. Then for those items that you wish to extract the ultimate performance from you simply add the tensioner and Dissipating shelf option, which includes the balsa topped shelf, tensioner and tensioner supports which gives you the benefits found in the wonderful XR rack featured above.

The beauty of this is that not only can it grow as your system does but it can also be upgraded. Naturally we also recommend using the Missing Link feet to get even more back from your system.

The Structural shelves measure 54.5cm wide by 40cm deep.

-VMR structural shelf with one set of legs (120mm, 160mm, 210mm) or feet: £80 each Special offer now £40 each whilst stocks last!
-Leg surcharge for every additional 50mm height above 210mm: £4 for four
-Tensioner and Dissipating shelf: £130 per level
-Top caps: £25 for set of four
-Missing link feet (optional) fit underneath the main spikes and support the rack for improved performance: £120 for four

Package prices (please contact with your requirements for different specifications)

-Basic VMR 4 tier starter rack without shelf suspension: £320 now £160 whilst stocks last

-Full VMR 4 tier with shelf suspension and Dissipating shelves: £815 now £655 whist stock lasts

The year 2010 is the 25th anniversary of support manufacturer Something Solid and the first of an exciting new series of products is the PXR shown here for the very first time. This design has taken the concept of the XR rack (featured elsewhere on this page) and built upon its strengths. I’ll save a complete comment on the sound of this rack until a full production version is in front of me, but already it’s clear the all wood construction brings some special qualities to the mid band that are completely beguiling.

The frame is made from birch ply wood and the shelves are ply edged and backed versions of the end grain balsa wood topped Dissipating Shelves. Various finishes will be available and together with the pricing will be confirmed in the near future.

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