10 Best Audio Racks Reviews and Buying Guide
Table of Contents
Why You Need a Good Audio Rack?
An audio rack or cabinet is a structure whose main purpose is to host audio systems. Asides from its primary function of housing your audio equipment as well as the routing of the cables, audio racks add unique aesthetics to the room space. They are generally wooden, metallic or glazed structures. However, choosing and setting up your first rack can be a complicated process.
Quick Summary
1. Editor’s Choice: Fitueyes 4-Tier Audio/Video Component Cabinet
2. Best Closed Door Shelf – Pinnacle 1-Door Audio Tower from Nexera
3. Best Quality: Pangea Audio Vulcan Audio Rack
4. Best for Concealing Cables: 4-Tiers Media Compontent TV Stand
5. Best Glass Shelves: Rfiver 5-Tier Audio-Video Media Stand with Tempered Glass Shelves
6. Best Audio Tower: Nexera Pinnacle 101706 1-Door Audio Tower
7. Best TV and Audio Stand: Whalen Table Top TV Stand and Entertainment Console
8. Most Colorful Audio Rack: Pangea Audio Vulcan Four Shelf Rosenut Audio Rack
9. Most Easy to Assemble: BellO AT306 No Tools Tower
10. Best Value for Money and Budget Pick: Mount-It! Tempered Glass AV Media Stand
Editor Picks Audio Rack Reviews
1. Editor’s Choice: Fitueyes 4-Tier Audio/Video Component Cabinet
Sometimes we wish we had a good shelf to house our audio components. But nothing could be worse than spreading your entertainment equipment around your room, leaving them cluttered with cables around the living area.
The Fitueyes 4 Tier Audio Cabinet provides excellent support systems for audio equipment, TVs as well as game consoles. The glass shelf cabinet can be used for holding audio equipment, flat-screen TVs, and gaming components. The cabinet has shelves that are ideal for keeping cords and there’s also sufficient room to keep accessories like your game controls or remotes.
The Fitueyes cabinet is constructed with thickened and reinforced tempered glass with solid steel frames. The frames are powder coated against rust to maximize their durability. Finally, the top of the cabinet has a maximum weight capacity of 110 pounds. The lower shelves have a total weight capacity of 33 pounds each.
2. Best Closed Door Shelf – Nexera Pinnacle 1-Door Audio Tower
The Pinnacle Audio Tower from Nexera has a black and cherry finish and is a truly sophisticated sound shelf.
Users can use the shelves to save objects of different sizes. Additionally, it has a door that allows users to turn the sound tower into a beautiful piece of furniture if it’s not in use. Meanwhile, note that the door is made of glass for aesthetic and practical functionality. This makes it a large piece of modern shelf for housing equipment.
However, if you have to get this cabinet, you’ll need a TV shelf. It’s best placed beside an entertainment center as can be seen from the product photo. Nonetheless, the unit is quite ideal for bringing a bit of style and sophistication to your living environment.
3. Best Quality: Pangea Audio Vulcan Audio Rack
Pangea Audio Vulcan 4-shelf audio cabinet is designed for AV systems and its four shelves ensure excellent ventilation. The shelf is rather high in dimension, measuring 32 inches in height. It also resists scratches. The shelf is ideal for storing all kinds of sound accessories.
The material of construction includes engineered wood, metal, and alloy steel. It’s a modular rack that allows you to add more shelves up to six.
The Pangea four-shelf rack is in black but it is also available in carbon, espresso coffee, and rose nut finish that will ensure it stands out among its surrounding furniture.
4. Best for Concealing Cables: 4-Tiers Media Compontent TV Stand
Would you like to hide the cords of your equipment? Do you want a durable shelf that could hold heavy weighing equipment? The 4-Tiers Media Component TV Stand is a model you should choose. The stand is large and can hold approximately 88lbs. It is possible to place heavier and older sound parts on this furniture. It is simple to assemble and will blend well with most of your furniture pieces.
The aluminum accent design of the audio cabinet gives a sleek and light feel to the solid piece. The shelves are lacquered in black and the steel pillars are powder coated. It’s a versatile storage solution for a home theater. It can be used to house equipment such as the stereo system, bookshelf speakers, DVD player, gaming console, as well as your Blu-ray disc player.
5. Best Glass Shelves: Rfiver 5-Tier Audio-Video Media Stand with Tempered Glass Shelves
Tempered glass, simple construction, and five shelves are the main features of this Rfiver 5 Tier Glass Audio and Video Tower.
These shelves are designed for contemporary AV accessories and equipment. It is sturdy and durable. The shelf will withstand scratches and a lot of tears and wear. The furniture is simple to assemble and it’s a great contemporary design.
It’s a good piece for your bedroom or small rooms where audio equipment is needed.
6. Best Audio Tower: Pinnacle 101706 1-Door Audio Tower from Nexera
The Pinnacle audio tower is an adjustable shelf with a glass door. Adjustable shelves like this are highly chosen because they offer more flexibility in organizing their rooms. The Pinnacle Audio Tower from Nexera provides this functionality and has a reversible door that can open in two directions.
The furniture is sturdy and quite useful for storing your audio equipment instead of keeping them on the floor in the room. It is a great piece of furniture that has a stunning laminate finish. It will be a good addition to the living space and bedroom environment.
The audio tower has adjustable shelves. The product is made in Canada but it is CARB compliant. It’s made from MDF materials as well as certified particleboard.
7. Best TV and Audio Stand: Whalen Table Top TV Stand and Entertainment Console
Whalen’s 65 inches black entertainment console/stand is primarily made of glass and steel. These 2 materials provide the best quality construction for a shelving unit.
The Whalen product is a low-profile unit that has three shelves and provides plenty of space for audio, video, computer, and other electronic items.
It can hold a large-sized TV up to 71 inches and 135 pounds on the shelf too. Very practical and incredibly durable, the furniture helps create a stylish living room environment.
It’s best used with the Whalen 45 inch Black Audio Video Tower. However, the living room would still look great without this and you’d be able to house up to 4 audio, DVD, or game consoles on the bottom shelves. Then, on top, you’ll be able to have your TV.
8. Most Colorful Audio Rack: Pangea Audio Vulcan Rosenut Audio Rack
This is the rose nut version of the Pangea Audio Vulcan rack reviewed earlier. The rose nut-finished Pangea audio rack was designed to liven up the room. It provides room for your computer and audio gear.
The rack features a thick shelf design which means you can have it loaded up and you wouldn’t need to worry about it getting warped under stress.
This shelf is a good addition to almost any audio or digital setup. It’s the perfect style for contemporary home decor and it provides the perfect amount of shelving and storage space for the mid-sized home system.
9. Most Easy to Assemble: BellO AT306 No Tools Tower
The BellO AT306 is an easy to assemble audio and video tower system. Easy to set up with no tools, the audio and video tower will allow users to place an 81cm or 32 inches flat-screen TV on the top shelf.
The audio tower has the perfect durability for effectively holding AV pieces. It’s a thickly constructed glass and wood shelf for holding electronic equipment.
With the cable management system, you will be able to keep the cables hidden. The audio storage furniture has an excellent design that allows proper ventilation, allowing air to pass between the devices, reducing the possibility of the devices overheating. The wood and glass construction brings about a classic-looking shelf that will enhance the bedroom decor. Note however that you can also have this audio tower installed in the living room.
10. Best Value for Money and Budget Pick: Mount-It! Tempered Glass AV Media Stand
As soon as an audio shelving system can contain up to 33 pounds for each of its shelves, it is a durable piece of furniture. The Mount-It! Tempered Glass Media Stand features up to five shelves. The top shelves can hold up to 88 pounds of weight such as a medium-sized flat-screen TV set. Meanwhile, the lower shelves can hold 33 pounds each.
The Mount-It! Stand is also quite stylish. It was also meant to help keep the components cool which is a quite important characteristic for electronic equipment.
Top 10 Factors to Consider When Buying an Audio Rack
To help you in that process, we bring you a simple guide that you can follow when you decide that you are ready to take the leap in quality in your home studio, theater or living room.
1. Types of Audio Racks
Basic studio rack: For beginners, these racks have open shelves. They are inexpensive but are easily accessible and will display the equipment housed in them. However, if you’re looking to expand the number of your audio equipment, these are not recommended for you.
Portable Audio Stands
These are the perfect rack for traveling entertainers (musicians, deejays, etc). They have designs that look like cases. You can put them in the car trunk, open them and set them up at your gigs.
Enclosed Audio Cabinets
These are audio stands designed for homes that have kids around. Closed up to easy access, they also keep the audio equipment away from dust. However, if there are no exhaust fans, you will have to provide a solution against heat.
Premium Audio Stands
These come with added bells and whistles like noise-reducing features, fans for ventilation as well as caster wheels for transportability. Of course, they are the most expensive on this list.
2. Decide What Audio Equipment Go Into the Rack
For your basic home studio, theatre or living room audio rig, there are a couple of things that you will surely need.
They are these:
- multi-channel microphone preamp
- power conditioner
- headphone amp
- monitor control system
- audio interface
3. Choose the Number of Rack Shelves
After knowing the number of audio equipment you want to have in your new rack, the next step is choosing whether you want a 4-shelf rack or a 6-shelf rack. Although your rack will most likely not carry more than 5 equipment, keep in mind that some take up more than one slot or rack unit. Also, our advice is that you leave some shelf units empty for air ventilation, as drawers to store things or to add more equipment to the rack later.
Assuming that your rack is going to look a lot like what we have seen in this first part of the post. A good starting point is to start with a rack of 4-8 units. 6 is usually the perfect number in most cases.
4. Height of the Rack
Manufacturers comply with a series of standard measurements in the making of the racks. However, there are different sizes and types. To calculate the height of a rack, the unit of measurement called U is used. This is equal to 44.45 mm or 1.75 inches. Therefore, the height of any audio rack must be able to be expressed with some multiple of U.
This is the height of each shelf. It is the space we have to locate those elements that we want. We can then express the measurements of a rack as follows: Height (U) x Width (mm) x Depth (mm). Rack cabinets are usually manufactured with heights between 12U and 47U. But you can find wall racks in lower heights, from 6U onwards.
5. How Wide Can the Audio Rack be?
The depth is key when choosing a rack since you’ll need extra space for wiring. It is important that the cable is not excessively bent since it may deteriorate more easily. And also, depth is a determining factor for air circulation inside the cabinet. It thus contributes to the proper cooling of the devices.
Width is usually the most standardized measure. 19 inches width (600 mm) is the most common. Remember that the standard 19″ rack refers to the width distance between the interior profiles of the cabinet, not the total exterior width of the rack. In fact, cabinets are manufactured with a width of 800 mm that allows greater ease of use to the installers. This is because maintaining the standard 19″ between the profiles, they provide an extra space of 100 mm from the profile on each side. This allows more space to add accessories that can help us achieve a more efficient and orderly installation.
Cabinets with 600, 800, 900, 1000 and up to 1200 mm depths are manufactured to house deep hardware. Having sufficient space between the hardware and the cabinet walls allows air to circulate inside. This helps to maintain the ventilation circuit. It thus eliminates possible hot spots that may compromise the operation of the installation.
6. A Choice Between the Single or Double Door
Audio racks that include enclosures can be very diverse and with very different designs. In the case of doors, standard rack fabrications for audio equipment usually include a door in the front. In addition to being made of metal or glass, they can also have a simple or double door. This is in response to the need at times to position the cabinet in narrow passageways where a standard (single) rack door, when opened, would take up too much space. The one-door racks can clutter and impede passage. It can simply become too large to fully open.
Doors with double doors are the solution to this type of problem. Since they are half as wide as the later, they take up half the space when opened, almost always being an effective solution.
7. Standing Audio Rack vs Wall-mounted Audio Rack
Standing Racks: They have a width of 600 to 800 mm and a depth of 600 to 1200mm. They are usually manufactured with heights between 12U and 47U, although there may be smaller dimensions. The number of shelves ranges from 4 to 6. But 5 are the most common. They are mostly made of glass and steel materials.
Wall-mounted Racks: Normally with depths of 300, 400, 450, 500,600 mm and heights from 4U to 22U, these are made to be hung on the wall. Although it can also be placed on the floor. The wall racks are designed for small installations. So they are usually low in height, and less deep than normal cabinets. They have an anchoring system that allows them to be hung on a wall in addition to being used on the floor.
8. Determine the Type of Rack Material
The material of the rack is chosen according to the decoration of the room. Here are a few examples that might interest you:
Wood: Wood is one of the most common materials used for audio racks. But when choosing this material, choose solid woods such as oak, mahogany, chestnut, etc. The solid wood shelf is suitable for a rustic interior.
Glass: Glass materials are common in standing racks and wall-mounted racks, especially in the making of the doors. If you prefer glass, choose tempered glass material instead of the regular ones. Tempered glasses are stronger and safer.
Metal: This material is ideal for rooms with contemporary decoration and offices. Besides, it is the most common material used in audio racks and IT cabinets.
Plastic: A plastic shelf has the advantage of being easy to maintain and is available in various colors. It goes well with a vintage, arty or pop style interior.
Wicker: This material is an economical solution. However, it is not resistant to humidity.
9. Airflow Management
Without a doubt, keeping the temperature stable and optimal is essential. It is one of the reasons to buy a rack. The audio elements will produce heat and raise the interior temperature. Therefore the selection of the dimensions is crucial to avoid the overheating of the cabinet. It is necessary to leave spaces where air can circulate. Some racks come with spaces at the back to let hot air out. But in the event that there is too much heat, we must use fans for cooling.
This is why, before buying a rack, you must know what equipment you are going to introduce into it. Take into account the wiring and enough space for air circulation. If you choose the ideal dimensions with ventilation spaces, then you will get the most out of both the cabinet and the interior material.
10. The Decor of the Room
The furniture you choose should follow the same style as the rest of the space you’re installing your audio rack.
- For contemporary settings, choose a modern audio cabinet with straight and simple lines or some sober modular composition.
- For classic living rooms, you can opt for a large piece of wood and darker colors.
- For rustic spaces, choose an iron frame with lower compartments to store what you don’t want to be visible.
Wrapping Up
Buying an audio component rack is important for storing your audio stereo, computer, and electronic equipment. They help keep things organized, secure, and in a good condition.
An audio cabinet can also make the living environment more contemporary and look well-decorated as they are available in many unique styles.
You can use an audio rack to store your audio and video equipment. Some models also have plenty of space and durability for holding the TV. They can also house a game console or your stereo system.
We have reviewed 10 audio racks and you should be able to find one that suits you. Our favorite is the Fitueyes 4-Tier Audio/Video Component Cabinet. Meanwhile, if you are on a budget and still want great value for money, choose the Mount-It! Tempered Glass AV Media Stand.
The audio rack houses all your audio equipment in a place and adds functionality and aesthetics to the room decor. However, there are a couple of things to think about before deciding to buy an audio rack.
Remember to choose an audio rack, consider the interior decor of the room; ventilation and airflow management is essential; choose durable materials such as hardwood, metal or tempered glass; decide whether you want a wall-mounted or standing rack.
In addition, depending on the space you have, decide whether a single-door or double-door will work best for you. And finally, choose the dimensions and the number of shelves you want (between 4-8), depending on the number and dimensions of audio equipment you’re housing.
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