Cambre - Core 4 shelf Audio Rack

Core Audio is available in a variety of finishes. Rod heights on a Core 4 are 9". Rods are available in black or silver.

Core Racks represent Cambre's devotion to quality and style in Audio/Video furniture. The shelf dimensions are longer and wider allowing premium components to fit. Core Racks are also constructed using the highest quality MDF with hand picked veneers ensuring unique and artistic wood grains on every shelf.

The shelves are engineered with Acoustic Dampening Grooves (ADG). ADGs provide a neutral platform in which components can truly perform at their best. ADGs on the undersides of the shelf allow airborne external vibrations to be dissipated before they can reach the electronic components on the shelf.

The major advantage of the Core Racks is the Solid Aluminum Upright Rods used in the support columns. When a vibration is present at the floor level (base of rack) the vibration will want to transmit through the support columns to the shelf. The first level of defense against vibrations are the adjustable spikes on the bottom of the rack. The Core Rack includes two polymer O-rings on the inside surface providing insulation between the bottom surface of the upright column that insulates the wall of the column from the inside wall of the spike. Metal to metal contact is therefore limited to the internal core of the spike and upright column that are connected by a thick aluminum tie rod. The outside surface of the spike also has traction grooves that make it easy to level the rack by simply turning the spike by hand (even if the rack is loaded with product).

Why is Solid Core Better?

Vibrations transmitted from either the floor to the rack or from one shelf to another must obviously travel primarily though the support columns. When a vibration / sound source is present at either the floor of a rack or on a shelf it causes the end of the support column to cause an adjacent shelf to vibrate, and distort the sound produced. When a vibration enters one end of a tube, it is confined to the narrow walls of the tube. If it is to propagate though the material of the tube, it must travel essentially longitudinally, almost directly towards the opposing end of the tube. With a solid rod, however, vibrations can propagate to a much larger degree radially, resulting in a less direct path of travel from shelf to limiting the vibrations.

A visual comparison would be to observe the wave patterns in a ditch compared to a pond. When waves are produced in water in a long, narrow ditch, the waves travel predominantly longitudinally along the ditch. The walls of the ditch contain the waves, and reduce the rate of diminution of the amplitude of the waves. In a pond, however, there is a much larger surface over which the waves propagate. There is the same amount of energy in the waves as in the ditch. However, the amplitude diminishes more quickly due to the increased surface area over which the waves spread. Thus, by using solid aluminum rods, and only allowing the vibrations to travel through the center of the rod, any vibrations that are introduced at one end of the support column become less distinct at the opposite end.

The testing Cambre Canada has done at the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, Canada, have concluded that High frequency / small wavelength frequencies are more likely to dissipate between ends of a support column no matter whether the support column is solid or hollow. For Bass frequencies, with their shorter wavelengths, improvements in vibration dissipation of support columns will result in more pronounced improvements in sound quality compared to higher frequencies.