Hifi proudly on display or would you (are you?) hiding it away for aesthetic reasons or to keep peace?
I think this answers your question.
I am amazed Quadraspire don’t still do this nice rack with doors, nor indeed do other manufacturers as far as I know
Bruce
Currently on a rack but I would love a nice piece of furniture to hide everything but the TT. Just for dust reasons!
My racks are in a corner to the right of one of the speakers, mainly because there is nowhere else to put them in my lounge. The speakers face the sofa.
To me, innie would mean the racks are between the speakers. As my racks are in a corner of the room, they are not always in the eyeline, depending on where you are in the room. I guess this means the racks are on display, so I am possibly an outie.
Speakers are distinctly visible. I don’t know about proudly (can a speaker be proud? It certainly has nothing to be shy about!) Amp sits in a ventilated cupboard. DAC is visible at the side of the room (it can’t be totally enclosed as its remote is infrared).
Personally I don’t like the industrial look of racks of electronic gear, and I prefer not to have expensive things on display more than necessary so that there is nothing to catch the eye of casual visitors (apart from speakers). One advantage of putting things into cupboards is that there can be a degree of reduction of acoustic effect on any sensitive parts of the system. I adopted this approach about 30 years ago, when I had no option but for the TT to be positioned very close to a speaker: I put the rack complete with TT, preamp and power amp inside a cupboard, with the legs of the rack going through holes in the cupboard base to be spiked onto the floor, not touching the cabinet, and with sound deadening material on the cabinet panels and sound absorbent material on the underside of the surface above the TT. It was very effective, as well as being more discteet.
I have an AV cabinet for some of my equipment and because it’s open at the back (well open-ish) to allow heat to escape I find it gets just as dusty. The only advantage is you can’t see it!
My speakers are hidden in a cabinet ![]()
New house is going to have dedicated TV room with 5.1 surround speakers on 1st floor (2nd floor for US members) but next to my wife’s office. Basement will have dedicated hifi space (currently half of double garage). Lounge diner will be on ground floor(1st floor?) for sitting and eating.
I guess I’m more of an outie then. (no swmbo to take into account) Still, I hate to see ugly pieces of gear and/or cable spaghetti in sight. For example, Chord DAC’s are rated highly on this forum, but I’d only allow any of them in my room if these hideous things could be hidden out of sight.
I used to have everything on display - proud of a several layered Mana rack or two. Then at a now defunct retailer I came across the hardware setup in an adjacent room - the concept appealed to me, so a couple of Fraims later plus a wheeled rack for the UQ and server it’s just speakers in the listening room. The hardware resides in stairwell.

