I’ve 3 Quadraspire racks and indeed they are pricey in Japan. So I just bought one from my dealer in the UK and had it shipped. Saved a packet.
But they have some models in overseas markets not sold in the UK oddly enough. Unless that has changed you can’t get the midi width version for shoebox separates in the UK but it is available elsewhere.
Some of the finishes vary too which is odd because they are made in UK.
If I was buying one now I think I’d go with Quadraspire SVT with the legs one off the longest length. Still quite expensive at £1k but not crazy money, it looks smart and understand it “sounds good”!
Not wanting to shoot down your thread back_in_the_game, apologies, I very much dislike hifi racks even though I currently have one myself due to lack of space.
Much nicer and often more practical to hide cables to integrate a system on and in a nice sideboard or other piece of furniture imho but that’s just me. Racks seem like shrines to hifi to me.
I am also dubious about the often technically unsupported claims rack manufacturers make about any difference in SQ. I have never noticed any. At one stage I had a whole Cyrus stack on the floor. I then bought a Cyrus Hark rack and still could not determine any difference other than not having bend down to load a CD. I also had the N50 on the floor when I first got it. It moved to the rack after a day. Did it sound different? Not a bit as far as I could remember.
It’s an interesting point of view. In the days before dedicated racks started to appear hi-fi components were integrated into rooms by being placed necessarily on various bits of ‘normal’ domestic furniture. This looked very nice IMO and avoided, as you say, the ‘hi-fi shrine’ appearance of a dedicated rack.
IME racks do sound better but not everyone agrees - and you obviously don’t. Having said that there is a school of thought that racks manipulate the sound in unnatural ways to create a specific signature if you like. I have heard of at least one high-end manufacturer (can’t remember who) that always demontrates their gear at shows using ordinary wooden tables rather then dedicated racks with spikes etc. They believe it sounds better that way. It’s intriguing and if I had the room and the inclination I might be tempted to start experimenting. But it’s so much easier just to put it all on a Quadraspire rack!
The range of opinions on the efficacy of racks and supports is striking. At one extreme you have “I can’t hear any difference,” at the other you have “if you have a 500 system and you don’t have a Fraim or better, you’ve wasted your money.”
I don’t see the latter so often these days, but it used to be common.
Another vote for the Simrak by Simon Price. I chose it because it’s compact, beautifully finished and available in a variety of timbers and custom sizing. Here’s mine in oak.