To be honest, I was initially a little sceptical about the stability of the upper levels if I were to position my devices too far off-centre in relation to their respective centre of gravity - i.e. too far forwards or backwards on the level - because the spikes are relatively close together on each side. But the spikes can really be tightened and locked very firmly, nothing wobbles. And of course, no typical tube amplifier with signal and mains transformers positioned far back on the chassis belongs at the rear edge on one of the upper levels. No, heavy whopping amplifiers belong on the higher load-bearing bottom level anyway. As a reminder: The top levels can bear up to 25 kilograms of weight (in fact, they still have a calculated reserve of around 20 per cent) and it goes without saying that devices positioned on them should be positioned as centrally as possible.

However, the real secret of this rack lies in the resonance tuning of the individual assemblies. Thanks to this "balancing", there are no identical natural resonances that could potentially overlap and thus amplify each other. Which ultimately brings me back to the question raised at the beginning, whether a hi-fi rack, in other words a piece of furniture, can be granted component status, or not. In a very invigorating telephone conversation with Luis Fernandes, the founder, owner and developer of Finite Elemente, I learnt a lot more detailed information, some of it confidential, and was given an explanation of the design context. When I consider the engineering effort that has gone into this, together with the fact that an environment that is as free of interference as possible is an absolute prerequisite for sensitive hi-fi components to be able to realize their full sonic potential, I come to the conclusion that a hi-fi rack like this really is a hi-fi component in its own right. I was all the more curious to see if I could notice a significant difference to my own rack made by the British company Hi-Fi Racks Ltd.

I quickly realized that sensitive tube amplifiers in particular gained significantly as soon as I placed them on the Pagode Signature rack. Sensitive tubes in particular tend to exhibit intense behaviour of their own when they are over-excited by impact or ambient sound. Even buzzing, chirping or chirring antique tubes, which I had previously believed to have a defect in their internal construction, became at least partially usable again. This is absolutely amazing! Noise artefacts were generally reduced, making the sound clearer and cleaner overall. Luis Fernandes described this phenomenon as "the noise floor gets reduced", which I found very apt. It all happened on a very subtle level that is difficult to pinpoint. Rather, it seemed like a curtain was being pulled aside, like a veil being torn away to reveal a slightly clearer view. Or like a clearing shroud of fog. The same applied to turntables, which benefit even more from the resonance-free - or rather: resonance-optimized - environment. Due to a lack of suitable equipment and, above all, a lack of experience with such devices, I am unable to answer the question of whether digital components would also benefit in a similar way from being placed on this rack.