Atacama Evoque Eco 60-40 Special Edition review

Best equipment rack, Awards 2016. Not convinced about the effect a decent rack can have on your system? This Atacama offering could make you change your mind... Tested at £175

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Atacama has highlighted how great an effect just about everything has on your hi-fi system; the Eco 60-40 SE rack really has everything going for it

Pros

  • +

    Betters composure and organisation of existing hi-fi equipment

  • +

    Attractive design

Cons

  • -

    Nothing of note

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

Let’s begin by praising Atacama, then we can discuss how they managed to do what they’ve done.

So significantly does the Evoque Eco 60-40 Special Edition improve upon its predecessor – named best equipment rack at last year’s What Hi-Fi? Awards, no less – its effect on our reference system was evident within seconds.

MORE: Atacama Evoque Eco 60-40 review

Performance

Using a reference system of Cyrus CD i and Rega Elex-R amplifier, we played Marmaduke Duke’s Silhouettes to find crisper detail, tighter and more composed low end and better-organised instrumentation.

The differences could hardly be clearer. So what on earth can Atacama have done to take such great strides? Strides, too, that cost the listener only £25 extra per shelf.

Their aim, they say, was four-fold: “to build a hi-fi support able to dampen, direct, isolate and control sonic and mechanical resonance away from the equipment”.

MORE: Best hi-fi and AV racks 2015

To that end, they have upgraded with longer legs, equipped with tuning counterweights for dampening, channels carved into the underside of each bamboo panel to direct vibrations towards the legs and replaced the steel feet with bronze to facilitate a steadier flow of mechanical resonance.

Being curious, we experimented taking apart the new and old Evoque Eco 60-40 and creating hybrids to test the new legs and panels separately.

They’re dead right, each time there was an improvement on the sound when using the original model, and each time not quite as good as using all components of the Special Edition.

Verdict

If you’re of the opinion all hi-fi racks are created more or less equal, the Atacama Evoque Eco 60-40 Special Edition is about to make you rethink your position.

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What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

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