Salamander Archetype 2.0 -2-Shelf Audio Rack

The Salamander Archetype — Shelves That Go Exactly Where You Want Them

Most racks decide the spacing for you. Four threaded steel rods run the height of an Archetype, and every shelf is held between nuts and washers that you can put anywhere along them. There are no notches, no pegs and no fixed positions to design your system around.

Salamander has built it this way since the company started, and the idea has outlasted several generations of the equipment it holds. A rack whose shelves move is a rack you can keep when the components change.

How Much Will It Hold, and Where?

A Hundred and Fifty Pounds Per Shelf

That is the figure for every shelf on every Archetype, and it is a long way beyond what most racks in this class manage. A heavy power amplifier is not a problem to be solved here, and there is no bottom-shelf-only rule to work around.

Put the Shelves Where Your Gear Needs Them

Spacing is set by where you tighten the nuts, so it is continuous rather than stepped. A tall tube amplifier and a slim streamer can sit on the same rack with completely different clearances, decided by what you own rather than by where a notch happened to fall.

Measure Against 19.25 Inches, Not the Shelf

Each shelf is 23 inches wide and 16 deep in three-quarter-inch wood, but the usable figure is the 19.25 inches of clear space between the steel rods. That is what your widest component has to pass, so start there when you are checking whether something fits.

Two Different Ways to Make It Bigger

A single shelf adds a level inside the rack you already own, threading onto the same rods. The other route is the Archetype Stacking Kit — four coupling nuts that join two complete racks into one taller one. Those are different jobs, so order by what you actually want.

The Rubber Washers Are the Point

A floor carries vibration and every component on a rack puts some of its own into the frame. What matters is whether that travels on to the next shelf, and on an Archetype the answer is designed rather than accidental.

Neoprene Above and Below Every Shelf

Each shelf is clamped between steel nuts and washers, with energy-damping neoprene washers sitting between the hardware and the wood on both faces. Nothing rigid touches the shelf itself, so the steel rods are not a direct path from one component to the next.

Choose What Meets the Floor

The rack stands on its own feet as it comes, and what happens underneath is up to you. Mega Spikes couple it through carpet to the floor below; casters let you roll the whole thing out to reach the back of everything.

Give the Hot Box the Gap It Needs

An open frame with no back panel, no sides and no doors lets air move freely past every face of a component. That is a property of the design itself, and no closed cabinet can offer it however many vents have been cut into the panels.

Adjustable spacing matters more here than on most racks. A class-A amplifier that runs warm can be given several inches of clear air above it while a slim source takes the minimum, instead of every component getting an identical gap.

What Building It Actually Involves

Four rods, and a stack of nuts and washers for each shelf. You thread the hardware on, slide a shelf down to where you want it, and tighten from both sides. Work out your spacing before you start and the job goes in one pass rather than two.

Set the height of every shelf while the rack is empty, with a tape measure and the tallest component beside you. The same hardware that makes the spacing adjustable is what you would otherwise be loosening later with gear in your way.

Real Wood, and Black Steel Through It

Black, Cherry and Walnut, in real wood rather than a printed wrap, which is why the grain differs from shelf to shelf. The threaded rods and hardware are black on every finish — a deliberate constant, so the frame reads the same whichever wood you choose.

Shelves are three-quarters of an inch thick and carry their own weight visually as well as structurally. This is the line to pick when the rack has to sit in a room with furniture in it rather than in a dedicated listening space.

What Reviewers Are Saying

Home Theater Review put the five-shelf Archetype through a full write-up. “These are high-quality racks that offer more than their price point would lead you to believe,” the reviewer concluded, calling the shelving “infinitely adjustable.”

Writing in August 2008, the same reviewer called it “an affordable and completely flexible system that will proudly hold the finest of AV gear in style” — and the rack has not changed since.

See It in Action

A full build of an Archetype from the box up, which is worth watching once before you plan your shelf heights:

And Salamander’s own walkthrough of the system and what can be added to it:

Who Is the Salamander Archetype Best For?

• You own something genuinely heavy — 150 pounds per shelf is the figure on every level, so the big amplifier goes wherever you want it.
• Your components are different heights — shelf spacing is continuous rather than stepped, so each one gets the clearance it actually needs.
• You want real wood in the room — Black, Cherry and Walnut in solid finishes, sized to sit among furniture rather than dominate it.
• Your system will change — add a single shelf inside the rack, or join two racks with the Stacking Kit when one is no longer enough.
• You want to reach behind everything — an Archetype drawer for accessories and casters underneath make the back of the system reachable.

Pairs Well With

• Archetype single shelves — a shelf and its hardware, threading onto the rods you already have, in the finish to match.
• Archetype Stacking Kit — four coupling nuts that join two racks into one taller unit when adding a shelf is no longer enough.
• Isolation feet and platforms — between a component and its shelf, where a source deserves more than the rack alone provides.
• Interconnects — work out your runs after you have set the shelf heights, since the spacing is yours to decide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much weight will each shelf hold?

A hundred and fifty pounds, per shelf rather than shared across the rack, and the same on every level. The shelf itself is three-quarters of an inch of wood on 5/8-inch threaded steel rods.

Will my tall amplifier fit between the shelves?

Almost certainly, because you decide the gap. The shelves clamp anywhere along the rods, so measure your tallest component and set the spacing to suit it. Check its width against the 19.25 inches clear between the rods too.

Can I add a shelf later?

Yes, in two different ways. A single shelf threads onto the rods you already have to add a level inside the rack. The Stacking Kit instead joins two complete racks together, which is the route to take when one rack is full.

How hard is it to assemble?

It is a nuts-and-washers job rather than a snap-together one, and that is the trade for spacing you set yourself. Decide your shelf heights first, with the components measured, and the whole rack goes together in a single pass.

Is the wood real?

Yes. The shelves are real wood rather than a printed vinyl wrap, so grain and tone vary a little between shelves and between racks. The threaded rods and hardware are black across every finish.

What can I add to it later?

Single shelves, the Stacking Kit, a storage drawer, arched bookends, spike feet and two grades of caster. The system was designed to be added to, and the parts still fit racks built many years ago.

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