Developed through extensive testing with industry-leading audio components, the R1 is the most advanced hi-Fi rack ever built. The design details on R1 indicate a particular attention to detail and a "holistic engineering" approach to product design. Each component works in concert to create an energy management system that absorbs unnecessary structural resonances from sensitive audio components.

The eye-catching integral R1 "vertical node" is internally machined to a tolerance of 0.02mm. Each level in the R1 rack consists of two vertical nodes assembled from six high quality POM (POM) blocks. The material was chosen for its hardness and machinability, very similar to aluminum, with the advantage of excellent damping.

The R1 vertical node is cross-linked through the elegant carbon fiber "Isobars" to form the support of the Marine laminate frame. The 14mm long steel bar is bound together by precision machined sleeves at both ends and runs through the center of the isobar line, bearing tons of pressure on its length. This improves the energy transfer path along the carbon fiber tube, creating a path between the sensitive audio component and the node that draws unwanted energy, which would otherwise appear resonant in the audio component, away from and into the node that absorbs and dissipates energy.

A fine example of these highly optimized energy paths can be seen in the R1 design.

At the interface between the carbon fibre Isobar and the ship's plywood shelf, Wilson Benesch designed a grooved cup that was finely machined to produce two points of intersection with the carbon fibre.

Each R1 rack is connected to the next four giant 500g chromite steel balls, which are kinematically located in the adjacent R1 rack with four slots. The interface gives the whole design a sense of reassurance; Each R1 rack will have a distinct sense of precision when placed on the next rack. But the node is a functional design element, and the node specifies that the ton pressure is equally concentrated through the four nodes.

The R1 has a modular design with fine tuning Settings and four spikes that are directly removed from the same rack as Cardinal's speaker. Kinematically, four ball bearing spikes are fixed in four floor cups, and the three cups are fixed with three ball bearings to form the final energy node.