A Tombstone in the Living room????

I keep an urn of my dead cat's ashes on top of my CD player. Makes the speakers purr.

I have a 3 shelf Target Rack-turntable on the top spiked shelf (on a granite slab on vibrapods), my satellite receiver is on the bottom shelf, and I have to stack my CD player and integrated amp on the middle shelf. Here's how it is on the middle shelf from the bottom: shelf, vibrapods, granite slab, vibrapods, CD player, large tiptoes points down into support cups, another granite slab on top of the tiptoes, vibrapods, integrated amp. A bit of work figuring out weight with respect to the vibrapods, but well worth it. I've also added peel and stick floor tile to the top of the granite to tone down "ringing" and found that when I did this, the tonal balance of the system did seem to become more natural. Read at audioasylum that "ringing" is a problem with both marble and vinyl and this is a cheap way to address the problem. In a recent "tweak" I discovered that the non-peel straight industrial floor tile is really "dead" and probably much more effective than the peel and stick, so next time I take the system down (which I do very carefully!), the peel and stick will be replaced with the heavier tile.

Hi David: I have 2 granite (1-1/4") slabs in my system. One under the CD player & the other under my tube amp. Does it make things sound better...Nope. It sure looks good though. Hope this helps. By the way, I paid $70 each at a stone place for them. Avguygeorge...too funny, you know the Krell joke.

Hi David- I also have a 2" slab of granite sitting under my Basis 1400. What a big difference! The granite is supported by 3 layers of MDF underneath it, each layer has Navcon between them. You got a great price on the granite, never thought about going to a tombstone maker...

I tried granite first but went to a sand stone. I have it sitting on a stone fireplace hearth with my equipment sitting side by side. On another thread, Redkiwi has recommended I abandon the stone and use a steel rack system. This seems to be a major departure of thinking on this site. The rack people say it transfers the vibration quicker from the components, and the stone stores the energy. I have not had any experience with the rack systems, (seems like a good place to loose $500+) Anyway, has anyone tried the two systems independently? I would love to here your experiences.

I'm extremely pleased with my system, I use a number or footer arrangements and use a Black Diamond Racing "shelf" under my amp. I believe the stone provides the most neutral base to build up from, but I'm open to others results.

P.S. If you look in the yellow pages under stone, you will find the supply yards in your area. These are the suppliers to the tombstone, counter top and whatever manufacturers. I've used these people for years in my Architectural practice and have learned to snoop out there yards. They generally have a scrap pile, pieces that broke during fabrication, or a graveyard (sorry) pile with pieces they can't use or sell. Every few years they ship these piles to a stone grinder to be used for road base. I've never paid for my stone, if you want it cut they will for a small fee, as discussed above. Is there a cheaper tweak anywhere than solid stone base? The only down site is my two slabs weigh about 400 lbs each. J.D.