Granite instead of an amp stand?

Gee DK, how interesting... Anyway back to Doug's suggestions about putting points under the marble... we had a long thread on shelving material. I suggest looking at that, as it seems the multilayer materials have it down. Maybe lay that on the marbles with tiptoes underneath. Wow, my Zoethecus stand cost that much? Geez! I bet the rack, on it's way, is a lot more.

Sreno: Try looking in the yellow pages under chef/kitchen or restaurant supplies. It is probably cheaper to buy localy due to the shipping weight. They have them at my local "designer" lumberyard, but they are expensive and only come in a max 22" length. Also if it is a glue lam I am told that the laminations must be "vertical" in order to get the benefit. I have a five foot 2 1/2 inch thick block from a failed restaurant that I cannot lift or cut. When I get around to building free standing shelves I will have it delivered to a stone cutter with templates and have then do the work. While we are on the subject of bases and supports - we have plaster/fixall floors under are carpeting. Once I got the speakers located I took up the carpeting and chiseled out enough of the mix to toenail two by twelves (Pine) in between the floor joists. The speakers stand spikes work better (stay level) and I think that it sounds better (less mucky) as well. The pine platforms are covered by carpet and then an area rug on top of that, don't know how this effects the sound though as I had to cover up my work quickly before my wife returned home.

OK guys I have heard all about this Maple butchers block. My question is where is there a good place to purchase some? I need at least 2 for my VK 60 mono's 17"X24"

I posted the comment about the butcher block solid Maple, it was on the thread originated by Redkiwi, and the subject was shelf material. This type of Maple can be ordered from McMaster Carr. I have tried the solid Granite block, typically used as a machine tool stand. The Granite blocks are available from machine tool supplies, but my results with them proved to be overly bright and ringing, much like the stone itself sounds when struck with a hard object. Testing with particle board and various layers of damping material surrounding the Granite, proved only to move the resonances around in the frequency range, rather that eliminate them. I settled on the solid maple and am pleased with its neutral, clean and uniform treatment of the music. I can only suggest that those of you with the time and energy, to try as well, and report here what you find. I would not be surprised that the results will vary with equipment, acoustic environment and room construction materials. Best luck.

There was a thread a while back either here or at AA about using a maple or oak butcher block as stand/shelf/platform whatever and the consensus was a certain type of butcher block was really wonderful for low $$.

okay, given the lack of shun mook-ers on this site, this takes some courage, but here it goes: i experimented with brightstar big rocks, corian (sorry, misspelled) and marble. the marble may have been the best in terms of tightening the image. then i talked to bill ying at shun mook. he suggested making my own sand box from u.s. maple wood (kind of like a "natural" brightstar). failing that he suggested i use a u.s. maple cutting block. i tired the cutting block with some cones beneth it and found i liked it better than the marble. the image was just as tight but the warmth of my (tube) amps came through moreso then when they sat atop the marble. as always, its a matter of personal preference. good luck.

tbadder, stick 3 cones under the marble slab, & yule be good to go... doug. ps - i like putting lead bricks on top of the amps, too...

That's my point. I heard the zoethecus amp stands and they were great, but the cheapest one I found was 500 bucks. Which isn't too bad except I'm poorer than an audiophile should be. I can get a 3 inch thick 20x20 slab of marble for around 100 dollars, hence my question. But I'm in total agreement with you, if I could nab a Zoethecus I would.

Well, all I can say is that once I put my Krell fpb 200c on a Zoethecus amp stand, I was stunned with the increase in focus, imaging, etc. I really was amazed!

The object of a good amp stand is to channel resonant energy away from the amp, but I bet marble would look pretty cool. Give a listen to Stephen Micus/The Music of Stones (ECM 1384). It's oscillating, atmospheric and hypnotic, made on resonating steles cut into metre cubes of black granite and green serpentine.

Why not? In my experience, even concrete slabs are effective. This concept also works well as a stable platform for speakers.