2. amps-preamps
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How thick is the limit?... never heard anyone say?

I have been looking to buy very thick- 3 inch min to 4 inches thick, Amp stands for years. I am not a big "amp stands are the keys" to better sound person. I just think that thick wooden slabs look good, I have no idea why- but I guess it must be a man thing.
Clearly turntables and digital front ends benefit from mass. Amps however, I doubt benefit terribly much. Just being honest, but the amps are tubed monoblocks so the stands may cut down on the non existent microphony. Couldn't hurt ....right?? ...I hope.
I got lucky, knock on wood!, because a buddy is selling amp stands as if I custom ordered them.
My question is- Can the wood be so thick that it makes the amps sound worse?? In this case they are 3+ inch thick edge grain, audiophile finished natural Maple, block.
mechans

Showing 2 responses by magfan

magfan
1,583 posts
 
Isn't resonant frequency related to mass? More mass=lower Fr.

Also, wood being a 'natural' composit will have the resonant modes distributed so there will not be one 'bell like' peak.
You are correct that speaker builders take advantage of this.
However, a panel of wood used as an enclosure is different that a wood base for a component....for one thing, the pressure stress is applied fairly about all sides, not just the pressure from within an enclosure.

If you seriously want to damp out a wooden shelf, laminate on a sheet of something inert, a very hi density rubber/plastic over a sheet of metal....maybe 3mm of aluminum. Bond it together with a uniformly applied adhesive. Such panels are nearly inert.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Yes, everything resonates.
The way to avoid that is to have multiple layers of stuff that doesn't share a frequency. Hi or is that low? hysterisis rubber (whichever one doesn't bounce!) is a good layer to add to a resonant system.
Many years ago, I had a Duel 1209TT. The platter was a 2piece affair. 'Ding' it with a finger nail and it was pretty inert. Take it apart, and each piece rang like a bell.

Look up the Tesla stuff of resonance. He once claimed he could topple the Empire State building with 2 (or 20)HP. Quite a feat.
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