Linn Bedrok LP12 Plinth Upgrade

There are thousands of audio devices now produced from a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board, that are designs undertaken in the DIY community for the best part of 20 years. I believe the Commercial offerings using this material type came later.

There is nothing to stop an individual to buy a Board at a Dimension that suits their needs, the dimension for the Board does not have to be the same as that that selected by another.

If a rebating is to be put in place to allow for other parts to be inserted into the rebate, this will be best produced to the tolerance that best allows for the best fitting interface.

For certain TT's although not yet proven, it does seem the remaining material left when the rebate is cut out can be further machined to produce a Part that is usually produced in Aluminium and when in use, has the purpose to function as a Sub Chassis, Parts that are needed for the TT to function such as the Tonearm and Platter Bearing Housing can be attached to such a Sub Platter design.

When it comes to Damping / Dissipation, the intrinsic properties of a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood is much improved over any metal type, the densified wood is as stable a material as a metal is in typical ambient conditions.

Another method for Producing a Plinth that acts like a Peripheral Structure is to produce it from a material that has the required form milled out then cut to the required dimension and Corner Jointed to make a Periphery Structure. A Structure produced like this from a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood will not yield and of the most attractive properties if being compared to a rebated board.

It is a certainty a Board with a improved basic structure to a Board recently used to produce a Plinth can be purchased.

The improved board will need to be produced with a minimum of 50 Tiers of Veneers per Inch Thickness. It is common today to see 0.7mm Veneers compressed to 0.35mm.

The Veneers will need to be laid as a Cross Grain Orientation an the minimum. 

 A Board cut to the dimension to produce a Plinth, as stated will be approx' £300

The machining cost @ £300 is a guestimate, using info known from others who have used a CNC Service where a program was produced for the CNC. It is very close to being an accurate quote as a one off production.

The cost to produce the Sub Chassis from the rebated board cut out is harder to nail down, but another £300 does not sound too excessive as a one of production. 

Using the method to Mill a profile and produce the Periphery with corner Joints will be much less wasteful of materials and may incur an additional cost for the producing the Corner Joints and the bonding together the parts to form the structure.

When the DIY Clone of a Plinth Type does become seen as a sale item, the above is a very accurate guide to show how the costings for materials and forming the Plinth will look.

The costings may also look quite attractive and be encouragement to another, where they are prompted to make an investigation into the viability of such a venture. For individuals with a experience in producing a structure, such a task will be seen for it being a simple wood working task with a particular dimension for the rebate needing to be maintained, the overall dimension is for the end user to decide on. Modern technology makes this type of Task very easy to achieve.

A friend with their own CNC produces Densified Wood Plinths where tolerances for the rebates are produced to 0.05mm if requested. Such a tolerance is sought for  the S to P dimension being very accurately produced when a particular Tonearm is only to be used.

I have purchased Densified Wood in a range of thicknesses and to date have Two Plinths produced from this material in a 25mm thickness to the above machining tolerances. I know of near 50 Plinths produced from the Densified Wood material, that are produced between Two different friends that are now in many Countries across the Globe.                 

I’ll be delighted when somebody actually produces a cheaper high performing substitute for the Bedrok plinth rather than just talking about it on an online forum.

Better still if they can also produce a cheaper more effective sub-chassis than the Keel. It remains to be seen if Resin Impregnated Densified Wood is a better material for this purpose than aluminium.

I have no desire to produce a Peripheral Frame using a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board to be used on a Belt Drive TT.

Individuals I know who know the cost of the Periphery Frame produced as the Bedrok and who both know the LP 12 very well, with access to the TT and are quite capable of producing a Peripheral Frame for the TT, using either of the methods made known in my earlier post using a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board have not expressed a interest in producing a design to be an alternative option   from their own resource of stored Densified Wood Board, even with the notion that a mark up on the materials as finished design at a 1000% will still be half price to what it would be intended to substitute.

In relation to the use of Densified Wood, Linn are quite late to the Party.

In relation to a Sub Chassis being produced in a Densified Wood, I can only assume if a Brand dedicated to selling a Bespoke Item produced from a particular grade of Aluminum was to produce a replacement Item for such a part in a Densified Wood and then offered it for sale at a 50% + Mark Up on the existing price, this would be the evidence needed to suggest other material is more suitable for a structural purpose than Aluminium.

There is information to be found within the Gon and outside of the Gon, to supply convincing evidence a Densified Wood is a suitable substitute for Metals. With the added bonus of the intrinsic properties belonging to the Densified Wood being much more attractive for managing energies that are unwanted in a audio device such as a TT.

I would suggest a Linn LP 12 owner adopts the usage of a Sub Plinth produced from a 25mm Thick Densified Wood Board, which will be acquired between £100 - £200 if prudently sourced.

Using the Densified Wood Sub Plinth in conjunction with LP 12 will supply a proportion of the benefits achievable by the adding a Bedrok Peripheral Frame.  Both will be parity for having the desirable intrinsic properties for improved managing of transferred ambient energies. The unknown is how much a Densified Wood Sub Plinth  is able to come close to adding the same benefit achieved from adding the Peripheral Frame. My experiences if the using the material as a Sub Plinth strongly suggests there will be no discernible difference to be discovered, each will offer almost identical benefits through adopting the material type. 

Additionally if the Densified Wood Sub Plinth is adopted to be used in conjunction with the LP 12. Careful selection of Footers as the separators most likely to add to overall new quality of performance on offer, furthering the benefits and produce something that shares similar improvement to the alternate bases that can be adopted. The added footers being capable to offer up very similar properties, as if adding the Trampolin Base.