Right now I'm trying a 2by2 sheet of 3/4"thick birch ply, and loving it, tight, articulate, without accentuating anything. The maple has to be better than this or it's going back. |
Thanks, Thorman, did you place anything between the flooring and maple board?
I've tried several types of wood already, with each having a certain sound, some way too soft, robbing the bass, or some too hard, making things brittle.
Afraid to spend the money on the rather expensive maple, so far. |
oh oh, just on a whim I bought some of the mapleshade unfinished maple platforms, so I'll report back my impressions. I hope they don't suck! maybe I should have tried the cheaper granite first. we'll see...thanks! |
Thanks guys, very sound advice. I can totally relate to all your stories. I'm having great fun with the 2by2 birchplys I have under now, and I haven't even treated the raw wood yet. BUT, the mapleshade boards arrive tomorrow, so we'll see what the weekend craziness brings. I, too, give Pierre a wide birth. Yet, in his room and his setup, who knows? I agree, I couldn't sit 5 feet from my speakers.
Stick to your guns on that one, we all have different listening preferrences.
I would agree with Pierre that at times, a lot of the room treatment people do can really ruin the sound, and they just can't hear what they've done. Yet, I think room treatment, if needed, is very very necessary.
I saw the thread on the gallos and his boards. I'd love to hear it. I have no doubt it's great.
Dave b, do you think it's dispersion characterics or vibration control? I ponder this a lot, why birch sounds better than pine or concrete or that this maple may sound best.
Well, I'll let you know what happens. I may be a raving lunatic for Pierre come Sunday. It does bother me a bit that it's old growth maple. Let's hope the Sierra Club's not following the UPS truck down the lane tomorrow.... |
Love em! I received 2 of the unfinished 18 by 15 by 2 boards yesterday, with no footers or brass cones. At first I placed them just on the floor, like I had been doing with the birchply. Much better. Then I placed them on 3 wood buttons, attached with blutack, although I notice that Pierre hates blutack. Even as they are now, it's the best I've had under my speakers. Clarity improved from top to bottom, instruments stand out in greater relief. No frequency sounds overetched, all very natural. Bass is much tighter. So a very good investment. I may get some of his brass footers soon. I have some small brass cones I'll try later today. I have to say it's been the best tweek that doesn't sound like a tweek, if that makes any sense.
I suppose, in my severely technically challenged way of thinking, that it controls vibrations to the point where the speaker can play its best. I love them. |
Ok, here goes, might be treading into deep waters, we'll see, a contrast in two systems with Mapleshade board.
My floor is suspended yellow pine, very soft.
Friends floor is deep concrete slab with hard wood, a very hard surface. (Pierre Sprey says this is a horrible combination.)
My speakers are Shahinian Arcs, four feet are some kind of hard rubber or plastic (again Pierre says this is very bad)
My friend's speakers are Rega R9's, twice as tall, have four spikes connected with some special basket.
At my house, after putting small brass cones (not Pierre's) under the maple board, nothing between cones and flooring, the sound is amazing. Best surface the speakers have sat on so far. The shahinians have always felt very wobbly, especially on my soft floor. Now they at least sit very flat with little to no wobble.
When placing the boards under the Regas, same set up, although we did put pennies between cones and flooring, his is much nicer flooring. There was instantly a height issue for one of the fellow listeners, tweeters going pretty high past ear level. Sound was tight, yet lost the bloom necessary to really sound fantastic. So in his situation, not a good thing. There was no smearing or dullness as some of you have commented, yet too lean. His speakers sit very well on his hard flooring, no wobble to speak of.
So, in his room, which Pierre states should be better, it wasn't, and I would have wanted my money back.
In my room, I'm still doing some fiddling, but you couldn't wrestle them out of my arms without loosing one of yours. I truly love what they do here.
My listening panel is coming over later to judge me, and the boards. We'll see....
Maril, could you give more info on the product you mention? website?
Don, Mapleshade does make custom sizes, and in his catalog has I saw a 24" listed.
In summary, in my softfloored room the boards bring such a new level of clarity I'm totally gobsmacked.
Oh, to answer earlier about birch, it was nice, but had a grainier quality to it. Perhaps it was just the type I used, Lowe's 2by2 by 3/4. |
Hi, Maril, I found the sistrum website, looks interesting, and saw the dagogo review. Funny thing, I think the reviewer gave 3 or 4 areas where the sistrum made great improvements, and that's what I could have written about the Mapleshade boards, and that's without the fancier brass feet. Would be great to compare here. Except my speakers bottoms are not flat, so not sure if I could use. |
I was only trying to find something to work on my soft floors, mapleshade seemed like an easy option, especially the unfinished version. and yes, it does sound better than anything else homebrewed that I've tried. It wasn't my intent to go for some kind of speaker platform, I didn't want to alter the design of the speaker designer. I'm just trying to alleviate soft flooring. Bring something over, I'd be glad to give it a try. For now, maple seems to rule.
No hype. |
I checked out the symposium shelves, read a few reviews, looks cool, but for a set a little more than what I want to spend right now...maybe someday.
Thanks! |
I don't think you can automatically make universal claims for each product, good or bad. I think it to be very system dependent. The maple boards didn't work well with a friend's system, in mine they're superb. The Sistrum may have the same effect. Do they offer a return policy? |
Jrb55 and knownothing, good questions and points. In my somewhat limited experience with the mapleshade boards, I can say that the boards on the floor alone sound better than my floor by itself, and with my own brass cones under the boards things sounded even better. Has anyone tried different brass cones under the mapleshades, or did you go straightaway with their brass footers?
I can't say for sure if there's drainage going on or not, I can say there seems to be less vibration, hence the cleaner articulate sound. |
Hi jejaudio, where's a source for ball bearings?
Thanks |
Hi Sebrassch, I don't think I would use the glass coasters if I were you, although it can only take a few minutes to try it. Pierre from mapleshade says that using a disc or wafer under a point lessens the overall improvement. Let us know what you hear... |
