Mapleshade boards under speakers

Maple is the right stuff for putting under audio. Thats all there is to say about it.

Make sure it is the best kiln dried maple hand ruubed with just mineral or tung iol . I use 4" thick ones with oil finish and there is a very obvious changein my syste,. I now have very attractive slabs of very thick maple and brass cones. It look great. The system sound pretty much the way it always did it just loooks better.
Under my preamp a thick dampening pad had a obvious sonic impact. That is likely a function of keepining the tubes as still as I can. My Make shift pad is going to be replaced with a 5 inch tall sandbox of pure tiger maple if Timbernation sends it. I am gointo use finely powcered lead for damping and ballat atop giggantic brass feet I am making to order. They wiegh 20lbs a piece and will sit in a speceial high tension suspended cup. Total figure 100 KG- or 220lbs plus the pre.

Bradluke, I think you are right on this topic. The wood is dense, heavy and essentially inert. When you connect your gear via pointed cones into/onto the wood, it stablizes the equipment, thereby dampening whatever vibration the gear may be experiencing. With tubed gear, in my case, a preamp with microphonic prone, 60+ year old 6SN7s, holding it still, is important. Some people may call this "draining" vibration. I grant you that poetic license should not be a license to steal, in the way we sometimes see it used.