MDF or Plywood for best sound in Hi-Fi rack ?

Maple butcher blocks are quite a bit better than both MDF and plywood. Have a look at this thread - http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1158841915&read&3&4&

I sourced my butcher blocks form Tony’s Woodshop in PA. He was quite a bit cheaper than all the other suppliers I tried.

Regards
Paul

BTW, I am not affiliated with Tony in any way.

Guidocorona - “Not so in our isolation platforms, which we want largely to sound as dead as doornails.”

I cannot possibly disagree with you more.

Over a number of years, I have built a number of composite platforms to be as acousticly “dead as doornails” only to find that when placed under my turntables, the sound also becomes dead and lifeless. I used materials such as MDF, ply, aluminum, plexiglass and cork and got a few to be totally quiet even when rapped with a knuckle. The more dead the platform, the more dead the sound.

The plywood platforms I have tried (composite or no) have all produced a very vague thin sound.

Placed and a solid maple platform the sound is much more natural, detailed and lively. To my ears, no contest. I cannot explain why that is, but I surmise it is due to the fact that trees (and consequently the wood) evolved over millennia to withstand whatever nature threw at it, and now very capable of dealing with vibration and resonances. Maple seems especially capable of dealing with resonances within the audio frequency range.

I think your postulation as the maple acting as a “mechanical amplifier” in violins and as such not suitable for audio somewhat misplaced. While maple is used for the instruments you mention, I have yet to hear a more natural presentation from my turntable on maple than any other platform regardless of material.

Regards
Paul

BTW, if you do have a 18”x 15” of the plywood available, I would love to try it. I am not holding breath it will be better, but if I am wrong that would hardly be a bad thing for me.

Hi Guidocorono

No blind tests – blindfolds really do no work well when trying to queue a record. :-)

I never set out on experimenting to find/build the best platform. Rather my comments are based on things I have tried over many years. Obviously as time passes (and equipment changes) it is difficult to gauge which sounded better or worse. However, the terrible disappointment of spending weeks and $$ making a nice platform only to have it sound dull is difficult to forget.

I tried a 4” solid maple board under my turntable and it was noticeably better than a maple butcher block. I haven’t considered that thinner would be better, but it’s definitely worth looking into.

I am sure there are wood species better than maple, and of course not all maple are equal. I just happen to read some comments on the virtues of maple and decided to try it. The choice of butcher blocks rather than solid wood was mainly economical – a 18”x15”x3” butcher block cost me less than $75.

I find the idea of brass platforms interesting. Before I heard the solid maple platform I was toying with the idea of getting a 18”x15”x1” 6061-T4 aluminum plate and see what that sounds like. A number of turntable manufacturers are making platter out of metal, so there may be something in it.

Regards
Paul