Platforms: granite, marble, maple or other?

Hello.....You actually heard an improvement in the sound of your system when you put this maple board under your amp? Please share what differences were heard and how many times back and forth you went to confirm these improvements actually existed. And for all the physicists and materials engineers out there, please explain how the grain in the wood platform would affect the sound.

Garfish, it was not that I am a believer or disbeliever here. But from all my experiences with "upgrading" my audio and HT systems, a piece at a time, after listening back and forth with and without the new item, it is often not as big a difference as I thought from the beginning.

There are times when the system sounds phenomenol and other times for whatever reason, not good at all......and nothing has changed. I can only assume it is the humidity, clean power or just my mood and interest at that moment.

I have done extensive cable comparisons from the line stage and amp, and yes, there can be big differences, but often they are difficult to hear as well. And this is between NBS, MIT and Cardas cable. So it is hard for me to imagine how simply putting a board or platform under a component can be so noticeable of a change unless you return briefly to how it was before for confirmation.

And of course a high resolution system will show this as well. But if an amplifier, of all pieces in a system, unless it is loaded with tubes, is susceptible to such problems when not on an isolation stand, that does not say much of the design/assembly of the amp.

I have experimented with a few platforms under my Clearaudio Ref Table and also BAT VK P10 / VK31SE and I have to be honest here, nothing has brought on any more detail or a change in the tonal character. This was the point of my question above as I went through all this myself recently.

Thanks guys....I will continue to keep an open mind when it comes to tweaks. Ever since I borrowed an NBS Master interconnect and picked my jaw off the floor when it trounced a handful of other cables (Audioquest, Cardas, Transparent, Straighwire) so significantly have I learned an open mind here is a good thing.

As for me "knowing" the sound of my system, sometimes it just does not click for me at all and back upstairs I go to watch TV or do something else. And other times there is no way anybody can get me out of the basement as the music simply sounds so awesome. So this is why I "play" for 2-3 hours, swapping back and forth to confirm to me that there is or is not a difference ......and is the difference worth the price; I am a very value-conscious audiophile. And I like to feel good about a change or purchase I made or it will bug me forever to re-address that link in the system with an upgrade very soon after.