plinth for tts8000

@lewm & @rauliruegas

I know both of you are very knowledgeable about TT’s in general. However After doing a lot of testing with various footer materials, there are materials like glass, Metals & Stone which raise red flags to me. IF you need to gain High freq. clarity those are among the best. I’ve never needed in, in my system and have fought brightness in my system. So I can’t imagine a plinth made out of either material (Though VPI sandwiched Alum in the Scoutmaster I had). I suppose either material can be damped and if so, fine. But a full on slate? Though it is a soft porous, does it need damping? I respect your experience do you believe it worked for you because your system needed the extra clarity? Just curious. Not meant as flames.

EDIT After re-reading the OP I notice he said the MDF Plinth was dark and dead. I understand that and maybe the hard metal or stone is in order. A tone wood may also be in order from my experience. I would still be interested in Lew & Raul"s answer to my question because my experience has been limited to my own system. 

@lewm

It is those planes perpendicular to the compressive force present when slate was formed that I think makes slate a good material for dissipating energy, and why it does not ring, as other "stones" may do

I looked up slate’s hardness compared to other rocks after posting. I knew it was a softer stone. I also tried to find out its porous rating. I found very little except it is somewhat porous. I was thinking that might be the cause. I should have picked up on its layering. Oh well, that’s the "golden years effect".

I have worked with slate before but in the building aspect, not audio. Whenever I ran into a slate, I took extra precautions with my footers. FWIW, I was wondering how you got a piece big enough to even work since it falls apart so easily. I suspect they didn’t use a backhoe.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.