Shelf Material

Try and get two thin pieces (ie two pieces that combined make up the dimensions of one solid piece) of whatever material you select and bond them with a suitable adhesive/sealant (Dow Corning RTV or clear silicone), aligning the two pieces at 90 deg to each other. Use a spiral pattern of adhesive/sealant starting from the center, this way you will get an air/sealant cushion. Good luck! Richard.

I've tried just about everything too, I use solid 1" thick oak, seems to give me the best results so far. The Brightstar Audio stuff seems to sound better in my system than the Seismic sinks do. As always, your mileage may vary...Jeff

I JUST BUILT A TURNTABLE STAND WITH INCREDIBLE RESULTS. HERE GOES.. 1- 18X18X2 PATIO BLOCK ON THE FLOOR.5-16X16X8 CONCRETE CHIMNEY BLOCKS. CENTER 1 CHIMNEY BLOCK ON THE 18X18 AND ATTACH WITH LIQUID NAILS.USE THE BLUE LABEL HEAVY DUTY CONSTRUCTION IN CAULKING GUN.THEN STACK THE REMAINING 4 CHIMNEY BLOCKS ON TOP USING THE LIQIUD NAILS BETWEEN EACH BLOCK. VERY IMPORTANT!!! MAKE SURE BOTH SIDES OF THE CHIMNEY BLOCKS HAVE NO BURRS OR HIGH SPOTS. ON MINE ONE SIDE NEEDED TO BE HIT ALL AROUND WITH A HAMMER TO GET A FLAT SURFACE.SINCE THE CHIMNEY BLOCKS HAVE AN 8X8 HOLLOW IN THE CENTER YOU CAN FILL THE WHOLE THING WITH SAND IF YOU LIKE.I THEN USED ANOTHER 18X18X2 PATIO BLOCK FOR THE TOP!YOU CAN THEN FINISH THE SIDES OF THE CHIMNEY BLOCK WITH CERAMIC TILE OR WHATEVER.THE WHOLE THING COST ME $52 AND I BUILT IT IN LESS TIME THAN IT TOOK ME TO TYPE THIS!! I PUT MY BASIS TURNTALE ON TOP AND COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING.THIS IS TRULY A ROCK SOLID STAND ANN IT IS PERPECTLY LEVEL. ENYOY!!

The same shelf and devices will not have the same sound on different components. There are a lot of variables such as stock feet, cones, pods , etc., as well as the shelf (or layers of shelves and isolators) and also included into the equation is the specific component that you are isolating. My layer for my CD player is 3/4" Persimmon (the cabinet itself), Vibrapods, 3/4" MDF, stock feet on CAL Icon II and it sounds great. The cabinet construction as well as it's location from the speakers must influence the sound as well. I have also used 1" thick marble in the equation and found it to be too bright though a friend preferred that sound, probably because the setup sounded more like his Marantz 67 Mk II player which was his reference and taste. I once added stick on floor tiles to the bottom of an extended "plastic" shelf with good results (to me) and the tiles were not visible unless you were laying on the floor. I think that it is all up to individual tailoring for each component, and when taking into consideration individual taste, that there is no answer. I can even imagine in some cases that added resonance may even improve the sound depending on what the sound is that one is looking for.

My thoughts are that you want a shelf to be dead rather than resonant, but that it released its energy very quickly. Dead means the least effect on tonality - ie. no resonant peaks. Releasing its energy quickly means no perceived slowing of the music. I suspect that engineering-wise, getting these two things at the same time is very difficult, if not impossible, hence the difficulty I am having getting something that sounds right. I concur with all of the above posts to some degree, but think the most fruitful approach may be to get a shelf that releases its energy quickly - ie. is light and rigid - and use some form of damping that does not add weight, and hence energy storage. This aligns with the suggestions from Dekay and Vantageaudio. So I will work on that avenue I think. Perhaps two layers of 6mm perspex bonded together - but perpexes rigidity:weight ratio is not great. Perhaps Corian is worth investigating. Any ideas? Of course Dekay is right that the exact answer each time is equipment dependent, but the general strategy ought to have some consistency in my mind. Thanks for the ideas so far.