Some more really great ideas! Of course, more to think about. Which is fine since I’ve been obsessing over this for some time. Just to clarify, I’ve also got spring isolators and other products under my components, but will try more of the Stack Audio products soon.
@terry9 Great suggestions, hadn’t thought through the fact that many products that dissipate component cabinet energy use a variety of materials (and even metallic sand). I’m already using Stack audio Auva EQ’s under my pre and they far surpass anything else I’ve tried. Would make sense to do this for the shelves as well. And yes, now seeing that screws would negate these efforts almost entirely.
I’ll look into the M1 product for sure.
@carlsbad2 I’ve been back and forth about exactly what you’ve suggested. Dissipation (constrained layering) vs resonance draining/tuning, or an effective ratio therein. Too much dampening seem to deaden sound as much as over damping a room.
@dmk_calgary @brunomarcs @mitch2
That might be a good way to go. Build just a simple maple rack and customize platforms under components.
Thank you all!
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Some interesting responses and certainly more than one way to skin the cat (no cats were harmed during the writing of this post).
The gatorboard I recommended was a material used by some of us back in the day and patterned off of the foam used by Symposium Acoustics' constrained layer products such as this one and this one.
I have made platforms with that material sandwiched between two layers of MDF and trimmed in oak that still support some of my front end components along with Zoethecus Z-slabs, another constrained layer product that previously came with Zoethecus audio equipment racks (no longer in business). The Z-slabs utilize multiple layers of materials with the top surface being aluminum.
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Use thin cork material glued between between maple wood layers.
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I took some 4 pound lead sheet and covered both sides with dynamat extreme. I have 10 of these on my rack under the shelves sitting on a layer of exterior grade mdf, it's called extera, a little denser and has epoxy resins or other waterproofing elements in it, it was free OK. The rack must weigh 350 pounds. I cant possibly move it, need to put wheels on it somehow.
Im gonna use lead sheet again on a TT plinth. I'm not worried about getting lead poisoning because it'll be completely covered.
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Another option would be to build bases for your equipment. I used the material that @bdp24 mentioned, and sandwiched that material between oak and granite from my local kitchen counter store. My amp and pre-amp and TT are sitting on those, which, in turn, sit on the stand. The TT is on its own supports on the wall studs. As someone else pointed out, constrained layer damping only works when you have two DIFFERENT materials - so I used granite and wood. YMMV of course.
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By the way, lose the screws! Metal fasteners transmit energy very efficiently from one layer to the next, undoing most of the good which constrained layer damping can do. Other fasteners connecting the two layers aren't much better.
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Constrained layer damping works by having two materials of different acoustic impedance in intimate contact.Wood and elastomeric glue are quite different, but you may fare better by using one layer of wood and another layer of metal, joined by elastomeric glue: aluminum and lead are two of the best choices.
When I built my music room a few years ago, I looked at many of the elastomeric products, and found M1 from Chemlink to be a good all-round choice. They also have a product which has marginally better adhesion - but look at the specs of anything you use, because some of the stuff called 'glue' really isn't.
Good luck!
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I used 1/4 inch neoprene in between all the joints in my rack as I assembled it. There's no direct contact between wood and metal parts except screws that also go through the neoprene.
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another option is bubble wrap
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 Vibrapods can be used between shelving for an effective isolation device. The illustration is from the site. Results may very.
There are a lot of viscous materials that can used between your boards for constrained layer damping. If it is necessary to keep the profile as low as possible, I like bdp's suggestions. The green glue concept could be held together with a couple dowels. Press fit into bottom board, slip fit into top board.
![Vibrapod Isolator Installation]()
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I'm a physicist with a good understanding of vibration. And it isn't clear to me whether the elastomer will help or hurt. Good question.
My solution is to build a rack without shelves. Where shelves would be I put a horizontal metal bar on the front and back and just put 2 heavy boards across the rack to support the feet.
Jerry
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Here’s the one I thought might work.
LACK TV unit,
W - 47 1/4"
H - 14 1/8"
D - 13 3/4"
It has 2 levels.
There is another one that is 63" wide.
DeKay
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Thank you all,
these are some great recommendations and I really appreciate this…
@dekay I was actually looking into the Lack, a bit too deep but not out of consideration. It could also be slightly modified if needed. I was also looking at a Tiburon” entertainment/tv shelf that looked promising. Made of a thick kind of balsam I believe. It was an opposite problem in that it was only 9-10” deep.
Thank you @bdp24 and @mitch2 for those materials to use as a constrained layer. The green glue under a “floating” board is something I hadn’t considered. Cool idea.
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Oh, and I just remembered Green Glue, which comes in a tube like caulking putty. Green Glue is made to never completely dry, so allows a minute amount of movement between the two surfaces it is applied to. I think in order to work as well as possible you would need to not screw the two shelves together, but that is just a guess.
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For the elastomer material, look into WallDamp by ASC (Acoustic Sciences Corp.). It was developed to be installed between two layers of sheetrock when building listening rooms, but can also be used for the application you are considering. I've been in a room built using WallDamp (with Magico loudspeakers), and the resulting walls were very non-resonant.
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If your components are not heavy weights an inexpensive alternative would be to try a low light/rigid table.
If you have Ikea in your area look specifically @ their "LacK" tables which come in many different sizes.
Some of the shallow "TV" tables might work or one of the 2-level coffee tables if not too deep.
My electronics are on a light/rigid rack with custom light/rigid shelves under the source gear.
The shelf design I use is not unlike the construction of the Lack tables.
However, if you go with the shallow "TV" rack (well, you already know about the Frenchmen).
DeKay
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