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Shelf Material

I have tried so many different shelf materials, and some are better than others, but I feel like I am just spraying bullets that always miss the bulls-eye. So far, I cannot live with the brightness of glass, the ringing of marble or granite, the sluggishness of acrylic, the muddiness of mdf etc. Light and rigid seems better than heavy and dense - in that I can live with the downsides more easily. I use heavily constructed welded steel racks - spiked to the floor and upward spikes supporting the shelves - and I reckon this is right. I like the way bladder products get rid of the resonances that plague shelves, but find that the way they slow down the pace of the music is hard to accept. Does anyone have some answers on this?
redkiwi
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,398 posts
 
Thank you Caterham for not calling me dim. I have seen Corian on "This Old House" but did not make the connection. It is much easier to source than Persimmon.
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
I have played around with the hard rubber footers and Vibrapods a bit more now and my vote is now with the Vibrapods. The hard rubber footers are a bit dark sounding, and may explain Recres not liking Corian. Corian is definitely not perfect - there are probably better shelves, such as from Neuance or the Maple butchers block. I am just saying that if decoupled from the rack (in my case by nylon fishing line) and if decoupled from the component with Vibrapods, I get a good result. The most positive aspect of Corian is a thumping and deep bass, that is fast and agile, but the tendency to mid-range grain rules out spikes or cones.
kitch29
316 posts
 
I don't know much about youngs nautilus or caterham's, but i do know kevin from muse is pretty smart and his post reminds me of what we joiner's, (that's cabinetmakers to you) call the torsion box. To create a dead flat work surface, you take 2 layers ofsheet goods, mdf, ply, osb, etc and join them with accurately cut strips of the material. Pin and glue the strips to both layers so you wind up with a "shelf that's as thick as the two layers plus the width of the joining material. I'm thinking of 2 pieces of mdf, 3/4 X 30 X18 with 3/4 mdf cut very accurately to 18 X 2. 6 pieces spaced 6" apart would be good and the voids between them could be filled with sand or marmalade or whatever damping material you like prior to glue-up. The resulting box would be 30 X 18 X 3 1/2, incredibly stiff, and dead flat. You could trim it out with your sitka spruce, kevin. Remember coming to my place in florida, giving up on grounding and sheilding away the hum in my muse one pre-amp and sending me another with a whole new internal grounding system? You are the man!
caterham1700
271 posts
 
Give that man a cigar! :^) Neuance has been described as a "Box filled with custard". This, of course, is not perfectly accurate as I prefer firm meringues instead. ;^) Best, Ken
garfish
1,840 posts
 
At the risk of asking a really dumb question........I am not familiar with Corian. How does it compare to Formica (over MDF) as used here in the USA for counter tops etc? Thanks. Craig
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