Platforms: granite, marble, maple or other?

Jafox, I researched and purchased some maple cutting boards a few months ago. It was suggested to me to avoid butcher block type boards as audio shelves because the grain would transmit the vibration vertically rather than dissipate it. Also, there is a lot more glue involved with all the small pieces of wood. The problem with a thick solid piece of maple is the tendency it has to warp or crack.

I ended up with 1 1/4" boards with three glued pieces and horizontal grain. I prefer the sound with my amp on the maple on top of Isolpads with my mdf amp stand rather than the amp directly on the mdf. I also now use the same style board as the shelf for a wall stand I made using steel supports. On top of that I have spikes supporting a Neuance shelf under my cdp. It is an even better improvement under the cdp than just the maple.
The wall stand provided an equally significant improvement compared to the floor standing audio rack it replaced as a solid base for the cdp. There are a couple of wall stands by Apollo that are a perfect fit with the Neuance, in the $125-150 price range not terribly expensive but a lot more than the cost of the one I made.

I have seen Garfish's John Boos boards and like them even better than the ones I got because they are thicker and have more squared off edges rather than radiused. I'll probably go to something like that if I can get a better fit for my amp and thicker support for the Neuance shelf. You can see the boards I got in my system pics. They are painted with a Krylon product, "Make It Stone", that looks like granite.

It matters a lot whether one has a concrete slab floor or a wood frame floor. My floor is wood frame, so it is very supect to mechanical vibration from the speakers. Most vibration originates at the speaker transducers. It gets to other equipment either by mechanical contact with the floor or through acoustic pressure (sound). Concrete slab floors greatly minimize the mechanical path between speakers and the equipment rack. This is all a pretty deep subject...

I have not tried the maple shelf yet. I have been using equipment shelves made from the Ikea Lak end tables ($10), which were suggested in an earlier post on the A'gon here. Try searching on "Ikea Lak". Has any one tried those? They are light, stiff and well damped.

Cheers

I also have a wood floor and am using two schools of thought for isolating my gear.For my components I'm using a rack and shelves that dissapate energy rapidly-Apollo Aria equipment rack and Neuance Shelving.The rack is NOT mass loaded (filled w/ sand or lead)and works great with the Neuance Shelves.The addition of the Neuance shelving was a big upgrade for my system.
For my speakers I'm using mass loaded (filled 2/3 with sand/lead) Osiris speaker stands with blue tac underneath the speakers.Ken at Greater Ranges/Neuance has a head for isolating gear and his ideas worked great on my rig.

From what I learned from a few mechanical and electrical engineers, every material has its own native resonance frequency. To reduce material resonance from being transmitted, the best thing you can do is combine a variety of material that has varied native resonance frequencies together.

Have you ever experienced the phenomenon when you hit two identical tuning forks point them at each other? They will amplify each others resonance and ring tone will get louder. I think this is the philosophy behind most platforms ie neuance and symposium.

Of course, certain materials does not resonante but absorbs certain frequencies such as wood or most inert materials such as plastic or lead.

I've been wanting to purchase Symposium Svelte shevles for quite some time, but I haven't had the nerve to give them my cc #. Instead, I've experimented with placing books and wooden blocks under components to absorb resonance. I found books more effective in removing digital glare when placed under transports. Amps go deeper and throws a wider sound stage with a phone book underneath it but sounds a bit more sterile at the same time.

Lately, and please laugh with me not at me here, I am using $10 white and transparent plastic chopping boards underneath my transport and amp. You know, the culinary kind. The difference is less bass but also increased clarity. I like the plastic chopping blocks. You too can get yours at Target for $10 a piece. The clear ones I got have rubber feet underneath too.

Viggen-- I, too, tried plastic cutting boards under my power supplies (pre & cdp). Not as successful as you; tonality and upper & lower extremes went away... strange.