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AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
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Message started by Jeff of Arabica on 01/18/19 at 01:55:22

Title: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Jeff of Arabica on 01/18/19 at 01:55:22

I have been searching for a non-audio vendor for reasonably priced hardwood to build a simple set of floor platforms for my Canary Audio Reference Two monoblock amps, which weigh in at 150lbs each!

I found a company called, Perfect Plank (www.perfectplank.com). From the look of their website, they crank out some wood! Their selection is not vast but I bet the types of wood they supply will satisfy the needs of most for DIY platforms and shelves. They are not an "all things" hardwood supplier as they specialize in butcher block counter tops only. But quality seems on point and they are cheap! The caveat is they don't finish the wood so you will need to stain and/or seal yourself as soon as they arrive and do any edge/radius work prior to finishing. I am expecting the wood quality to be top notch.

I had some questions prior to ordering so I called in and the gentleman I spoke to could not have been any nicer and helpful. I ended up choosing their "Select Maple" 30 X 18" planks ($92/ea) for the platforms and Eden Sound (www.edensoundaudio.com) brass footers with deep carpet spikes, a much cheaper option over Mapleshade's brass footers.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Donnie on 01/18/19 at 10:45:46

I've used perfect plank before in my professional life.
It machines nice, there are no voids and the finger joints are, well, perfect.
It is a little pricey, but not outrageous.
We used mahogany to make wood patterns for the foundry industry.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lonely Raven on 01/18/19 at 16:01:55

I'm just happy to see that Eden Sound says damping and not dampening - I don't want to wet my gear. :)

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by ScottNC on 01/18/19 at 19:45:46

Hey Jeff,
I don't want to hijack your post but thought since so many are viewing this I'd throw in on it.
I've been researching some venders also for platforms and spoke with and ordered from Chris Futrick http://www.timbernation.com, a set of 3" Tiger Maple Iso's for my DNA2's along with some spikes, he's located in PA and includes shipping anywhere in lower 48 on his stuff. He'll make anything and gave me what I considered a more than fair price on my first order.
I'll follow-up with a post when I get them, but he's worth a look for anyone in the market.
Best,
Scott

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by armstdav on 01/18/19 at 20:20:19

My current rack is from Chris at Timbernation. He does great work at a reasonable cost. Recommended.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by ScottNC on 02/03/19 at 23:02:01

If you happen to be “On the Fence” about speaker platforms, for me at least, in my room, these new
3” Tiger Maple make a world of difference, and I don’t even have my MKIV or ZTPRE in the system yet.
Scott
LOL, after resizing this 3 time to get it to fit, I'm cropping it.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Steve Deckert on 02/04/19 at 04:14:34

Very Nice !!!

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lonely Raven on 02/04/19 at 19:12:56

Nice and solid looking - looks like good work!

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by armstdav on 02/04/19 at 20:20:38

Beautiful stands, ScottNC. How would you say they improve the sound?

David

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by ScottNC on 02/04/19 at 20:52:12

Right off, I'd say the bass is tighter, and the imaging is more focused. Again, I don't have my amp or pre in yet so I can only expect way better results then.

Best,
Scott

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lonely Raven on 02/04/19 at 22:29:55

What you described is exactly what I'd expect.

When a speaker is decoupled (or depending on the case coupled) with the floor, you're not dumping bass energy into vibrating wood and carpet. Plus, I'm a firm believer that you get some comb-filtering from vibrations going into the floor, and echoing back to the speaker. Probably some micro-timing smearing too - much like you would with the sound waves bouncing off the walls in your room.

I might have mentioned this to Scott - I forgot who I was just talking about this - but a quick and cheap way to test decoupling your speakers or gear from the floor, is to use some dense Polyurethane packing foam. Not the soft cushy stuff that come in the Pelican cases Decware amps come in, or that some shops sell as "sound proofing"; the foam I'm talking about is a shiny, denser, open celled foam that I'm finding used to ship computers, monitors, and TVs in instead of styrofoam. Think more like pool noodles, but more open celled.

My big subwoofer is close to 200 pounds, and putting some 3" x 3" strips of foam under the sub was a huge change. At first it seemed like there was less bass - but I realized that was because I wasn't feeling it in the couch, through the floor. When I really started listening, I realized there was much more texture and detail in that sub-50hz range that was more of a one-note-for-everything sound previously. For a free from a big computer monitor box upgrade, it was pretty much a game changer.

Big maple slabs do it differently, but they can absolutely tighten and focus!

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lon on 02/04/19 at 22:33:27

I agree that decoupling the speakers makes a significant difference.

So does the resulting height difference of the speakers from the floor. That's an important factor as well.

I decouple my speakers with the old style Iso-Pods from VooDoo Cable which have two pieces separated by a bearing in the center. Works very well. When I move my system in the near future that will free up two of my PS Audio PowerBases and I'm going to try placing my speakers on those to assess the resulting sound.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by ScottNC on 02/04/19 at 23:13:57

LR,
It wasn’t me on the foam, but while waiting on my maple I did mess with cutting up two pieces of laminate shelf and stuck some neoprene type foam under it and got a little improvement, then did try the white cheap-o packing stuff and it was a definite improvement. Surprised me, because it’s so simple. I also got a set of Dayton Audio gold thick carpet cones that are like $40 and they are under my slabs, they seem to do the trick when compared to $400-$600 sets a pretty good deal.
Got a notice that my ZTPRE is in “Listening” tic tock!
Lon, your ZROCK is moving up there😉!
Good Listening all.
Best,
Scott

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lonely Raven on 02/04/19 at 23:25:08

I have fond memories of stalking the build list when the ZMA was first in production. :)

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Donnie on 02/04/19 at 23:34:18

I once tried decoupling my speakers once with open cell pipe insulation but with no real sonic differences.
It might be that my floor is carpet over concrete, nothing much to resonate in the first place.
Of course this brings back the old decouple vs. coupling debate.
Who knows? It is all black magic to me, like calculus.

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by ScottNC on 02/04/19 at 23:54:38

Donnie,

I hear ya, black magic for sure...so I decouple with 3”
Solid Maple, then I buy gold, spiked cones to ram through the carpet and stick in my hardwood floor...recoupling? Lol, sure, makes perfect sense to me...is calculus the thing with squares and triangles and stuff or is it just the numbers things with weird symbols? ::)
I do know, they sound better, yep.

Best,
Scott

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Lon on 02/05/19 at 00:33:47

ScottNC wrote on 02/04/19 at 23:13:57:

Lon, your ZROCK is moving up there😉!
Good Listening all.
Best,
Scott

Yes Scott, I think that there's one less "New" order ahead of it every day the last week, down to about 11 now. And the first "New" one on the list is the first ZLC--(mine is the second)--will be great to see a ZLC out in the wild!

You are going to LOVE your ZTPRE Scott! I had mine out of the system for a while and thought "I could probably sell that." Put it back in and realized it's going nowhere unless I have a financial hardship!

Title: Re: Great hardwood supplier for platforms/shelves
Post by Showme on 04/14/19 at 00:36:54

I was looking at Perfect Plank to make an audio rack. Shipping for 4 36” maple boards made the project about $450 for the wood. Menard’s had birch butcher block for $200 72”x36”x1.5”. Very nice and i’ve got my 4 shelves.