Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Harv,

If you use the Dutch aftermarket plinth, why couldn't you just glue it down with a thin layer of J-B Weld or other good epoxy? It is flat, and I believe that the interface would be adequate to maintain all the sonic qualities without detriment. By the way, I have glued metal to slate and it bonds very well.

mosin

A gent over at Lenco Lovers did some experiments using a cement filled plinth. The results had interfering transmission in the form of rumble that had to be eliminated with further secondary layering with a softer foam layering underneath.
His take on this was that sound (in the form of unwanted transmission) either passes through or is reflected off of dense material. It doesn’t simply vanish. The alternating of dense/soft layering as in the constrained plinth allows for an overall dissipation in transmission because of a scattering of unwanted interference because of the divergent pass-thru/ reflective properties of the materials used.

Before we all rush to give exalted properties to slate as plinth material (including myself), I would submit that it has more in common with this cement plinth than the constrained “sandwich”.

- Mario

Hi Mario

Not sure we can generalise with any of these 'stone' materials - there are many types of slate with differing qualities, the same can be said for: limestone (probably more so),sandstone, granites, marbles etc.

As concrete (I assume this is what is meant by cement) is made with OPC and an aggregate then is is also dependent on the qualities of said aggregate which could be any of the above materials or other e.g. lead shot. We might even get into the realms of Lime Concrete which would be different again.

Plus the LL experiment is only one sample, I would suggest that many more examples would need to be tested before one can state anything for certain.

I would also suggest that we need to dispose of the CLD 'blinkers' and accept that there may be other ways. I'm not even really sure what we are all doing with plinths actually is CLD in its true sense.

Willbewill,

I agree with you. There are lots of ways to accomplish what we are trying to do. Let's say you have found a perfectly neutral material, assuming you can define neutral. If neutral means that the material imparts no sound of its own, then you need mechanical components that will stand up to very close scrutiny because every audible flaw will surface. That takes you to a higher plane which is to replace flawed components with corrected ones. If you don't, then you need a plinth that imparts some color, so that subtle inconsistencies in the components will be masked, so the final sound is pleasing. It's a catch-22, at best.

I am reminded of what a well-known industry insider once told me. "...there are almost no true professionals in home audio, regardless of the stature, size of their businesses, or supposed qualifications..." So, we learn what we can, and go from there.

Regards,
mosin

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Hi Malcolm,
You're right about generalizations. And my second sentence in the 2nd paragraph above should have contained wording that DF's experiment and conclusions were delivered as a postulation.
The whole field of plinthing is subject to asking if we'll ever really "be sure" about anything in this realm which has some definablly good empiricism and that will be trusted by all of the people all of the time.
But we might also be wary of accepting results of driven high-end marketers that, as a group, sometimes throw smokeballs our way.
There are no true experts in this new geologic/plinth field. As for Mosin's place in this discussion, it seems to me that objectivity is the first victim in the avenger's heart. This is not about truth, justice and the scientific way. He carries a perception of being slighted by JN ions ago. I got in the middle of that once - not this time.

- Mario