Slate vs Granite vs Maple?

A lot of great ideas here! Thanks, guys. Charlieboy's idea's intriguing, especially as it incorporates the granite slab within the maple box. I'll make sure to bounce these ideas off my carpenter. I guess no one's really a proponent of slate, though?

Granite sucks the life out of the music. I've used the granite slab under the solid state power supplies for my tube equipment and I don't like the results. A maple platform allows the harmonics to remain intact and the frequency balance is more even through the whole range from bass to treble.

I have found that heavy brass footers draw the tiny vibrations away from my turntable and into a 4" maple platform with great results. The sound became cleaner, tighter and more focused. If I had the space and money, I would do this for each of my components and place them in an adjacent room, away from the speakers. I use the system from Mapleshade, but I'm sure Walker and others may be just as good.

I also like the idea of a sand-filled maple box with a floating thick maple top (ie. resting on the sand eliminating all air-spaces.) All this under brass footers.