The same shelf and devices will not have the same sound on different components. There are a lot of variables such as stock feet, cones, pods , etc., as well as the shelf (or layers of shelves and isolators) and also included into the equation is the specific component that you are isolating. My layer for my CD player is 3/4" Persimmon (the cabinet itself), Vibrapods, 3/4" MDF, stock feet on CAL Icon II and it sounds great. The cabinet construction as well as it's location from the speakers must influence the sound as well. I have also used 1" thick marble in the equation and found it to be too bright though a friend preferred that sound, probably because the setup sounded more like his Marantz 67 Mk II player which was his reference and taste. I once added stick on floor tiles to the bottom of an extended "plastic" shelf with good results (to me) and the tiles were not visible unless you were laying on the floor. I think that it is all up to individual tailoring for each component, and when taking into consideration individual taste, that there is no answer. I can even imagine in some cases that added resonance may even improve the sound depending on what the sound is that one is looking for.
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?
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- 88 posts total
- 88 posts total