Shelf Material

Redkiwi: I.m shocked, shocked and dismayed that you would flaunt the advice of E.I. duPont deNemours in your cavalier treatment of their material. It should come as no surprise to you that I have already given your name to them. Please, no protestations, you have brought the consequences upon yourself! And if you can resist the temptation to sit on your countertops, errr, shelves, I'm glad to hear they can take the weight.

RedKiwi: Are you using the 'pods under the component, or under the shelf? IF under the component, this leads me to believe that you should (sorry) try the same combination of 'pods that you have found to be optimised to your gear with the other shelf materials, if you want to be sure that the shelf is playing as large a role as you believe. It's just the scientist in me, baby. IF you are using the 'pods under the shelf itself, wouldn't it be possible to build a really dead and heavy rack (what we all need, with our gear strewn about the floor) and then use the pod scheme to decouple the shelf and component from the rack?

Thanks Kitch29 and Redkiwi for the discussion of Corian-- sounds like it's a bitch to work with, and probably best to get it pre-cut to size by the pros. Has anyone used plain ol' formica on MDF? And maybe with formica also on the bottom of the MDF? Cheers. Craig

Dekay, right now they are still suspended and I prefer them that way. Yes the Vibrapods are sandwiched between the Corian and the component. Ghthirteen, I have tried the Vibrapods with other shelves made of glass, marble, perspex and mdf and found them to be inferior to using Townshend Seismic Sinks every time, and even when not using the sinks I have preferred BDR cones over Vibrapods with mdf. But BDR cones do not work so well with shelves like marble, perspex or Corian. [I actually have other cones from Walker, Golden Sound and others but these posts are long enough without describing them as well.] This is the first time I have liked the Vibrapods over everything else. In other applications I have considered them good value for money only. You may be right in suggesting massive and dead and then use the Vibrapods. I think massive and dead works best with a concrete floor, but that light and rigid is best with a floppy floor ie. wood. Kitch29 - I hope my offence isn't extraditable. I actually had no problem drilling holes in the Corian (for the suspension trick), but cutting is probably a whole other matter. I got mine by making it plain my application was an engineering one, not to make my own bench tops, and enquired about off-cuts - but I know what you mean about licensed fabricators. Garfish, I have tried mdf with a veneer that is half way between melamine and formica. It was not bad and worked well with cones. But in anyguise I have never been thrilled by the muddiness of mdf.

Sorry about this late posting, just saw it tonight. Looks like you're almost done experimenting so I'll throw something new into the fire and see what burns! An earlier posting mentioned Maple butcher block and I thought I had seen something in an audio site. At www.audionut.com, in "Products" and "Control Vibration" tabs, they carry a 1 3/4" x 17" x 12" maple board (doesn't look like butcher block) for $50 to be placed on top of your component(!). Hmmm!?! They are also carrying an isolation foot called the Aurios, which I first noticed this summer, that seem intriguing at the very least. Might be a b*tch with large power cords, as the feet have to balance in all directions and not "pull". Neither product has been tried by anyone I know, so FYI and have fun!