there are cheap MDF and not so cheap MDF or engineered products - some of latter are far from cardboard... but a great deal of stands sold are pretty cheap card board like products
The salamander shelves are quite strong -- the triple wide - single high I use for main HT has 110lbs of plasma TV on top now - previous TV was another plasma that was 150lbs -- one of the 5 shelves I use in the setup carries a 60lbs plus 2200 VA sinewave UPS
but I’ll be doing a much stronger Mapleshade stand for the TT - AMP setup for the new project -- It is like the salamander archetype style only much more robust and they have a nice isolation platform I can use on top for the TT
The salamander shelves are quite strong -- the triple wide - single high I use for main HT has 110lbs of plasma TV on top now - previous TV was another plasma that was 150lbs -- one of the 5 shelves I use in the setup carries a 60lbs plus 2200 VA sinewave UPS
but I’ll be doing a much stronger Mapleshade stand for the TT - AMP setup for the new project -- It is like the salamander archetype style only much more robust and they have a nice isolation platform I can use on top for the TT