Mapleshade boards under speakers

Thanks guys, very sound advice. I can totally relate to all your stories. I'm having great fun with the 2by2 birchplys I have under now, and I haven't even treated the raw wood yet. BUT, the mapleshade boards arrive tomorrow, so we'll see what the weekend craziness brings. I, too, give Pierre a wide birth. Yet, in his room and his setup, who knows? I agree, I couldn't sit 5 feet from my speakers.
Stick to your guns on that one, we all have different listening preferrences.
I would agree with Pierre that at times, a lot of the room treatment people do can really ruin the sound, and they just can't hear what they've done. Yet, I think room treatment, if needed, is very very necessary.
I saw the thread on the gallos and his boards. I'd love to hear it. I have no doubt it's great.
Dave b, do you think it's dispersion characterics or vibration control? I ponder this a lot, why birch sounds better than pine or concrete or that this maple may sound best.
Well, I'll let you know what happens. I may be a raving lunatic for Pierre come Sunday. It does bother me a bit that it's old growth maple. Let's hope the Sierra Club's not following the UPS truck down the lane tomorrow....

I use bamboo under my speakers over a new oak floor, and it works great. tighter bass, better imaging, etc.

Chas,

What is the verdict on the Mapleshade platforms?

Love em! I received 2 of the unfinished 18 by 15 by 2 boards yesterday, with no footers or brass cones. At first I placed them just on the floor, like I had been doing with the birchply. Much better. Then I placed them on 3 wood buttons, attached with blutack, although I notice that Pierre hates blutack. Even as they are now, it's the best I've had under my speakers. Clarity improved from top to bottom, instruments stand out in greater relief. No frequency sounds overetched, all very natural. Bass is much tighter. So a very good investment. I may get some of his brass footers soon. I have some small brass cones I'll try later today. I have to say it's been the best tweek that doesn't sound like a tweek, if that makes any sense.
I suppose, in my severely technically challenged way of thinking, that it controls vibrations to the point where the speaker can play its best. I love them.

Chashas1,

Thanks for the prompt reply to our inquiring minds. Interesting to me that the thick Maple slabs are that much better for your application than the birch plywood. This is what Mapleshade and other purveyors of solid Maple platforms claim - seems to work that way for you, although I understand the maple is thicker and a different variety ofwood, so not a perfect control of plywood versus solid slab in this case.

I think it is interesting that there appears to be such a broad range of experiences with wood platforms reported in this thread, ranging from "it works great" to "it did nothing" to "hated it". In the case of speakers where vibration is intense, cabinet designs vary greatly, and room interactions have a huge role perhaps the range of experience should not be that surprising.

I have found that using wood platforms for vibration control under many components in my system has helped tremendously in my fairly small and lively (many hard surfaces) listening area. I would suggest the greatest benefits have come from those compenents with moving parts - TT, CDP and of course speakers. I put this "tweak" in the top category along with power cables in terms of providing "astonishing" improvements in system sound.

Nice thing about tweaks like this is that it doesn't require any break in to enjoy. Improvements are noticed immediate or not at all.

PS - I am a fan of BlueTack and use it where it makes sense and sounds good - like attaching my speakers to bamboo platforms...