To clarify the design evolution on the Porterhouse plinths, I will start from the beginning. In August of 2007 I built the first plinth to Albert's specifications from Baltic birch covered in wenge. It can be seen here:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8283876129_eda99c9574.jpgAs you can see, the corners are chamfered and the chamfer along the top edge resulted in a facet on the corners. Albert asked me how I could eliminate that facet and improve the appearance of the next iteration and I told him that by rounding the corners instead of chamfering them there would be a smoother transition. In December of that year I built the first of the Panzerholz plinths from material I had left over from another job. They were for the Garrard 301 and the Thorens 124. Albert was intrigued by these designs and asked me to incorporate Panzerholz in the next SP-10 plinth along with other improvements in design such as eliminating the facet, enlarging the armboard for more versatility, and my own idea of chamfering the bottom edge as well as the top to eliminate the chunky appearance. At this time I hadn't seen a Technics obsidian plinth since the seventies (which by the way is molded from crushed obsidian in a polymer matrix, and not carved from solid obsidian) so from my point of view the resemblance between the two plinths is coincidental. The improved plinth can be seen here:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8500/8284935462_ef0d60ecc3.jpgThere was a significant improvement in background blackness with the Panzerholz plinth so I began building simple plinths for our friends. One of our group suggest that we produce these plinths for a broader market but I wasn't that keen on the idea. However interest began to build on Audiogon and Albert sold a few of these simpler models there. There wasn't a whole lot of money to be made on these so Albert asked me to develop a two arm version of his ebony plinth so as to move up-market. He shelled out the $7500 for the Panzerholz after my supply had been exhausted and we began building this model on a limited basis:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8076/8283876371_c1d095f9b2.jpgShortly thereafter some cheaper clones appeared on the market which mimicked the exterior appearance but of cheap construction and they sold in the $750 price range. Later Artisan Fidelity came out with a higher end version which appears to me a cold copy of the Porterhouse design, although of different construction technique:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8068/8284935288_9b85c6d9ff.jpgI can't say that the whole business hasn't been without problems due the difficulty in working with Panzerholz and its tendency to expand and contract a great deal with changes in humidity, not to mention similar problems in consistency with ebony and its own problems with movement and subsequent cracking. To this day I feel badly about the problems that arose with Kent's plinths and in the end I have to put it down to improperly dried ebony slabs, since none of the other ebony plinths experienced splitting to that degree. I hope I have answered most of the questions anyone may have had about the Porterhouse plinth and its evolution.
John
