Solid Maple vs Butcher Block

Opps! I just noticed that you have carpeted floors so forget about the cork footers or Herbies stuff placed under the maple block. Sorry.

Depending on how thick your carpets are, you may be able to get away with just a heavy maple block laying flat on the floor with your speakers spiked to the maple block.

After reading this, I happened to look at my speakers (which are on thin carpet) and noticed I never got around to replacing the stone tile under them when I first set them up a few years ago. I always meant to get something made of wood but forgot about it. I couldn't find anything maple so I just got some bamboo cutting boards (for the kitchen) that were a perfect fit and tried it to see if I could hear a difference from the stone tile that was under it.

At first I thought I was imagining things but no, there is a difference and it is for the better, becoming more apparent the more I listened. Now I have to source some maple. It seems that the bamboo is too soft and maple is a much harder wood so it's going to be interesting to hear what the difference will be.

Sorry if I highjacked your thread but thought it was relevant.

All the best,
Nonoise

FWIW- From Totem Forests on carpet over concrete (Totem uses this claw and ball arrangement instead of spikes), went to 2" thick Timbernation maple on heavy (18x18") Travertine tile under each Forest. Travertine directly on carpet. A definite improvement in sound. It has been quite a long time but my recollection is of increased clarity...I guess you could say better resolution. I'm not sure how much was due to the lumber vs just greater stability. While I'd love to try 'em, hard for me to justify the cost of Mapleshade plinths. Good luck with your decision. Can't speak to the difference between solid maple vs butcher block.

I just want people to be aware that if you put a 4 inch block under a speaker, you are lifting the bass up by 4 inches. Of course it will sound different but the effect is mostly caused by the hight difference rather than the material you put under the speaker.

Sidssp,
Funny you should say that. Replacing the stone tile with the bamboo cutting board raised the speaker about and inch, at best. It seemed to dial back ever so slightly the upper end and at the same time introduce me to a better defined midrange.

I thought it was due to the wood taking the place of the stone and to some degree it was. But, all I had to do is sit more upright and it changed a bit back to the old way. There's more here at play than what I thought would be as the tweeter is still within the area of my ears (it's a vertical ribbon tweeter so there is room for a slight difference in height).

But I do believe that the solidity of the wood has as much to do with the sound as the speaker height. As I move around my room or sit at my Mac and type this, the presentation has changed somewhat from a slightly upper end emphasis to a mid range emphasis and this is from a position that always gave me the former impression. Being away from and out of the main listening field didn't change it a bit: this new mid range emphasis is still there.

Bamboo, being a softer wood than maple is, to my mind, the main reason with a change of speaker height a contributing factor. I'll know for sure when I source some nice, hard maple. I'm hoping it will bring me back about halfway to the sound of the stone tile and keep that midrange magic. I'd love to try what Ghosthouse did with the stone under the wood but I'm now totally spoiled by being able to precisely adjust the speakers position by gently coaxing it about on the carpet. This is fun.

All the best,
Nonoise

Try Symposium better than both.