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VPI redesigning experiment

In my audiophile career I went through all the incarnations of the VPI TT, up to TNT 5. In my pursuit for the absolute sound I discovered Mapleshade's Pierre Sprey who convinced me that maple wood is far superior sounding material than any of the high-tech materials used on TT's. This was also the theory of SHUN-MOOK who designed the highly musical "Bella Voce" speaker. Based on this I designed a 4" thick turntable plinth from solid maple, and a separate one for the tonearm. Pierre is looking into making a maple housing for the SAMA. I am getting the new VPI's HR-X, platter-bearing assembly with their record hold down ring to fit in to the maple plinth, and the JMW 12.5 tonearm in to a separate 4" thick maple plinth. Both plinths will stand on cones on maple bases of the same dimensions. I have high hopes for a natural,unfatiguing, sweet, but not euphonic sound, devoid of harshness. I will let you know of the results. I hope I do not run into uncalculated nightmares or component changing to compensate for differences in sound. Let me know if you are interested.
Ted
tphalieros
twl
3,251 posts
 
I think you are on the right track. Teres has also done alot with different wood bases. They have tried maple and also about a dozen different exotic hardwoods. So far, their experiments have shown Cocobolo to be best in their particular turntable.

It is an interesting experiment you are doing, and I like to see people working creatively toward better sound.

Good luck in your efforts.
loudspeaker7
9 posts
 
I have also had exceptional results with maple,however in my case under the turntable. I placed a 3" thick 40 pound maple butcherblock under my Linn LP12 and the results were astounding. I expected that there would be an improvement in the bass,which there was. But much more significant was the tremendous improvement in the highs and mids. All in all much smoother,more solid, better imaging and better tracking.I do remember years ago getting a similar result using a Cotter base which was a very heavy high tech composite of some sort but it's a little hard to compare.I don't know what the mechanism of the effect is(damping airborn energy or damping energy which is generated in the turntable). I was surprised that there was so much of an effect given that the Linn is a floating sub-chassis and would expect even more improvement with a solid suspension.
ghostrider45
449 posts
 
This is an interesting thread!

In the guitar world (my other bad habit), maple is considered to be bright sounding. Mahogany has a more mellow, midrangy sound. Some guitars (notably the legendary Gibson Les Paul series) use mahogany with a thin maple cap to get the best of both worlds.

I have no idea if this applies to turntables - keep us posted.
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