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Maple Platform Question

I ordered a unfinished 2" thick maple platform from Mapleshade. It is already sanded and sealed and ready for painting. I will be painting it a semi gloss black as per Mapleshades instructions over the weekend. My audio rack is 42 inches tall and the platform will be on the top shelf making it 44 inches tall. My VPI Scout will sit on top of this platform.

I didn't order the isoblocks from Mapleshade to put under the platform, as they are too tall and would add to the height of the turntable. You can see where I am going with this as I am not very tall, too much additional height would make it hard for me to access the turntable.

I want to sit the platform on something and I was thinking either some felt dots or some hard pliable plastic feet which I can buy from the local Lowes. So, my first question is, will this degrade the sound? Second, I use brass cups under the VPI cone feet, and should I continue to do that or let the cone feet rest directly on the maple platform?

Lastly, I only paid 95.00 including the shipping for the platform unpainted, as opposed to 350.00 for it factory painted. Even if my paint job doesn't come out perfect, I still saved a lot of money.
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phduncanson
73 posts
 
i second both the trying of blue-tack and herbies db neutralizer dots under the maple if hight does not permit mapleshades cork/rubber. I use herbies db under my mapleshade speaker base and under my tt/preamp wall rack. that stuff is great and cheaper than many tweaks. i would also suggest letting the cone feet of your tt sink right into the maple baseĀ…
dreadhead
353 posts
 
You should not paint the maple block. It doesn't require it and will degrade the sound. Let the Scout's feet do what they do with no protective discs. Save up for a thicker block. Three inches thick is the minimum, four is ideal.
andyprice44
133 posts
 
for footers, check out edensound. Dan is real nice to deal with and makes a wide variety of quality footers at a reasonable price. I have some of his terrastone footers under my VPI table.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The jury is still out on whether 3 or 4 cones is more stable. It depends a lot on how widely the cones can be arranged under the turntable. If there are any even small irregularities in the level of the underside of the turntable OR the platform on which the cones rest I can see where it's possible that equal contact or pressure on each cone might not be obtainable using 4 cones. I.e., Three points determine a plane.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
3 cones is dangerous for a TT.
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