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How Good Is A Marble Slab at Deadening Vibration

I have a marbles slab that is approx. 42" X 16X 2". A left over insert from a coffee table. I would like to lay it on top of a plant stand table that is 50" X 18X 30" The slab weigh about 70 lbs. II think I have enough space laterally to position a Rega turntable, a Bel Canto line stage, and Rega Apollo CD player and a pair of Red Dragon monoblocks, that could easily be stack vertically if necessary.(Also could place them on the bottom shelf which has a slight V-shaped dip ...probably a run off channel. This would save me three feet of speaker cable on both channels is placed near the bottom)

The plant stand is made of wood and has fairly massive "L-shaped" legs. The table weight is about 40 pounds.

My thinking is that a marble slab should provide excellent isolation from vibration. The only drawback is the left side of table will only be a foot from the right speaker. So I would start the progression of components from right to left to increase the distance to the speaker in question. Would like opinions from members about the pros/cons of this set-up. Thanks, Jim
sunnyjim
corazon
210 posts
 
Much good advice here. I would think the marble would transmit vibrations more easily than damp. Put your ear to a counter and have someone gently rap further away.

I may be wrong. Bombaywalla had an interesting idea and I thought why not use dynamat instead?

Just my ramblings....

Best,
Dave
dreadhead
353 posts
 
I tried stone. It was cold and shrill. I went right back to maple.
There is a tremendous difference in sound. If you prefer bright tinny sound compared to warm and natural then use your marble slab.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Where can one buy a maple slab? What is the recommended thickness?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I like bluestone slabs quite a bit, especially the 18x18" squares they have at a lot of Home Depots, TWO inches thick. The price is right, too.
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
To Bombaywalla, Interesting suggestion about the cork, though 3mm does not seem very thick, still sounds like a good idea.
I've used the 3mm cork mat for damping vibrations on top of a CD player. Also several TTs use this same thickness mat on their platters.
I am also using this 3mm cork mat on my amplifier platform & the amp is 110 lbs.
If you put a heavy marble slab on top of the cork mat, if it makes you feel better, get the next size up in thickness. Staples has that too but maybe in 12"X12" tiles & not a roll. Since cork is pretty rigid & the surface area of the slab is pretty large the cork should not compress under the slab or components. So, I'm thinking that a 3mm thick cork mat will be fine.
The idea is to damp the marble. I believe that thickness is secondary as even a 3mm mat has sufficient damping capacity from my experience.
The good thing about cork is that it stays the same for a long, long time & does not stick to the surface. Dynamat is also a great mat but ensure that heat & humidity cycles don't make is stick to the surface(s) or disintegrate over time.
For me it really works well.
In fact, when I had a Music Hall MMF5 TT, I threw out the felt mat & replaced it with a cork mat. Much better performance from the get go & no static on the LPs.....
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