How thick is the limit?... never heard anyone say?

All physical materials have a resonant frequency. If you excite that frequency, it will resonate. Thickness is irrelevant.

The problem with wood is that its resonant frequency is audible. Speaker designers often use this feature to tune their speakers.

You can certainly use wood. You just have to dampen the possible resonance through isolation or other vibration reduction methods.

Toby,

I realize that the question here is 'how thick', but would you please expound on your answer?

You said that you HAD 3" thick platforms, have you found something that you like better now?

Chuck

Just being honest, but the amps are tubed monoblocks so the stands may cut down on the non existent microphony.

Can you point to evidence that tube microphony is "non-existant". This is news to me. I know it is less of an issue than TT vibration but "non-existant" - I think not?

Krellman, thanks for asking. I actually haven't found anything I like better. My attempt at a joke, above, was meant to convey that 4 inches was a bit too much for me aesthetically. The Mapleshade site mentions even thicker ones as possible and effective, however.

I trust my supplier when he says 3 inches is better than 2, yet my personal audio guru says two is enough. I haven't done a test to find out who's right, since that would cost me a little cash. Instead my rule of thumb is, if it's two inches or more and stable, it's good enough.

As for "I had", that's in the past tense because I sold my Shanling amps to one gentleman and the platforms to another. I hope to have another pair of 3-inch platforms, sized for the new amps, in a month or so. When I get them, I'll report my impressions on my system page.

I may be the exception, but I found 2 1/2" maple butcher blocks to be slow and muddy sounding. They made my system sound terrible. I would suggest trying them before you buy them if possible.

One thing is for sure. They definitely make a difference. This is not a tweak that you have to carefully evaluate to hear the difference.

I suspect they may be great in a SS system if one is looking for some warmth, but in my tube based system they simply didn't work.

I have three brand new John Boos butcher blocks if anyone is interested! ;)