Best wood for turntable / cd player isolation

I am intending to make an isolation platform for my CD player and turntable in the new year. These will sit on an existing hifi stand. I have narrowed it down to air dried maple or air dried oak. Timeber support will be cut to 17" x 15" x 2" depth. This will sit on either brass or sorbothane feet with the CD/TT sat on either sorbothane or brass feet. ( I have a set of black ravioli under the CDP and I intend for this to figure somewhere). Any comments, suggestions or experiences of different combinations will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
p.s. will post a set of pics and results if outcome is favourable.

 

hmmm.....

The debate rages....

 

Why not use Wenge?

 

There are many games you can play here.

I was doing a bit 12 months ago....before other factors kicked in....

Oak is an old favouirite and will give very good absorbtive qualities+appearance+ its readily available.

Bałsa is also a very good material as it will absorb different frequencies to oak.

I did find balsa very good indeed sonically.....if not so aethetically.

 

jk

Might I suggest....google iso plinths to see what else is on the market.

It'll give you ideas on materials and designs.

(dissipation and isolation techniques......fascinating stuff. )

 

Thanks David for the pointer to iso plinths. I have come to the conclusion Maple is more readily available than oak in the States and has similar properties hence its popularity there. I have now found a place in Sussex that can supply 4" thick slabs of air-dried oak and this is what i shall be using. Found this though on my trawl through google and thought you might find it of interest:-

 

Thanks for that JK,

All good physics...but I daren't go down that route now....I'm meant to be learning polish!!

Anther good absorbtive matarial I have discovered is (are?) car inner tubes. The rubber is very soft and for me it has given very strong results ( I know not evvery one agrees). The down side is that its difficcult to cut accurately due to its curvature........+its not very pretty......the upside is that its ususally FREE!

Let me know how you get on and effcets on dynamics , bassextention , top end, sound staging etc?

 

Cheers David, good luck with learning a new language.
Do widzenia & Dziękuję

 

ok....





Whats the score?

Are you Polish?

 

There you go:

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-polish-shoes-with-a-banana

No need for thanks

 

Hardwood is a good way to isolate tt and CD players but I prefer slate

 

Wouldn't play for me.....

....judging by the title.....I don't think i've missed much ?

 

I found...you need a combination of materials.

I think you need a really stable bass....striong but light....such that it will pick up the minimum of acoustic ennergy; but rigid enough to keep the equipment rock steady. The plinth should also incorperate absorbtive material.....whatever is your choice.

The contact between plinth and rack .......I favoured the traditional spikes ; also Oak cones with a ball bearing insert.

Many hours of fun!

Yes, Arlequen, I could have used slate as a platform but never fancied the idea of drillling itno it.

JK, have you considered using granite slabs for a bass? An eceelllent souce of mass and readily available from the supermarkets in the from of chopping boards and place mats (arg*s/wilk*s?).

 

Hi David,

In case you stumble across any spare/reclaimed slate to try out -most slate (though not all) is actually quite soft and easy to drill as long as you do things in the right order. The trick with drilling through stone is to drill part way through the stone on one side, then turn it over and drill from the other so that your hole meets up somewhere in the middle. Careful measuring is needed for your hole to line up nicely. If you drill all the way through from one side then you tend to get a big untidy ragged hole on the other. Also avoid using 'hammer' action!

The downside of slate is that it scratches really easily, but oiling the surfaces hides most marks or you can use a fine wet'n'dry paper on it to re-work the surface.

Just thought I'd mention this as I quite often see nice bits of slate/marble etc in reclaimation yards or freeads for not much cash.

 

Useful.

Thanks.

Unfortunately the (Polish)text books are seeing more attention from me at the moment......and I think will for some time to come!

 

as dave says combinations ...ie a constrained layer damping regime will out perform any single layer ...

unless your tuning rather than isolating

 

Yup.

Granite is great and slate is great but each will have its own resonant frequency.....ie when its is subject to sound waves of that wave length it will vibrate......which you don't want.

So, combos of mass with soft stuff to damp the mass is the order of the day.

 

i use these under my speakers . lovely hardwood and around £40 delivered . lovely . just spent christmas day briwaxing them. I also use black ravioli under my pre amp and cd player .