Massif Audio Design racks incoming, and......
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
MAPLE AUDIO PLATFORMS
butcherblockacoustics.com
These folks do a great job with thick maple platforms at very affordable prices. Recently, they have entered the heavy audio rack space (the poor man's Massif?). Check them out.
...I agree, Marty. I was cutting and milling and glueing stuff up, or having Pittsford Lumber mill/plane maple boards...and it's waaay easier and very similarly priced to get the Butcher Block pieces shipped. I have a few of their pieces around.
Hi, I like tone woods. I’m not a big a fan of metal in racks and platforms or even manufactured/processsed woods like bamboo or even Panzerholtz . A nice maple, or rosewood (African or South American) with some nice isolation footers might work well. I’ve tried some Stillpoints , though not the models you have. I believe they are meant to couple and not isolate , right? Correct me if I’m wrong.
If I want to couple a piece of equipment I like Nordost Sort Futters, but more often than my customer wants to isolate, and choose Carbide Audio bases. I use them myself . Pairing proper isolation with solid tonewoods seems to be the winning combination.
Thanks!
Attachments
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
Massif racks are very reasonable and have some footer options if one wants to take them further in performance. I'm a Woodie not a fan of the industrial modern stuff.MAPLE AUDIO PLATFORMS
These folks do a great job with thick maple platforms at very affordable prices. Recently, they have entered the heavy audio rack space (the poor man's Massif?). Check them out.
Mike Lavigne has. He switched from metal racks to tone wood Massif racks and says they sounded better.
Yes, species of woods have different sonic characteristics. Wood changes and is susceptible to environment. I also like wood, I live in a log home. As I don't have a Laser Doppler Vibrometer, (I shared this in another thread) I used a magnetic stir plate with an erlenmeyer flask and a stethoscope. The speed of the magnet can be increased or decreased. It makes for a very good simulated mechanism to transmit sound and vibration. Close to a volume control.
I've experimented with a number of different species of wood. Way too many! Insanity!! I have a friend with a great woodshop. Various thicknesses, along with different cores. I recently made a beautiful solid red oak shelf from 100 year old red oak, 78" X 35" X 2.75". If I knew what I know now I would have constructed it in a different way. I would have layered it with a center core. I'm in the process of having some aluminum being jet water cut for a composition I really like. MDF/Aluminum/Wood, 3 separate platforms, 1 for the Olympus (and I/O if I get it), the Lampizator 360, and the Solution 727. I hope my efforts work! Don't misunderstand, many of these racks, shelfs, platforms are fine. When it's done right you gain a little more finesse/refinement out of the system. Going to the extreme of playing with different compositions whether it's platforms, or shelfs is a maddening exercise! @marty tweaked my interest a few weeks ago when he shared some experiments he did. There is no other way other than doing some preliminary experiments and hopefully it works as you think it will...
We only use tone woods, maple,ansh, walnut ebony, rosewoods (cocobolo, bubinga etc) woods like that. If you have a particularly revealing system the difference can be big. Often it can be very system dependant. Maple is a great wood, it’s also the least expensive of the top tier woods. For my money I go with something a bit more exotic like Brazilian rosewood or lignum vitae.
Acacia isn’t something I’ve ever seen in racks or had an inquiry for. Bamboo is almost equal parts resins and glue . I don’t like it because although it may share some properties with hard woods, it’s not overly environmentally friendly, it deteriorates like plastic because of all the resin and chemicals involved in its processing.
Acacia isn’t something I’ve ever seen in racks or had an inquiry for. Bamboo is almost equal parts resins and glue . I don’t like it because although it may share some properties with hard woods, it’s not overly environmentally friendly, it deteriorates like plastic because of all the resin and chemicals involved in its processing.
...in all fairness, I have not done much testing of bamboo shelves, but in concept I don't care for the irregularity/variability of the products, which one cannot really tell from the looks. They can look terrific...for grass.
Wow!! You've kept them alive! Not easy. Have you ever seen a Emerald Ash Borer? I've only seen them in pics. Most all the trees I drop for the boiler/firewood have been Ash. I heard reports here that they are coming back...
...originally, the big issue in Rochester was having too many of the same species in close proximity. The beetles went through big areas of tree stands. The city culled a lot of trees which helped a lot. The city arborist tells me they are still around, but not like when they first really hit. I have seen a few of the beetles, maybe 6-7 years back, and honestly, I crushed them. And I'm a guy who carries flies outside, or puts spiders on the ivy for aphid brunch. But those beetles are too nasty...
...yeah they look metallic. We're afraid to stop treating the trees.
Sorry @T Boost but we are talking wood! And I am rolling through your gallery page puzzling over species. Gotta be very dark legs to go with black SRA amp stands, but shelf species?
Floor is white oak I smoked and fumed and waxed with Rubio. That floating floor project took forever.
Sorry @T Boost but we are talking wood! And I am rolling through your gallery page puzzling over species. Gotta be very dark legs to go with black SRA amp stands, but shelf species?
Floor is white oak I smoked and fumed and waxed with Rubio. That floating floor project took forever.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |