What are the best hardwoods to use as audio platforms/isolation bases

[Salectric]

Here’s another big endorsement of @T-Boost and his approach to equipment racks and amp stands. I recently replaced a Box Furniture equipment rack with a Massif 3-shelf double-wide rack. That was a bit of a gamble since I had never seen or, more importantly, heard a Massif rack. However, the gamble paid off because the Massif sounds terrific, better than the Box. As a bonus, I love the look of the Massif. Many folks here have said photos do not do Trevor’s racks justice, and I agree. As nice as the different wood types look in photos, the racks are even better in person. Mine has hard maple shelves and bubinga legs, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I was so pleased with the sound of my electronics on the Massif rack that I then moved my turntable from its Sound Anchors stand to the top shelf of the Massif rack. That had been my plan when I ordered the Massif rack but I was fully prepared to leave the turntable on the Sound Anchors if it sounded better there. But my turntable sounds better on the Massif so that’s where it is staying. In fact, the improvements in sound quality were greater than when I moved the electronics from the Box rack to the Massif.

With these comparisons behind me, I felt pretty confident ordering some matching amp stands. They arrived last week and I am very happy with how my amps sound on the new stands compared to either of my previous stands which are maple ButcherBlock Acoustics and Sound Anchors.

Equipment racks and amp stands have a major impact on the sound of one’s system, yet it’s difficult to compare them in your system prior to a purchase. That makes comments on forums like WBF more important perhaps than when purchasing other components. For what it’s worth, based on my experience, I highly recommend racks and amp stands made from solid wood. I also highly recommend the racks and stands made by Trevor (T-Boost). His Massif designs are the result of many years of actual construction experience. They also have been refined over the years based on his own listening (Trevor is an audiophile as well as cabinet builder) as well as feedback from customers and dealers.

Note: I have no affiliation with Massif or Trevor except as a customer.

 

[ssfas]

Don’t listen to any welders pushing metal racks. Hardwoods are still the king.

The BBC Research Department did extensive research on different types of wood for their cabinets, which followed through to Harbeth, KEF and others. This particular research was co-authored by Dudley Harwood, who founded Harbeth the same year this paper was published. He was in the BBC Research department for almost 30 years.

https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1977-03.pdf

A friend of mine is a brilliant cabinet-maker. He’s done the interior of a 70m super yacht that won Superyacht of the Year in 2018, he’s done complete interiors for everyone from Princess Diana to Nick Mason and Nick Candy (a $200m apartment with 3 kitchens). He’s done most of my rather more modest house, including my kitchen, two bedrooms, dining room, music room and some other projects.
https://www.instagram.com/rickbakerfurniture/

He did a little fun project for me, I wanted a drinks cabinet, I found a unit listed for auction on a Saturday night, called him, bought it the next day and he converted it to the desired use. He put it in steel legs that are extremely rigid.


So instead of have him build me a hi-fi rack, which he could have done with any wood or material of my choice, I had one made by his steel fabricator using slightly thicker square tubing, 25 mm² with 3 mm walls. He did make me the shelving, which sits on sorbothane pads, and he did the lacquer of finish on my turntable plinth. The top plate is a piece of machined slate 10 mm thick. The end result is a unit that is incredibly rigid and inert and by far the best unit I’ve ever had my hi-fi sitting on.

There is no fancy aluminium machining, just tubular steel welded together. Cost about $600.