Hello,
I'm considering the purchase of some stands for my Monoblock amps and am leaning towards going the DIY route for various reasons but am not fully married to that idea yet. Its certainly not price based because some of the options I'm considering aren't exactly cheap when all the components involved are calculated.
One approach I am considering involves the use of an Optical Breadboard. While doing research on this topic it appears that these Breadboards offer one the ability to have a very rigid, highly damped, fairly lightweight flat surface right out of the gate. The one's of most interest to me are those that use a Steel/Stainless Steel "Honeycomb" Core since they are said to offer the most immunity to vibrations compared to some of the other Optical BB options out there in the wild.
I'm curious if anyone has experimented with using these for Audio purposes and what your thoughts are?
Another option I am considering is the use of heavy, thick A36 steel plates or Stainless Steel Plates. Given the weight of these buggers I'm thinking that I would either have to go with two 3/4" thick plates or a single 1" in thick plate. I'm not sure if there would be any benefit to having a single 1" thick plate verses two stacked 3/4" slabs and if the stacking itself would introduce other issues or more resonance problems. I assume if the two plates were bonded together tightly or maybe separated with a constraining layer such as ISODamp or Herbies Audio Lab sheet material then it would be less of a concern.
Lastly, the final option I've thought about was using a sandwich of thick Aluminum Plate, Copper and ISODamp or just plain Aluminum plate of some substantial thickness (maybe 4" total of 6061).
Some concerns I have are not knowing how these materials are known to sound in an Audio application when used by themselves or in combination. I guess that is part of the fun with DIY. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose .Part of me would like to think that of the choices I listed the Optical Breadboard and the heavy slab of Steel would be fairly harmless or not negatively impacting of the sound due to how "Dead" they are considering the thicknesses I am contemplating (3-4"). I know I've wrapped a few knuckles on thick steel plates in the past and heard nothing in terms of resonance and was only rewarded with a good bruise. But with that said, is it possible that all that "deadness" could result in a serious darkening of the Sound?
The Aluminum/Copper sandwich is a total gamble but I do see companies like Magico using similar ingredients in their footers/racks though I'm not sure of their exact recipe obviously, which is of key importance.
What are your thoughts on this and have you experimented with any of these materials along the way?
Thanks
I'm considering the purchase of some stands for my Monoblock amps and am leaning towards going the DIY route for various reasons but am not fully married to that idea yet. Its certainly not price based because some of the options I'm considering aren't exactly cheap when all the components involved are calculated.
One approach I am considering involves the use of an Optical Breadboard. While doing research on this topic it appears that these Breadboards offer one the ability to have a very rigid, highly damped, fairly lightweight flat surface right out of the gate. The one's of most interest to me are those that use a Steel/Stainless Steel "Honeycomb" Core since they are said to offer the most immunity to vibrations compared to some of the other Optical BB options out there in the wild.
I'm curious if anyone has experimented with using these for Audio purposes and what your thoughts are?
Another option I am considering is the use of heavy, thick A36 steel plates or Stainless Steel Plates. Given the weight of these buggers I'm thinking that I would either have to go with two 3/4" thick plates or a single 1" in thick plate. I'm not sure if there would be any benefit to having a single 1" thick plate verses two stacked 3/4" slabs and if the stacking itself would introduce other issues or more resonance problems. I assume if the two plates were bonded together tightly or maybe separated with a constraining layer such as ISODamp or Herbies Audio Lab sheet material then it would be less of a concern.
Lastly, the final option I've thought about was using a sandwich of thick Aluminum Plate, Copper and ISODamp or just plain Aluminum plate of some substantial thickness (maybe 4" total of 6061).
Some concerns I have are not knowing how these materials are known to sound in an Audio application when used by themselves or in combination. I guess that is part of the fun with DIY. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose .Part of me would like to think that of the choices I listed the Optical Breadboard and the heavy slab of Steel would be fairly harmless or not negatively impacting of the sound due to how "Dead" they are considering the thicknesses I am contemplating (3-4"). I know I've wrapped a few knuckles on thick steel plates in the past and heard nothing in terms of resonance and was only rewarded with a good bruise. But with that said, is it possible that all that "deadness" could result in a serious darkening of the Sound?
The Aluminum/Copper sandwich is a total gamble but I do see companies like Magico using similar ingredients in their footers/racks though I'm not sure of their exact recipe obviously, which is of key importance.
What are your thoughts on this and have you experimented with any of these materials along the way?
Thanks