Platforms: granite, marble, maple or other?

I have 2 granite blocks under speakers, with Audio Resolution platforms between the speaker and stand. LOVE the combo.

I have another granite slab (about 24" x 15" x 2" high) for under my amp, have good and bad results. Some loss of "life" to the music, though the bass tightens and it seems overall a little quieter in the background.

I haven't tried maple under the amp, but I think that granite under speakers and maple under amp might be extremely good.

Post if you try different combo's out.

PS: Marble would be big bucks. I got granite "extras" at a stone yard for cheap. 2 12" x 12" x 16" granite blocks, ~300lbs each (!) for $100; and 2 granite shelves, one is 1" and the other the 2" thick mentioned above, both for $25 !

Maple.....go to Home Depot, you'll find the John Boos cutting boards 18"x 20" x1.75" for $36 and change(the checkout gurl thought i was nutz buying 6)
for the money,use your imagination.... if you choose to use them under amps, oil them well with mineral oil keep them from drying, they are nice platens

Jafox; you're apparently a non-believer when it comes to vibration control/management, and I won't try to convince you here. I've already briefly stated the improvements I got using the maple board under my amp and stand by them. There was no need to go "back and forth", but I easily could.

To use Jeffloistarca's acronym, STFA. Prior to using the maple board, I had this very high performance amp sitting on a Townshend Seismic Sink with very good results-- but lacking the warmth, then the amp on the Sink on the maple board w/cork/rubber isolation footers. This combo added the pleasant warmth and worked very well, but finally I preferred it w/o the Seismic Sink in the stack-- more warmth. If interested, you might check the Mapleshade Music website for more info specifically on maple.

I would note that with the amp just sitting on the MDF of my stereo stand, music quality/character was muddy and sort of incoherent with poor detail and not very musical at all.

Consideration of vibration control/management really is essential in a high performance system (which I have) to get the full potential out of it. Personally, I think there are many potentially excellent stereo systems out there that are not optimally tweaked for best performance. IMO, the same kind of attention to detail needs to be applied to all system components that is typically used in a high performance analog system. Cheers. Craig

For speakers, I like the idea of iso bearings on a granite slab, but the bearings are $300/set ($150 set b-stock); a set for each speaker. That's a lot of money. Worth it?

Or is there a cheaper DIY bearing mechanism?

Thanks for all your advice and experience.

Garfish, what is between the amp and the maple cutting board. Does the amp sit on it's factory-installed feet, or did you change to something different?

Jim D.