Best building material for vibration free shelving


I am building some built into the wall shelves for my VPI Classic 2 SE turntable, amp, preamp, CD player, and old Burwen TNE 7000A transient noise eliminator (that’s one for you old-timers to remember), as well as my DISH Network receiver box. The shelves must match in appearance the typical looking built-in wood bookshelves already in the room. The shelves will be located directly under my 45" wide flat screen television. They will be wide enough to hold two components side by side, other than the VPI turntable which will have the top shelve to itself due to its extra width. I will be building the shelves high and deep to allow for plenty of air circulation around the components. They will be painted.

My question is, what materials might you suggest building the shelves with to minimize vibration? If they were for books I’d normally build the sides, and top out of 3/4" birch sided plywood, the back out of 1/4 inch luan plywood, and the shelves out of oak to deal with the weight of the books without bending. I will be adding vibration damping feet under each component and am not looking for suggestions along those lines, only material and perhaps design recommendations to reduce vibration.

I was researching this last night online and on site, and saw recommendations to use four thicknesses of 3/4 inch High Density (HD) MDF, also to use granite or marble under the turntable, among other recommendations. I was wondering how birch veneered plywood would work too, as it’s ply’s, I believe, have their grains running in opposite directions. Maybe there’s some way to isolate the uprights from the horizontal shelves to reduce vibration transmission.

What would you think would work best for these built-ins. I’d appreciate any recommendations you have or your experience on this subject. Thank you for any ideas.

Mike


skyscraper
N80, thanks for pointing out you were goofing around. Some of this audio and audio engineering talk gets a bit over my head at times. I used have a good sense of humor, and didn’t need jokes explained. A saving grace is that I still laugh at all my own jokes, good or bad. My wife used to find that amusing.Take it easy, Geoff. I’ll catch the next one, maybe.

Mike
I still think of myself as an audiophile outsider, so its easy to poke fun looking from the outside in. I've got other hobbies about which I obsess and that likely seem silly to others so I get both sides.

Material for a turntable shelf..
There is no general answer, I believe. I just keep my Nottingham on 3" thick maple platform on the floor with Boston Audio big graphite tuning feet under the platform. I also use Boston Audio graphite record mat. I hear nothing wrong. You could try different woods under your VPI to compare before building shelves. Turntables sound different, what is good for Nottingham might be not so good for VPI.
I have no idea how African Blackwood platform would work with my table, though. It is also a matter of preference. Do you want a very tight sound or a little loose one ? I like it to be slightly bluesy but controlled, definitely not tight and analytical. We are in fact talking about tuning or even fine tuning the sound.

@geoffkait ,@boxer12,

Of note... I don’t use the BDR cones in my system even though I’m a huge proponent of BDR shelves. Just wanted to put that out there.

@boxer12,

I’m not sure of your tt or system, or if you have the equipment to do woodworking, etc....

I do and I found out it’s best to try things for yourself. Dragon Plate products are expensive. But what I’ve found out is they are somewhat of a value product if you have the ability to modify these types of things yourself. If you look closely at my TT support on my virtual page, you’ll see some squares under the springs that my TT platform rests on to the MANA wall shelf This material is no longer available but it is highly integral in handling resonances within my system at any point I’ve used it in. I’ve found that raw carbon fiber is extremely useful in dealing with resonances in my system. Most noticeable is the musical bass. This is a big deal in that along with musical bass...everything else seems to just fall in line. This is just my years of testing.