@boxer12,
I don’t want to, in any way, try to intrude on your rack plans that you’ve obviously spent a lot of time thinking and planning for. Maybe the best way I could give you tips is for isolation on your shelves. There are good ideas here from others on shelf material. Since you have the ability to make your own stuff, you may want to start very inexpensively and gradually go from there. This has benefits in being able to try different cones, materials and evaluating them before shelling out bigger bucks on something that may or may not work. I like to know/hear what the benefits, if any, are with any change I make. Always think about what you may want to do in the future and if possible, try to make your platforms within your rack or on top, interchangeable. This increases the value of them instantly and allows for further experimentation.
You could start inexpensively with MDF and use circles/squares of any material you buy from Dragon Plate as a starting point under your components feet to get an idea of how said material will benefit you.
Example: When I had my VPI Classic 3 on my Symposium Ultra a while back, (I was using Stillpoints SS for the VPI’s feet), I felt the sound was kind of sterile...I put four carbon fiber circles under the Stillpoints and that cured the issue. There are a lot of ways to experiment when you start thinking about it that are more cost effective.
One platform I really like is out of maple, I use 3", and underneath, I use springs slightly recessed into the bottom, ( I like a MDF board under that, that the springs will mate to it’s own recessed holes). On top, I recess the bottom half of a set of Symposium Rollerblock Jrs. flush with the maple’s top. This gives you both horizontal and vertical isolation.
I’m glad I bought my Symposiums years ago. I’ve noticed they have doubled in price now but they are available on the used market and there are other similar options.
