Mapleshade boards under speakers

I spoke with Pierre a little while back about my setup with Gallo 3.1s. My current sound is so-so, and I'm 99% sure that it's all about the room.

Pierre's take on things is that it has nothing to do with the room, and that I should REMOVE all my absorption panels because they mess up sound. Then, if I add the 4" maple stands to the Gallos, and ideally ANOTHER 4" mape stand UNDER these, then magically the sound will be 100% better.

oh, also his rebuilt scott receivers sound vastly better than every tube amp on the marked under $5000 MSRP, and SS amp on the market under $15,000 MSRP.

While this may be a worthwhile upgrade to the Gallos (or any other speaker) his hyperbole pretty much scares me away from doing business with him.

He also recommends to sit no more than 5' back from the Gallos. The Gallos sound MUCH better to me from 10' feet away...

However - I do have the Mapleshade Liszt solo piano CD, and it is spectacular. Kind of a strange situation....

Chas,

I recently purchased new speakers (Audiokinesis Planetarium Betas) to replace my SoundLabs. Now, the Planetariums are superb, but I found that I was missing some of the height dimension in the soundstage. The solution was to raise the main speakers to change the relative angle at my listeningposition. Initially, I tried a stopgap of stacked books just to see if it would do what I wanted. Big difference, in the positive sense. Then I remembered my old amp stands, which I had custom made from 4" lyptus (even denser than maple). That did it. In addition to solving the soundstage problem, midbass tightened up considerably. You can see these in my system photo if you care to have a look. The best part? The guy who did them charged me a total of $300 for both stands, far less than Mapleshade's equivalents would have been.

Speaking of Mapleshade, you'll also notice in the system pic that I'm a big fan of their Samson racks. However, I fully agree that Pierre goes way overboard with some of his claims.

Alot of good advice can be had from Pierre, but one must sift through the eccentric to get to the practical. When I thought my room was a problem He told me to rip out the cieling etc... Room placement was the only issue:O)

Thanks guys, very sound advice. I can totally relate to all your stories. I'm having great fun with the 2by2 birchplys I have under now, and I haven't even treated the raw wood yet. BUT, the mapleshade boards arrive tomorrow, so we'll see what the weekend craziness brings. I, too, give Pierre a wide birth. Yet, in his room and his setup, who knows? I agree, I couldn't sit 5 feet from my speakers.
Stick to your guns on that one, we all have different listening preferrences.
I would agree with Pierre that at times, a lot of the room treatment people do can really ruin the sound, and they just can't hear what they've done. Yet, I think room treatment, if needed, is very very necessary.
I saw the thread on the gallos and his boards. I'd love to hear it. I have no doubt it's great.
Dave b, do you think it's dispersion characterics or vibration control? I ponder this a lot, why birch sounds better than pine or concrete or that this maple may sound best.
Well, I'll let you know what happens. I may be a raving lunatic for Pierre come Sunday. It does bother me a bit that it's old growth maple. Let's hope the Sierra Club's not following the UPS truck down the lane tomorrow....

I use bamboo under my speakers over a new oak floor, and it works great. tighter bass, better imaging, etc.