Hi Bruce et al thanks for your valuable input.
I fully agree with the "posting our experiences" philosophy.
Zargon: from what I've read (I have not tried it myself) the long grain should run horizontally for best results with maple vs. the vertical grain butcherblock. The Mapleshade people also agree with that approach FWIW.
Both Roy's & Bruce's comments above are very interesting & in fact are applicable & valuable info. regarding my latest rack issues. I've recently observed that when changing my equipment from the old veneered MDF all wood cabinet to the new cherry veneered (+ ? wood, I don't know what kind of wood is inside there) shelved Target rack (which has steel tube framing) that the initial results weren't quite as desired. I much perferred the sound of the older higher-mass cabinet. Many of the previous tweaks that I'd 'perfected' no longer do the job on the new rack, & in fact I've determined that the Vibrapods topped by Black Diamond shelves topped by brass or titanium cones are now actually making matters worse.
So to experiment, I am going to get a Neuance shelf & a Mapleshade shelf + probably some of their other cones & IsoBlock footers etc. Last night I placed mini tennis balls under the preamp, which helped to restore the now-thin midbass, but hasn't yet fixed up the low bass back to what is was previously; I'm going to try some superballs tonight instead. Also the highs aren't as scintillating as they were previously, so I still have a lot of work left to do. Fortunately at least the CDP still works prety well on a Zoethecus Z-slab, with Vibrapods underneath it & Nordost titanium Plusar Points above.
If all else fails then I'll either go back to my old cabinet (a last choice for space limitation reasons only) or I may look for someone to build me something similar to my old cabinet, but with more shelf space. Bruce I don't know where you're located but it sounds like you might be the perfect man for the job, if you're willing?