I certainly don't like MDF in practise - a very muddy sound. I don't have the ability to try such things as the BDR or Polycrystal shelves before buying (since noone stocks them here), and hence this post. But I quite like the BDR cones and so bought some of the BDR pucks - and they sounded awful. If they represent the BDR shelf then no thanks. I have actually got a lot of good ideas from the above posts and am in the process of trying or acquiring some of the less expensive suggestions. I am happy to splash out on the expensive stuff, but would prefer to see a concensus of more than one before doing so. It looks like the Butchers block qualifies. I wonder if Kevin has a point. Caterham and I tend to concur that you want light and rigid, release the energy quickly but damp the main resonances. But Kevin is suggesting the light and rigid shelf, and then deal with the resonances with some form of compliance between shelf and component. This may very well be right, but I tended to think of the rack as doing the light and rigid task and that you would begin to damp the resonance with the shelf. I don't like two forms of compliance in a system and so I have tried to get "dead" sounding shelves and use cones. My theory may be right, but the practise is possibly too dificult to achieve - we will see. Kevin may have a more practical solution. Am I missing something Kevin?
Shelf Material
I have tried so many different shelf materials, and some are better than others, but I feel like I am just spraying bullets that always miss the bulls-eye. So far, I cannot live with the brightness of glass, the ringing of marble or granite, the sluggishness of acrylic, the muddiness of mdf etc. Light and rigid seems better than heavy and dense - in that I can live with the downsides more easily. I use heavily constructed welded steel racks - spiked to the floor and upward spikes supporting the shelves - and I reckon this is right. I like the way bladder products get rid of the resonances that plague shelves, but find that the way they slow down the pace of the music is hard to accept. Does anyone have some answers on this?
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- 88 posts total
- 88 posts total