Best Amp. stands

It escapes my why people who spend thousands and thousands on an amplifier, won't spend $200-300 on a good amplifier stand.

Tony,

Use solid hardwoods such as rock maple, jatoba, bloodwood, lignum vitea or red/yellow/purpleheart. The denser the wood, the better. Stay away from MDF; kills the sound (IMO) and it can warp over time. MDF has a very low modulus of elesticity-easy to bend/warp. Plywood isn't much better for the sound, but it won't warp like MDF. Finally, if you use maple, it is very hard to get it to take a stain evenly. It tends to block up.

Good luck,

Check into one of the Sistrum stands at www.audiopoints.com. You can even audition one on a trial basis at home to see if you like it.

Flynntom; I am in the midst of constructing stands as well. My neighbor is a master tile setter, I asked him what was the densest of materials he has worked with - granite. I have taken two pieces of 18'x18' travertine appliyed a polymer between the two for a stand for my TT. I am awaiting isolation points from www.supercellaudio.com for leveling. For my Amp I am going to try 2 pieces of granite and sandwich the same material that extremephono uses for its TT mat. Good luck

For amp stands, I don't see why people should spend good money when they can use it to buy great music. Unlike turntables, amps do not need some exotic damping to sound good. As long as the stand is stable, I'm perfectly okay with it. I've a 4k amp sitting on a $30 HD amp stand and I miss nothing. The stand looks good and provides enough support.
So go the DIY route, and you'll never miss anything. I like santanaali's idea of using granite too. Granite looks good, and will provide stable support to the amp.

Hi Flnntom,

I would suggest that you avoid using materials that ring (granite, Corian, stone, marble, steel, glass, etc) or materials that are resonant (natural wood, Plexiglas, plastic, acrylic, etc) as their inherent characteristics will impart their own sonic signature on the signal that is flowing through the component.

Best,

Barry Kohan

Disclaimer: I am a manufacturer of vibration control products.