Shelf Material

It is a long time ago that I used the Torlyte shelf Ken and it was under a Linn Turntable, which was just an ideal match. By memory the Torlyte was great with light components - say under 15 lbs, but sagged with anything heavier. Also spikes pierced its surface. It sounded fast and agile, if a little light in the bass. There was a slight thunk to the middle of the midrange and a slight crispness to the top end. Not nearly as bad as the crispy crunchy stuff of my current board. That Torlyte board I had would have trouble with my heavy Theta gear. I have been listening to the Corian and hear none of the dynamics or other problems that Recres reports above - this may be due to either the racks being different or the footers used. The Corian is not perfect - there is a slight recession of the mid-range, a slight flattening of images and a bit of grain. But it has wonderful bass and hardly any smearing of highs. Selection of the right footer or damping of the Corian may give decent results. But right now I would say tantalisingly close, but without some improvement in harmonics in the midrange, it would be hard for me to live with. A bit like marble or perspex, it has something going on in the mids that lets it down, but it is definitely better than either marble or perspex.

Playing around with the Corian yielded some good results. I have the Corian shelves sitting on up-pointed spikes, and don't have any plans to try any alternative means of support. But sitting the components directly on the Corian is not great, as previously indicated. Using BDR cones is better, but still not liveable. But using soft footers like Vibrapods gives very good results - something I have not experienced before - I almost wish I hadn't given away so many of the things in the past. Interestingly the Vibrapods were much better than using bladder products under the transport, but the bladder products were a bit better (very close call - perhaps it will change after a recount) under the other equipment. Currently the sound is pretty damn good, but with some small vestiges of whitening and grain in the midrange. The huge bonus is a very powerful, fast and articulate bass, regardless of which footer is used. This may be what I live with for a while until I get to try a Neuance shelf from Ken (Caterham1700 - is that the racing car engine Ken? I used to race Lotus Europas and a S2 Seven, some of which had Caterham engines.), and get a good freight deal on bringing some Maple butchers block into the country. I have also begun to design what I am deducing is an ideal rack for putting the "stereo on a string" concept into practise properly, but I expect that to take some weeks before I will have a result to report on. One of the advantages of living in NZ is the low cost of getting stuff like this made up.

Redkiwi, Caterham Motors ,the factory authorized service arm for Lotus Components that supplied your motors purchased the manufacturing rights and tooling of the Lotus Seven after Colin Chapman bored of it.They produce to this day a highly refined but direct descendant to the Series III Super Seven. The lightweight 250hp Jonathan Palmer Evolution(JPE) is capable of 0-6omph times of 3.5sec,0-1oomph in 8.3sec,0-100 to 0 in 12.5sec and roadholding of 1.1 lateral G without benefit of ground effects.Way cool.Still saving my pennies for the more streetable Caterham Seven SuperSprint 1700(135hp). I still do some autocrossing(gymkhana) with a B-Stock Mazda Miata MX-5R when time allows and formerly road raced a Crossle Formula Ford, Lotus Cortina and karts. I actually was pretty good at it but gave it up after an incident at Sears Point Raceway,CA. in the 80's when I managed to cut my F-Ford in half with an aerial summersault atop a long stretch of steel barrier at a pretty good rate of speed. :^) Best, Ken

Caterham: I finished the MDF shelving yesterday and had two shelves cut. One with an off center hole and one solid. I could not hear a difference between the two though neither sounded very good with my Musical Fidelity amp resting on them with its stock "integral" feet. I am not very articulate at describing sound so I will just say that I lost HF shimmer and a little LF definition as well. The amp was previously resting on the Persimmon wood of the cabinet and this combo sounded much better. I tried mystery adjustable speaker spikes (free from a friend) between the lips and the shelving which also made very little difference. I suspect that the problem is that the 3/4" shelf is 24" in width and I will try 1" thick high density board next. My lumber yard did not charge me for the MDF or the cuts which means that I am probably due for a shave and haircut. I will keep my ten year old T-shirt and shorts though. The CD player is still resting on its original layering system below so it is just the amp shelf that muddled up the sound. I may try terra cotta and other ceramic tiles under the amp(s) (my second one arrives this morning) as I have never used these materials and they are dirt/clay cheap. I was also able to free up 2" of space below the source to try the Mapleshade cones which I will order today. Since I will be burning in a new amp and cable I will not be able to experiment for a while as there are too many variables to account for. If tiles or other thin layers do not work with the MDF the amps will be going back into kitty territory for the time being until I try a 1" shelf of MDF or another material. I only have a 12" height to work with in the cabinet which severely limits my options. I will save the good materials (2 1/2" maple and marble) for a freestanding rack that I will build when I am more active. The freestanding rack will allow me to have normal cable runs and better speaker placement but will have to wait until the spring/summer at the earliest. I can barely move after putting together this simple shelf and my wife is not very supportive of any more construction projects for the time being. I will be certain to copy this thread for future use and will add comments in regard to the Mapleshade cones, etc., when the accessories arrive and settle into the system. I wish that I had a way to "beam" my maple slab to Redkiwi, it must weigh at least 100 pounds.

Dekay, just to add that we have utilized MDF and found that anything less than 1" don't work so well. As you have two MDF sheets cut already, try mounting them with the off-center hole cut one on top of the solid sheet with a space between the two of approx 1" (use whatever solid footers you have to seperate them). Mount this arrangement on more footers or spikes and place a selected component on top. Listen and trial by varying the "air gap" between the two MDF shelves. If you find that it works for you, then you can start to experiment and fine tune by filling the "air gap" with different materials. BTW, applying a finish coat to the MDF will drastically alter the "sound" of this arrangement. If any of this makes sense and you try it, let me know what you find...?? Richard. www.vantageaudio.com