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Best building material for vibration free shelving

I am building some built into the wall shelves for my VPI Classic 2 SE turntable, amp, preamp, CD player, and old Burwen TNE 7000A transient noise eliminator (that’s one for you old-timers to remember), as well as my DISH Network receiver box. The shelves must match in appearance the typical looking built-in wood bookshelves already in the room. The shelves will be located directly under my 45" wide flat screen television. They will be wide enough to hold two components side by side, other than the VPI turntable which will have the top shelve to itself due to its extra width. I will be building the shelves high and deep to allow for plenty of air circulation around the components. They will be painted.

My question is, what materials might you suggest building the shelves with to minimize vibration? If they were for books I’d normally build the sides, and top out of 3/4" birch sided plywood, the back out of 1/4 inch luan plywood, and the shelves out of oak to deal with the weight of the books without bending. I will be adding vibration damping feet under each component and am not looking for suggestions along those lines, only material and perhaps design recommendations to reduce vibration.

I was researching this last night online and on site, and saw recommendations to use four thicknesses of 3/4 inch High Density (HD) MDF, also to use granite or marble under the turntable, among other recommendations. I was wondering how birch veneered plywood would work too, as it’s ply’s, I believe, have their grains running in opposite directions. Maybe there’s some way to isolate the uprights from the horizontal shelves to reduce vibration transmission.

What would you think would work best for these built-ins. I’d appreciate any recommendations you have or your experience on this subject. Thank you for any ideas.

Mike


skyscraper
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
@gawdbless , I'm using that exact bamboo board turned upside down. It was recommended on a thread a while back.
I have seen better quality bamboo cutting boards, but this one is strong. It's under my 60 lb. tube amp. I'm in search of the right kind of footers, haven't found them yet.

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
“With regard to a wood platform or plinth, is it possible to make an educated guess as to the sonic effect between different hardwoods?”

>>>>All things being equal a thicker platform should perform better than a thinner one because it’s stiffer. Stiffness is required to bending forces, one of the isolation directions. Of a platform is used in conjunction with Springs the type of wood is not very important because the wood platform, as well as the component, is isolated from vibrations coming up from the floor. Also, any vibration that occurs on the wood platform, including acoustic vibration, can be easily dealt with by applying damping. Another variable is type of cones under the platform and under the component that is on top of the platform. How the wood is cut, with the grain or cross grain, should be audible. There is also the beauty of the wood to consider, e.g., Walnut, Maple, Cherry.
rcronk
52 posts
 
I just finished converting a built-in box or cove that held a big old TV.  It put an open box in the room and is a nightmare for audio perfection.  After lining the sides and top with carpeting I have add 12' x 12" accoustic tiles to back and corners.  The base is a 3/4" plywood sheet that sits on braces on each side.  I built a laminate of my own.  First layer is 1/4" cork, then a layer of rubbery shelf sheeting, then carpet, then a 3/4" finished poplar board (well varnished), then the 2' x 1' ceramic tile that I glued a layer of felt to the back so it would not scrape the wood.
My TD-160 now sits on Vibrapod risers that sit on this sandwich that has NO significant vibrations at all.  If you don't have a slab of marble the 2' x 1' pieces are about $3.00 each and easy to stack a few up if you want the real heavy weight.  A slab of marble would not be any better performer than a well thought out layering and lamintion.
Add on:  instead of spikes on my 4 foot homemade towers I have baking pans that fit the 12" x 18" footprint of the 100+pound speakers and filled them with sand.  On a carpeted, poured concrete basement floor the vibration issue is 'dead' in the sand.  
n80
2,100 posts
 
"@n80 perhaps you might have an answer?"

No. I have a basic understanding about different types of wood but no real knowledge about which characteristics are best for audio. The total of my experience consists of sorbothane, walnut and MDF.

In fact, it seems that the waters are very muddy in regard to anchoring vs isolation of various components.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned it (or maybe I missed it) but there are viscous fluid dampers for various types of machinery and sensitive equipment. I’d assume someone makes these for audio equipment. The ones I recall for machinery were terribly expensive.
skyscraper OP
824 posts
 
rcronk, yours is the exact situation I've got here. What I figured on doing is to raise the flat screen TV which covers the existing opening, only high enough to make a space for my VPI turntable to set, and high enough to be able to remove it's dust cover. I was going to leave the remaining unused space behind the flat screen open. I figured that would be a good area for heat from the electronics shelved below to dissipate. I hope that open space doesn't create audio side effects like you've experienced. If so I may have to try some of the treatments you've done. Thanks for the heads up.

The existing box is completely framed in with 2x4's and is made out of 1/2" plywood. So it will probably vibrate like crazy. Hopefully using my leftover marble slab with rubbery shelf sheeting under it will handle this issue adequately for the turntable. The rest of the shelves will be built underneath the current opening and will be of Baltic Birch and constructed as some here suggested and I've outlined above.

Gawdbless ,any idea of what the resonant qualities of bamboo are?

Geoffkitt, one of the  advantages of Baltic Birch plywood, I'm guessing, is the plys' grains are cross matched, each plys' grain going in opposite directions. I would hope this would damp resonant vibration. I'm only venturing an uneducated guess here though. We'll soon see.

Mike
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