IKEA bamboo cutting board and Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfeet

[Ralf11]

Interestingly, Bob Carver spec'd a plexiglass shelf (included in box) for his Sunfire amp.  I used it until I sold the amp a few months ago.

 

I always wondered why a plexiglass shelf and not something laminated or mdf, etc.

[Foggie]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

Received my 19" x 17" x 3/4" bamboo shelf today.  I replaced the shelf under my amp (a plexiglass shelf of the same size), and took a listen to a couple of reference tracks.  Definitely an improvement, not night and day, but meaningful for sure, and not just a change, but certainly an improvement.  Slightly more natural sound on vocals and a little more ambience around instruments in the stage were the first obvious improvements.  I am sure I will notice more over time and playing lots of music.  Looks like I'll be changing out my other shelves as well...  no noticeable tonal shift at all, just a bit more resolution.

 

That's the size I'm interested in (19x18) to replace my MDF salamander shelf's and my temporary unfinished MDF pieces under the comp springs.  Hows the quality?  The Ikea items are sure attractive price wise, but too small for my applications and I need 8 total. The stock salamander shelf's are fine, but looking at the bamboo for aesthetics really and if they provide some additional isolation as well, then great.

 

The first pic is mine (ala Barry D, I think I had about 30 custom rollers made at a local machine shop) the other two are Barry's maggies on rollers and his orig roller design

[barrows]

Quality is good, board is flat and true.  It is unfinished of course, being sold as a cutting board.  They also have two tones available, one slightly amber and the other a bit lighter in hue. 

[Foggie]

3 minutes ago, barrows said:

Quality is good, board is flat and true.  It is unfinished of course, being sold as a cutting board.  They also have two tones available, one slightly amber and the other a bit lighter in hue. 

Good to know.  I have zero experience with bamboo, but a quick search turns up a quick MDF comparo.  Seems like it should be a good replacement.

[TubeLover]

On 4/21/2017 at 5:22 PM, Bullwinkle said:

Tomorrow (Saturday April 22nd), IKEA has a one-day in-store sale for "IKEA Family" members (sign up for free online) and the bamboo boards will be 20% off. Just make sure not to take the whole family... you know how that will turn out. Me, I'll be home tinkering with my new server, but I aim to be of service to my fellow man.

 

Also FWIW, Ascend Acoustics has made their Sierra line of speakers out of a custom bamboo plywood for quite awhile, thinking it a superior cabinet material.

Thanks for the tip on the sale!

 

JC

[TubeLover]

4 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

Interestingly, Bob Carver spec'd a plexiglass shelf (included in box) for his Sunfire amp.  I used it until I sold the amp a few months ago.

 

I always wondered why a plexiglass shelf and not something laminated or mdf, etc.

Interesting. I have two older Sunfore amps in my home theater, and they came with actual glass (not plexiglass)shelves intended to be placed under the amps rom Sunfire.I wonder if they went to plexiglass to save money, or for other reasons? 

 

JC

[TubeLover]

I'm also be purchasing two of the Ikea bamboo cutting boards to place under my, hopefully soon to be delivered, Tekton Perfect SET speakers. A noted audio reviewer that have gotten to know personally, of late, says that when he placed them under those same speakers which he recently reviewed, and now owns, the difference was a very clear and definite improvement across the board in sound quality. 

 

JC 

[Ralf11]

Here is another vibratory tidbit - at some point Audio Research switched their ventilated top covers from Al to plastic, for (claimed) anti-vibration measures.  I forget when exactly, but my ARC LS25 Mk II pre-amp has the plastic cover.

 

ARC also uses dampening material on their cabinets.

[dericchan1]

Sorry for renewing on an old thread. I read this thread and ordered a few bamboo boards from ikea. In my attempt to “couple”the amp to the bamboo board then “decouple” the bamboo board from my shelf, I stole my kids’ plywood blocks between amp and the board and I used Pangea Audio - MEGA - Large Sorbothane Foot between bamboo board and the shelf.

 

I did notice an improvement, in particular, tighter bass and a touch cleaner vocal……

 

thanks everyone for the tip

 

cheers

 

Deric

[TubeLover]

This always was a cheap, smart tweak. I used the cutting boards under my previous speakers.

 

JC

[dericchan1]

1 minute ago, TubeLover said:

This always was a cheap, smart tweak. I used the cutting boards under my previous speakers.

 

JC

Yup, and to my surprise, using these toy wood blocks as feet also provides an improvement over using the stock feet