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Stands and platforms—at least good ones—transform the sound of speakers and electronics. Surprisingly, the very best ones use maple, not space-age materials. That’s what I’ve learned from fifteen years of painstaking experiments on equipment vibration control. Why maple? I used to mount my studio gear on massive lead or granite platforms. Naturally, I assumed mass dominates. Was I wrong! My first ear opener was testing 15 pounds of poplar against 125 pounds of granite under a CD player. The musicality of wood blew away the granite: warmer, punchier, far more detail, deeper bass. Clearly materials dominate, so I tested dozens. Marble and glass were thin and bright; carbon fiber, polymer composites, damped metal laminates, acrylic, and Corian were way too dead. Next experiment: solid wood easily bested butcher block and plywood. MDF was even worse. I listened to carefully matched platforms of walnut, oak, maple, cherry, birch, spruce, fir, hickory, mahogany, etc. Maple was head and shoulders the best. Turns out that’s not a fluke.
Talking to musical instrument makers, I soon learned that the superiority of maple is 300 year old news among them. Every great violin since Stradivarius has maple sides and back. Every Steinway has a steamed maple case. All great jazz drums have maple shells. Last lesson from violin makers: NEVER use kiln-dried wood. The high heat deadens and weakens the wood. Air-dried sounds significantly better, as I confirmed.
Finding air-dried 2" to 4" thick maple at lumber yards is impossible. So I turned to a local Amish sawmill—the best thing I ever did. They get us logs of very special maple indeed: old growth Maryland maple trees, 75 to 100 years old. Those yield wood of stunning character: lovely dark contrasts, subtly shimmering curly grain—a far cry from the boring whiteness of commercial maple. And my tests show this Maryland maple sounds clearly better than Canadian rock maple.
After the cut-up logs air dry for 2-3 years, our skilled Amish craftsmen, Ben and his son Crist, meticulously plane, sand, bevel, and shape our wood. Ben takes particular pride in his lacquer finishes. They handsomely show off the dramatic grain and nut-colored streaks of our old growth Maryland maple. As an Old World craftsman, he also enjoys doing custom work for our customers.
To see and learn more about our unique cottage
industry,
click here. Or,
click here to view our maple’s striking beauty.
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