MAPLE COMPONENT MOUNTING

Mounting your gear—amp, CD player, music server, turntable, etc.—on a really good platform transforms the sound. Surprisingly, maple platforms are much warmer, clearer, punchier and more detailed than granite, slate, glass (the worst), myrtle or exotic hardwoods, or any of the hi-tech damped composites—based on 20 years of my painstaking, head-to head listening experiments. Adding brass footers to drain vibration out of your gear into the maple doubles the good effect.

Maple’s superiority over all other woods is old news to every violin and piano maker since Stradivarius and Steinway. Instrument makers taught me to NEVER use commercial, kiln dried wood. As my listening confirmed, the kiln’s high heat seriously deadens the maple’s good sound. Butcher block is another step worse.

Because finding air-dried 2" to 4" thick maple at ordinary lumber yards is impossible, I turned to a local Amish sawmill—the best thing I ever did. They find us logs of very special maple indeed: 75 to 100 year old Maryland old growth maple that sounds distinctly better than Canadian rock maple. Even better, these old trees yield gorgeous wood: lovely nutcolored Ambrosia contrasts, subtly shimmering curl and tiger stripes, all far from the boring whiteness of young lumber yard maple.

After our rough cut maple air dries for three years, our Amish craftsmen, Ben and his son Crist, meticulously plane, bevel, shape and sand our platforms. Ben takes particular pride in his gleaming lacquer finishes. They handsomely show off the dramatic character of our old growth Ambrosia maple. To learn more about our unique cottage industry, to better see our maple’s striking beauty, please click here.