I've only used Sorbothane under my amp(s) and CDP and it does 'kill the sound'. There just so many variables and a wooden floor is one of them, so it really should be see what works for your system and room, my room has a concrete floor I tried the inner tube and Bamboo due to the low cost, £12, making it a not much of loss if it didn't work.
Yes - bamboo has unique material properties. Actually is not a wood, it is a grass. And has been used for thousands of years for everything from scaffolding to earthquake resistant ancient buildings to musical instruments to slide rules. It is even now being seriously considered as a modern structural building material to replace steel and concrete. And yes - it has more internal damping as compared with traditional woods. And apparently is very different in bending and torsion - I am uncertain if this is a benefit or not. But the uniform damping with frequency is certainly a plus in favour of bamboo.
My friend makes and repairs guitars and he told me Bamboo is now being used in guitars, and I'm pretty sure he said Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour's guitar has a Bamboo body. He's tried cutting Bamboo with his Japanese blades and it's not possible, talking to a supplier they say even their specialist cutting machines struggle due to it's structure.
Interesting. How the heck does that work?! Does it mean these components sounded better with some vibration absorbed but not all? I used sorbothane feet for home-made stands before (but not directly on equipment), and you had to use the correct amount (or size) of feet for the weight of that they were supporting - otherwise the absorbing properties were compromised. Hazy memory of experimenting with it but it did seem to make a difference.
I'm guessing but it may be that the energy coming from the the moving air is unable to drain away from the equipment. If a system is too bright the change can be beneficial. If I hadn't given the Sorbathane feet back it'd be interesting to see what they'd do under a shelf, the other supports don't match the simple inner tube.
Interesting angle. If so then total isolation might, contrary to beliefs, not be what some are after in some cases.
I'm probably wrong, damping down the piece of equipment must be getting in to areas where things become very complicated. Back to the OP and if his deck has a suspended sub-chassis then a inner tube supporting any shelf would make things sound worse but may give great benefits if it's not a suspended sub-chassis deck.
It looks good enough, but it doesn’t actually do anything beneficial. As @chervokas has pointed out, placing a board in direct contact with another board or shelf or furniture top just couples everything. That means any vibration in the furniture top (in this case) will be picked up directly by the bamboo board and transmitted to the turntable feet. To make this board useful, it needs vibration dissipating feet (Herbie’s or hockey pucks or rubber washing machine isolators, etc., etc.). Without those sorts of feet, the bamboo board is just decorative.
You guys have me wondering about bamboo over maple. I had this picked out to go with: https://www.amazon.com/Maple-End-Gr...rd_t=301&qid=1540811223&ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvpv2 Or this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GUVPMO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AIZRPYTHPOLQY&psc=1 I don't know if I'll need 3.5" as my Pangea stand is secure with spikes on a cement floor. I'll have spikes underneath the block with Herbie's Grungebuster Dots in between them and the block.
I can't comment on whether Maple is better than Bamboo, as due to the cost I've not tried it, you can get a Bamboo board for around £6 , so it's feasible to compare the two given the Maple's going for over £100.
While I obviously agree with you about trying to isolate, I'm surprised that the Bamboo wouldn't have some positive effect, as it's adding a extra layer of energy absorbing wood (plant?).
I was thinking about this as an option - I decided to wallmount the turntable using a DOLLE brand mount. It is excellent and holds up to 75lbs. Budget option that should take care of your need.
@chervokas provided some good physics in relation to transmission of vibrational energy, BUT he failed to mention anything about bamboo's dissimilar composition, instead leading one to guess bamboo & wood transmit vibrational energy alike. THEY DO NOT. "For audio applications, bamboo’s appeal lies both in its own structure and the way in which it is processed into useable sheet form. The plant grows as long, closely knit fibers, with a micro-porous structure, an inherently random formation that makes it an excellent broadband dissipater. But in order to create sheets of useable size, the bamboo poles that are harvested must be cut into narrow strips, maybe 20mm (7/8") wide and 4mm (1/4") thick, that are then laminated together into large, flat sheets. This randomizes the structure even more, as well as introducing a further lossy element in the shape of the glue holding the whole shooting match together. " The Audio Beat - Atacama Audio Eris Eco 5.0 and Elite Eco 6.0 & Quadraspire Sunoko-Vent T Bamboo Equipment Racks Vibration is a form of wave energy. Light is a form of wave energy. When you place a pencil in a glass of water & see The Broken Pencil you're observing a wave travel thru dissimilar materials. Quadraspire wouldn't be successful selling audio racks with wood OR bamboo shelves (~$150 more/shelf), IF bamboo didn't have properties wood does not.
I'm not sure how it all works. I have had a couple of components that were very sensitive to what they sat on, and others that seemed to care less. I can speculate that some designers are so thorough with their designs that they've been voiced to sound good even with their self induced vibrations from the power supply. I vaguely remember reading were a designer worked on a circuit to where they liked it on the bench, but was dismayed how much the sound changed after mounting it in a chassis. There was an audio writer (whose name I can't recall) who stated that things tend to sound like what they are made of. In my system, brass cones sound bright, sorbathane sounds dark. In my own system I use compliant material between the MDF shelves of my rack and the maple to isolate the equipment from room/speaker vibrations. Between the maple and equipment, I like to use bearing type footers. I've had good results with the bearing type footers between the equipment and maple, but they did not work well between the maple and MDF shelf of my rack. I'm speculating that the softer compliant materials deal well with macro vibrations, and the bearing type footers work better with micro vibrations.
Strangely true and wood is more organic(?), as I pointed out the metal roller balls gave smear and a hard edge to the sound.
What the name of this product? I'm thinking of going this route and replacing the slate paver. Edit: Nevermind. I got it figured. Just ordered one.
I have not tried walnut. Walnut has a Janka rating of 1010. Eastern Maple has a Janka rating of 1450. Solid Bamboo has a Janka of 1762. In my experience, the different woods sound "brighter" as they get harder. Here's a Janka chart of common woods used for flooring. Bamboo Flooring Janka Hardness
JANKA® The new game for stacking cutting boards beneath your turntable...a game of skill, a game of chance, a game of imminent destruction.
OMG! I never realized how much Janka & Jenga sound alike! That's funny! Years ago, some audiophiles actually were stacking Jenga blocks under their equipment as a budget DIY version of the Cardas Myrtlewood blocks. BTW, Myrtlewood has a Janka rating of 1270 and smells really good while being machined.
If you like those isopads here is a good source: MP-2C - DiversiTech MP-2C - Rubber/Cork Anti-Vibration Pad, 2" x 2" x 7/8"
