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Old 03-01-2020, 03:54 PM
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Puma Cat Puma Cat is offline
Cool, calm scientist

 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: East Bay, CA
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I've worked professionally for years as a "bench scientist" at many different lab benches, including most of the 5 types listed in your link. I've also worked at lab benches with something like a slate material, as well. Most of the ones I've worked at were high-pressure laminate.

Personally, my thought is the phenolic resin material may prove to be too ringy to be suitable by itself as a material for audio racks, but I'm not sure. A good way to test this is to buy an $8 music box mechanism and play it on the material, and you will hear how loud it is. The loudness will be indicative of how ringy something is.

I've been doing some studies of these types of materials and how they impact or attenuate vibration, and I've found that plain old regular particle board is one of the best materials. My Sanus Euro II audio rack is particle board that has a hard coating, similar to a powder coating, and it works quite well in damping vibration. My guess is that a high-pressure laminate may work quite well, also.

Believe it or not, I think one of the best materials might be the laminated material that Ikea has used in their Expedit and Kallax shelf units and Lack tables. This material is a low to medium-density particle board with a laminate surface. It is very light but its also very stiff. In other words, stiff but low mass (or actually, density). My guess is its the closest one might be able to get to the laminated Tancast 8 that Rega uses for its latest turntables, which, knowing Roy Gandy, may likely be a superb material for audio rack shelves as well as turntable "plinths".
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Last edited by Puma Cat; 03-01-2020 at 04:00 PM.
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