[S Clark]

I'm a bit stunned that it worked so well.  Unfortunately, the rest of that branch went into the grill yesterday to cook a steak.  I've got maple underneath my turntables, but nothing under preamps or amps.  Guess I need to get the chain saw and cut some for myself.
I'll have to see if there is a dead mesquite on the property... most has gone for firewood, or it's green. 
Glad it worked, Early!

[Elizabeth]

Glad some bits of wood improved the sound.
I found another exotic wood site https://wphardwoods.com/
And they have an even larger selection. Where some sites may have ten of some item, this place has 1000. Plus real time how many available. They have an intro video, I suggest watching it. some of the large $5000 slabs are amazing to just see.
Free shipping on turning wood starts at just $150.
I think the site is pretty new, (they just migrated) so many of the pictures of the wood are just stock photos in the turning stock area. But they do seem to be adding real pics here and there. I have just placed an order, but do not know how great or not the wood will be.
Mainly glad someone has success with wood footers. 

[Wig]

Awesome thread and some great information!

P.S. Yes, that SW1X Dac III Std is Extraordinary 

Wig

[Nick77]

OK, WTF just happened....????!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on the positive benefits of using cocobolo pen blanks underneath my preamp. Tonight, I tried Texas mesquite wood pucks cut straight from the branch. I simply removed the cocobolo squares from beneath my preamp and placed the mesquite pucks under the feet. Frankly, I was shocked by the difference in sound. There's no question that even the most ardent audio naysayer would have heard the difference. The sound became sweeter. I don't know how else to describe it. Definitely better, and not by a small margin. To make sure I wasn't losing my mind, I placed the cocobolo squares back in, played my favorite track, and then put the mesquite back in. Wow!

Wait! It gets better!!! I placed the cocobolo squares underneath my DAC and there was a slight improvement. The mesquite/cocobolo combo worked out well for me. Of course, Elizabeth would encourage us to experiment with a variety wood types, but I'm good right here. I removed tube gear from my system because I didn't want to go down that rabbit hole.

Anyway, for very, very cheap, you can tweak the sound of your system with wood. I can't explain it, so don't ask me to. Just try it. Hell, some of you can go in your backyard, cut some pieces from a fallen branch and see what happens. You might be surprised at the outcome. 

So what did we learn today, boys and girls? That's right -- wood is good.





 

Okay I knew i had some mesquite scraps in the garage so i finally dug them out. Low and behold after placing them under my DAC and amplifier the sound was more musical and resolute. Quazzy give it a try and see what you hear, simply amazing. thanks EarlyB

[Vintage Crown Fan]

LOL.  I used a cutting board under my "rat road" Crown PS-200 set up!  Just a Bluetooth dongle into an un-powered Shiit one-pot pre-amp.

[Vintage Crown Fan]

Used one on the top of another rack mounted PS-200 at our cottage.

[Elizabeth]

I had some 12" long 1" square exotic wood (6) each, under the Magnepan 20.7 speakers. It was pretty good. 
I was fooling around with some Bloodwood (Brosimum rubescens) under various electronics, and each time it was a no. Some other wood sounded better. Tonight I was thinking: gee this is winding down. 
Then I thought what the heck stick the Bloodwood under the speakers. (this is getting easier to do as I gain practice in how...)
Hot Damn! the improvement is just wonderful!. Not some spectacular thing. Just a soft, marvelous sense, closer to real... The goosebumps.. a good increase in goosebumps is alwasy a good sign.
If you would have asked me BEFORE I did it, I would have said 99% gonna be a waste of time. (after all, several other places the Bloodwood was worthless, dull, deadening..compared to otehr wood.) 
So for anyone interested in this exotic wood experiment. Do not give up!

So yeah the Bloodwood under the Magnepan 20.7 speakers is a keeper. I used (4) 6" 1 1/2" square at ends, 1/4 way (where the actual brackets holding the speaker panel meets the base) 12" same, middle two 18" same. but spread in a V point front, with a final 12" in the backside of V. (the V stick out front about 2" to protect the speaker from tipping if bumped. The rear middle 12" also sticks out for same reason.

The main issue that has annoyed me is sloppy sizing. Even when asked, the sizes are not right on. And if NOT asking them to check, well you can forget getting exotic wood the same size unless it is 1" or less and kiln dried. (the vast majority of 1 1/2" or bigger is not kiln dried.) one place that does tell you on the website is Bell Forest. Not perfect, but they try.  I do not have any real tools to fix this. But if you do, then it is a breeze.
I would say this has been my biggest blockage. stuff sizing that is hard to use in fours.. even threes.. as is. (let alone seven like the speakers... but those are pretty good actually. If not on carpet, way more of a problem as they are off  a 1/32" ... 1/64"
Then the wax on everything that is not kiln dried....
I took most of the wax off, except the ends. I will see how it does over the next year or two as it dries.
(mabe if I get lucky I will find a woodworker whom I can get the stuff evened up eventually. I will wait until the wood is dried though....)

Added: today it is afternoon, I can finally feel OK playing some music with a lot of bass.. wow. great fullness, crisp, good impact. Better than previously. Sadly for me, a little more than I can allow at normal volumes. So I have to turn it down. this is not a killer, but does limit my playing stuff with a not of bass (I am playing tecnho music,"Radikal Deep". my basis for playing music with bass is Depeche Mode.. in general, Depeche Mode has a little bass, not a lot, and in general is my'this is what I am able to play at my normal volume' (70dB C weighted) and not have to worry the bass is impacting my (apartment) neighbors. I just started a Depeche Mode CD and yeah it is fine.
Added later: Well the fact the wood is sinking into the carpet, crushing flat the undermat, is bad. Damaging the sound that seemed so perfect!  The treble clarity is still amazing, but some of the goosebump flavor is gone, plus the bass is starting to overwhelm the lower mids. I am going to place some bits of junk wood under the ends of the Bloodwood to see if that can alleviate the new minor problem. I have some nice African Blackwood, but I hate to cut it up just to see if it helps. So I will go by an Oak strip locally and cut it up into 4" 1/4"thick strips and stick in 24 bits.. to lift the body of the Bloodwood out of the crushed padding.... Hope it works.

[Elizabeth]

Updates...
I found an interesting thing I thought was worth a new post about how the bits of wood work together (or not)
Previously I had swapped out some one inch square 12 inches long Brazilian Ebony I had under my Magnepan 20.7 speakers to use some Bloodwood 1 1/2" square various 6" 12" and 18" long under them. At first sounded great. But as the wood settled INTO THE CARPET, the sound changed to less great. 
I decided to use underfooters, and only had some African Blackwood I bought cut as castoffs, 1/4" by 1" by 4" and placed them under the ends of the Bloodwood to raise the Bloodwood up out of the carpet. 
Well, the sound gained a lot more bass. too much for the apartment! I had to significantly lower the volume or worry about bass bleed into other apartments (I will not bother my neighbors!)
This went on for a week. what to do?? Well I had a oak rod, just laying around 1/2" by 3/4" by eight feet. Cut it up into little 3" lengths, and replaced all the Ebony bits with the oak bits. 
The extra extra bass caused by the ebony, gone. Less issue with the bass.
And this is just little bits under OTHER wood....

The main thing to write this is the subtle ways the wood interacts with everything. And the fact of the CARPET being an issue under the wood main devices.. With carpeting and pads.. The wood sinking into the carpet really changes the character of the sound created by the wood additions. Solving this is mainly adding small  end lifts the right size to sink into the carpet and leave the main wood up, just touching the carpet surface, on stuff like my Magnepan 20.7s/ Or if one is using butcher blocks on carpet. best to lift them a bit.

[rollo]

  Wood is good. Try Ebony wood pen blanks under transformers in lieu of that rubber. Cardas wood blocks offer an interesting affect as well. Eliz since ya like to experiment you may want to try wood speaker stand to replace the stock Maggie feet/stands. The metal resonates and rings compared to wood. Anyway thank you for bringing up the wood advantage. One can get as Eliz has verified an improvement or difference wanted.

charles

[Elizabeth]

Rollo: for comment "metal feet" of Magnepans...
I own the later Magnepan 20.7s which have large oval wood base, (not the metal T shaped feet of old.) The speaker is up off the base by about a 1/2 inch. the brackets holding it up but to the base are thick aluminum castings, triangular support between the right angle brackets. The oval base of the 20.7 is 29" long axis, 15" wide axis, and about an inch thick. Pretty sure it is some sort of composite. ?? since it is painted, but is heavy...
The oval is why I am using a combo if 6" 12" and 18" length wood under it.

[fayerichard]

What is the sound of the Cardas wood compared to the off-the-shelf wooden blanks?

[rollo]

Rollo: for comment "metal feet" of Magnepans...
I own the later Magnepan 20.7s which have large oval wood base, (not the metal T shaped feet of old.) The speaker is up off the base by about a 1/2 inch. the brackets holding it up but to the base are thick aluminum castings, triangular support between the right angle brackets. The oval base of the 20.7 is 29" long axis, 15" wide axis, and about an inch thick. Pretty sure it is some sort of composite. ?? since it is painted, but is heavy...
The oval is why I am using a combo if 6" 12" and 18" length wood under it.

   Nice. Did not know that. Mass helps.


charles

[rollo]

   BTW loving the Ebony Pen Blanks under the transformers.


charles

[Elizabeth]

The Cardas blocks are Myrtle wood.
Just another sort of wood.

Myrtle, Oregon Myrtle, California Bay Laurel, Pepperwood

Scientific Name: Umbellularia californica

Distribution: Coastal regions of southwest Oregon and central California

Tree Size: 50-80 ft (15-24 m) tall, 2-3 ft (.6-1 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 40 lbs/ft3 (635 kg/m3)

Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .51, .63

Janka Hardness: 1,270 lbf (5,650 N)

Modulus of Rupture: 9,700 lbf/in2 (66.9 MPa)

Elastic Modulus: 1,225,000 lbf/in2 (8.45 GPa)

Crushing Strength: 5,640 lbf/in2 (38.9 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 2.8%, Tangential: 8.1%, Volumetric: 11.9%, T/R Ratio: 2.9
(Source https://www.wood-database.com/ )
Sadly I never tried them nor any Myrtle Wood. So you would need to try them for yourself to see how they sound.
My own use the heavier the better seemed to be the rule
Basic if it is heavier than water.. IE sinks in water... heavy.
for example:
African blackwood, Mpingo (Swahili)

Scientific Name: Dalbergia melanoxylon

Distribution: Dry savanna regions of central and southern Africa

Tree Size: 20-30 ft (6-9 m) tall,

                 2-3 ft (.6-1.0 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 79 lbs/ft3 (1,270 kg/m3)

Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): 1.08, 1.27

Janka Hardness: 3,670 lbf (16,320 N)

Modulus of Rupture: 30,970 lbf/in2(213.6 MPa)

Elastic Modulus: 2,603,000 lbf/in2(17.95 GPa)

Crushing Strength: 10,570 lbf/in2(72.9 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 2.9%, Tangential: 4.8%,

                  Volumetric: 7.7%, T/R Ratio: 1.7

[ric]

Years ago I was checking Craigslist freebies and lo and behold someone had a five foot section of bowling alley--maple, 2.5" thick!!! I picked it up and could barely lift it to get it in my truck, cut it up and have been using it ever since. But, I have tried many DIY tweaks with footers etc., and still have nothing but praise for biting the bullet and using IsoAcoustic products. They now sell (at high cost) butcher block with attached orea footers and I'm sure they sound great, but too pricey for me!