Introduction A.K.A. “The boring bit” – Photos start in post #2.
Having talked about this for long enough the time has eventually come to put the plan into action. The design of the rack is very simple, in favour of attempting to create a rack that can effectively isolate the equipment, I’ve gone done the road of mass damping. I’ve achieved good results with Constraint Layer Damping, using a sandwich of Slate, Cork and Bamboo under each piece of equipment, the rack is intended to be the final layer on top of which the Slate will sit. With this is mind I wanted the rack to act as much as possible as one very large piece of timber free of voids and mechanical fixings.
My choice of material for the rack is Beech, which is an unusual selection for a timber rack and more at home in the Kitchen. The majority of commercial timber racks seem to be of a modular design and constructed of Oak. Despite the fact that I really like the look of Oak and have a plentiful supply in my timber pile, this really would be my last choice of material. I’ve experimented with a number of materials as equipment supports and Oak is one of my least favourite choices. To my ears Oak has imparted a very sharp ring and a “grungy” effect on virtually every piece of equipment I’ve placed on it. I appreciate many people use Oak products as equipment support and are very happy with them, I’m not saying every support constructed from Oak is the same, but purely expressing my opinion .
In researching different timbers for the construction of the rack I remembered reading a brief article on TAS (https://theaudiostandard.net/thread/...ications-audio) regarding the structural properties of timber. This breaks hardwoods into 2 categories, Ring Porous and Diffuse Porous. Oak falls into the Ring Porous category as does Cherry, another timber I don’t get on with in this application. So I turned my attention to the Diffuse Porous timbers which include both Maple and Birch, timbers renowned for their acoustic properties not only with the audio enthusiast, but for the construction of musical instruments. One of these timbers would then seem the obvious choice, but I have two major issues with these timbers:
First and foremost, I don’t like the look of either of them, I see them as bland white timber, especially Birch which makes me think of Ikea furniture. I’m not slagging off Ikea’s furniture or its patrons, I have some Ikea furniture and I’m actually sitting on an Ikea Birch Ply chair as I type this. However, the rack will be as much a piece of furniture as an equipment rack, so as the son of a Cabinet Maker, the look of the timber is almost as important to me as it’s acoustic properties.
Secondly, cost and availability. Maple would have nearly doubled my materials bill. Birch is so hard to source in the dimensions I wanted I gave up trying to get a price on it.
I therefore chose Beech. To my eyes an interesting and attractive timber. Falling within the same Diffuse Porous category, so hopefully similar acoustic properties to Maple or Birch whilst being relatively cheap and available. I went for a “Farmhouse Beech” worktop for the shelves. It’s a relatively low grade White Beech with lots of grain differentiation and knots. Aesthetically this is exactly what I wanted as I find it far more visually appealing then Prime Beech and I’ll be using Steamed Beech (a more pinky/brown colour) for the legs as I wanted to create something of a contrast with the hope that it will tie in to the darker timber in the blockboard.