My System today.

[Gordon Steadman]

Great system Gordon minimalist but stylish

Alan

Actually, its Jason's system but I agree with your comment!!

[jason]

I have a load of oak in my woodpile. And a lathe!!

A normal set of four round things would probably be about £20 but if you want audiophile quality, its £100

I can see the wanting to gut nice stuff for the hi-fi but I just can't understand why anyone would want to pay rip off prices for something any half decent turner could do blindfold.


PS. I reckon the cost price of each foot would be about £1. That includes materials, electricity, time and deterioration of tools. Each one would take me about two minutes. There must be woodturners in yellow pages.

I totally see what you mean Alan and I agree with other members that oak is oak. But how come RA's are charging so much and why do people buy them, I've seen the ones on ebay at just a few quid so I'm wondering sound aside are the RA's ones better made ie a more solid oak if its possible?

[Gordon Steadman]

I totally see what you mean Alan and I agree with other members that oak is oak. But how come RA's are charging so much and why do people buy them, I've seen the ones on ebay at just a few quid so I'm wondering sound aside are the RA's ones better made ie a more solid oak if its possible?

Whilst its true that there are different varieties of oak, I don't think the density varies that much between them. I don't know why oak should used apart from the fact that its tough stuff and will stand having bloody great speakers shoved on top of it.

I use oak domes to take the spikes under my speakers - to protect the floor. Its very dense indeed, made from old beams. I remain unconvinced that its the material anyway, I'm sure that if there is a real result, its more likely to be the very small surface that the equipment rests on. So spikes or wood?? Is there a difference? Dunno!

[jason]

Whilst its true that there are different varieties of oak, I don't think the density varies that much between them. I don't know why oak should used apart from the fact that its tough stuff and will stand having bloody great speakers shoved on top of it.

I use oak domes to take the spikes under my speakers - to protect the floor. Its very dense indeed, made from old beams. I remain unconvinced that its the material anyway, I'm sure that if there is a real result, its more likely to be the very small surface that the equipment rests on. So spikes or wood?? Is there a difference? Dunno!

Now I've had time to think about it Alan I'm not convinced anymore that there would be any difference between the RA's ones and the ones on ebay but I'm £104.00 down now so I'll have to live with it LOL. I think in the future though if I get anymore hi fi boxes I'll buy some of the cheap ones on ebay and swap them with the RA's and see if there is any difference. I think I got caught up in the moment when I looked on the RA's site

[Sovereign]

I bought 40mm oak dowel and had one of my carpenters turn it for me into cones. I have loads, maybe 15 or so, Russ Andrews oak cones and the difference in density is large. The RA ones are very dense and heavy, the ones I had made were lighter and the grain is further apart and therefore the ones I had made are less dense.
Do they sound any different? I have no idea, never compared them but I would suggest RA uses a better quality oak then what is readily available.

[walpurgis]

You've just reminded me, I must set my lathe up. Here's a tip if you want some nice wood for cones etc., have a poke around the charity shops. They often have old imported carvings and statues made of rosewood and the like going cheap.

[Gordon Steadman]

I bought 40mm oak dowel and had one of my carpenters turn it for me into cones. I have loads, maybe 15 or so, Russ Andrews oak cones and the difference in density is large. The RA ones are very dense and heavy, the ones I had made were lighter and the grain is further apart and therefore the ones I had made are less dense.
Do they sound any different? I have no idea, never compared them but I would suggest RA uses a better quality oak then what is readily available.

Any dowel is going to be made of cheap stuff, mostly sapwood, strong enough for the purpose. The dense bit is the heartwood and that is where any quality timber resides. We use the sapwood I cut off for kindling on the fire.

I suppose one could be impressed that RA's supplier knows his stuff but not by the retail price which is somewhat less than reasonable.