SAM’S STEREO STAND – #CS-003
The ‘ASK’
Sam had heard of Tough Nut through a friend, who said that we might be able to support him resolving a specific challenge that he was having with vibration effecting the system in his home.
Sam has a pair of vintage Thorens turntables and the TD 160 was hypersensitive to foot fall in the room. Since he lives in an older home where the floors tend to be ‘bouncy’, he had the unit mounted on a wall bracket, but the condition persisted & it only helped a little.
Initially, Sam reached out to us to inquire about building him a custom stand that would address this challenge. We were happy to assist but noted that we couldn’t start his project for a month. To hold him over we asked if he would like to borrow a GP3 Isolation Platform. Sam agreed and a couple of days later, we got a call from one very excited audiophile stating that he was blown away by the platform’s ability to minimize the vibration transference to the Thorens.
My next visit to Sam’s was to focus on the increased quality of sound with the GP3 isolation platform and during the review he turned to me and said, “Do you hear this ?“. This is always a favourite moment, when the customer hears the difference isolation can make for their system!
Sam was very excited to move forward with the isolated stereo stand. We included the 3 beautiful black walnut slabs that Sam provided, roasted maple gables, brushed aluminum hardware and IsoAcoustic Feet. Sam was very involved with the design and evolution of this stand. The unit looks really great in his home and there is a nice visual connection to his speakers, and it looks tidy & unified. Walnut has such beautiful grain, and the oil finish highlights that so perfectly.
The results have been rewarding for both of us.
THE WALNUT SLABS
The ‘PROCESS’
We designed the unit to use as much of the 3 walnut slabs as possible to create the 3 shelves. These would be mounted off the roasted maple side gables and isolated with rubber bushings.
Sam had originally wanted the stand to be on castors, and we had some good ones from Lee Valley that were able to handle not only the weight of the unit…those walnut slabs are heavy! … but also all the equipment that would be added on top. We eventually landed on the IsoAcoustic Gaia-Titan Rhea feet instead, and the unit looks sharp with them.
The walnut slabs needed lots of sanding to level them out, and we added a small bevel to finish the edges. A few coats of danish oil to bring up the grain and give the wood a nice satin finish.
The side gables are made of roasted maple, and also finished with danish oil, which gives them a distinctly walnut look. We use Canadian maple hardwood for the diffuse porous structure that absorbs less vibration.
We also fabricated the metal vertical and shelf brackets, and gave them a brushed finish and a clear coat.
We installed a cross brace on the back of the unit to give it more stability with a clevis and spherical rod ends. The brace was painted black to reduce it’s visibility.
FABRICATION
The ‘RESULT’
The final unit is 59” wide, 22” deep and 36” high. It can accommodate 6 regular sized audio equipment units.
The unit took about 4 weeks to make and deliver. It came together really well and besides needing to upgrade some of the rubber bushings…did we mention the weight of solid maple slabs?…it’s turned out really well!
Sam also liked our GP3 Isolation Platforms so much that he bought 2 of them as well.
Thank you for the business Sam!
FINISHED PRODUCT
CLIENT
BEFORE
INSTALLATION
