MDF or Glass shelves

It is a long story (new house, dedicated room) but I am now looking to rearrange all of my equipment rack / support system.

I need 2 X four tier racks and two Amplifier supports.

I have found something that is suitable, but I have the choice of MDF or Glass shelves.

Has anybody any opinions on what (if either) sound better.

Ken

 

I use glass sandwiched together with sorbothane in the middle. There seems to be a belief that glass 'rings' more. I'd actually go with MDF I think. But I think glass looks nicer.

Is Acryllic or perspex a possibility?

 

they both have their own sound, but it largelydepends on how they are supported and how they contact the equipment above them.

 

I would have to purchase Acrylic or Perspex as a separate item.

What do you know about the sound of each?

Ken

 

perspex is hideously expensive .....

mdf mostly looks cheap ....I've used mdf but routered the edges and laquered the raw mdf with clear polyeurathane this give a deep honey coloured oatmeal effect quite domestically acceptable by Mrs Z.

glass ..not my fav... but as a constrained sandwich could work well ....how about that laminate with the clear layer that hold itself together when smashed ?

 

Sorry should have said that what I am looking at are professionally made racks with MDF shelves having rounded edges and finished in a black satin look.

Glass shelves are available as either clear or black.

Ken

 

I prefer wood / mdf to glass...thats just a personal preference based on experience

 

... Also, something annoying about glass. If you used spikes on your equipment, you will find they slide around like they are on ice! It's a bit disconcerting. Fine with sorbothane pods though.

In fact I think I like glass with sorbothane judging by the way I hang my system! Never really thought of it!!

 

By accident I found out that one glass shelf renders the sound, well, glassy. But put another slab of glass on top and it's pretty good.

 

with modern paints you can do wonders with MDF, it can have any look you want, modern, antique, sci-fi, pop, kitsch, it just need to be properly sprayed and that's all. i've seen miracleous things done with some poly-something (not necessarily polyurethane) paints.

they are costly though.

MDF definitely - by miles - acoustically closer to dead than glass.

 

Glass will need dusting every day

 

Glass and perspex have problems with storing a static electric charge which may affect sensitive electronic equipment. As to whether this alters the sound produced is anyones guess!

 

Could the seller let you try both, and then you can decide which you prefer.

 

I've sprayed mine with anti-static. Dust attraction was a major irritant.

rich

 

MDF or wood...

 

IMO glass is the worse material (sonically) to make the shelves of a rack from and MDF is the worse of the wood variants. Solid wood is good but I've found ply to be the most consistent regardless of what component I've placed on top. I've also tried many different composite combinations and found few to offer any significant improvement over boring old 1" ply.

 

Yes mdf can sound very dead ....almost sucks the life out.

Thought ply will have its own sound too....but its likely to be very consistent as suggested. Oak is very stiff and likely to ring to some extent... its very much a suck and see

 

I think with ply that the variations in density and the lattice structure may help it do a good job.

 

Yeah, someone told me awhile ago that plywood is surprisingly effective, especially under a turntable apparently. Can't remember the details though. I tried glass shelves – found they made the sound too bright. MDF seems a better bet. I have MDF platforms with sorbothane feet that fit into a metal stand. You need something like sorbothane to absorb the vibrational energy to provide isolation. But you also need to be able to drain the vibration from the component, so the coupling of the component to the platform is also important. There's an infinite variety of cones and balls and Perspex thingies that do this.

 

Anyone tried large ball bearings between shelves and rack ? I'm currently building yet another rack and am wondering if I should spike, suspend (which I've done before) or recess some ball bearings into the rack and shelves.