Permali / Panzerholz

This is an SP10 Panzer plinth I'm working on.

That looks fantastic Arke, beautiful grain. Bet it is surprisingly heavy!

I may defer to Oli or Phonomac on the relative damping properties. I believe Panzerholz is better at damping when considered over a range of frequencies. Granted, Permali may be better at specific frequencies.

I can't remember the ratio exactly, but Panzer is like twice as good as the next best (Birch Ply) but Permali is somewhere in the middle, but it's closer to Panzer than Birch Ply....those three are out in their own Vs the other materials.

Other than that, phonomac would have to chip in.

Oooooh, where from?

Those guys in PFM?

What happens to the bit cut from the motor hole?

Not sure yet. It's looking lonely on the floor! Panzer would make a great speaker baffle, but the offcut is pretty small.

Yeah, maybe a couple of arm boards or maybe some feet that could be used for damping. I don’t know enough about it. Must be a good use for it. It is special stuff. Tiny pair of speaker baffles though.

answered on another forum andy.

I’ve just finished a Permali plinth for my SP10 mk2 .

Panzer was proving to be almost impossible to find here in Oz and the one sheet I did find that was big enough was $1500 so I went with what is considered to be the next best thing, Permali.

I did 3 20mm pieces epoxied together to make a nice heavy 60mm slab . Total cost was just over $450 (about 200 odd quid) so significantly cheaper than panzer . It definitely looks ,smells and feels slightly different to panzer . It’s Redder ,a bit shinier and more resinous looking(if that’s the right term) , panzer looks more natural like wood does and has more thinner layers in it (see picture of armboards for comparison). There’s not much in it weight wise holding up similar sized pieces .

I took it over to a friends house to use his fancy drilling machine to get my arm base holes bang on and he did some basic tests while I was there . He found it to be more effective than his own resin/bentonite plinth for killing resonance off quickly so he’s now made himself one from Permali .

I can’t say I had any real issues working the material . It cuts , plains , sands and drills fairly easily with my makita tools with standard bits on them , cutting little by little . The only thing I would say is to make sure that you drill and tap any holes for bolts and fixings properly as I had one bolt on the armboard that was a right barsteward to get out even though I’d tapped the bloody things . I mustn’t have gone quite deep enough and got the bolt properly lodged. I sorted it in the end but it put up a real fight

I glued on an aluminum top plate and brushed it to match the SP10 best I could , added the mighty Track Audio isolation feet and Angus’s Mk8SE arm . The end result is very special 🤯🤯🤯

This thing is on another level to my CTC 301 in a massive 20 odd kilo Panzerholz plinth,track feet and Reed arm. I’m getting crazy resolution and detail, In fact the best I’ve ever had here and the best I’ve ever heard in a non show setting . How much is down to the plinth I couldn’t quantify but based on what I’m hearing it’s a big thumbs up from me for Permali . It’s much better than the MDF aluminum plinth that it came in as the image is sharper , lines are cleaner and soundstage is more spacious so it’s clearly having some sort of positive effect and working harmoniously with the other parts , and best of all it’s not too expensive to try for yourself .

Thanks mate , yeah I agree . I gives it more of that 80s Japanese feel having the top plate on there

Sweet - Really really like that SP10 bigbird - lovely job !

Nice one Rob , It’s only taken 6 months to get it over the line . Don’t know how I coped . I’ve been spinning none stop

Reminds me of my own a lot 'cept for the top plate.
How you finding the Ti ?