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PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN
From the time I first started using conepoints under my studio equipment I have been using weights on top of the supported equipment. Adding the weights almost always resulted in a satisfying magnification of the conepoints' good effects. The weights do two things: they help kill the resonances prevalent in most equipment enclosures and, by adding downward force, they improve the contact pressure between equipment and conepoint. Until recently I used mainly lead weights, in disc and block form.
Quite recently, I tested lead weights head-to-head against brass ones of equal mass. Much to my surprise, the brass sounded much better than lead. It appears that the high internal damping of lead (which leads to the dead "thunk" when you tap it) is not beneficial, despite the intuitive appeal of the idea of killing vibrations through heavy damping. Other experiments we have done with applying high damping materials (sorbothane, asphalted felt, lead sheet) to enclosure panels tend to confirm that extra mass and/or extra stiffening works better than damping.
Given the superiority of brass over lead weights in our tests (and over iron, brick, cinderblock, marble and granite), I immediately started designing our Heavyhat weight series. The weights come in 1/2 pound and 1 1/2 pound versions, these having proved most useful in our studio. Several sizes are necessary because of a non-obvious principle evolved from my tests: to get best results, you need to add weight in moderate increments, listening at each increment to make sure the sound has continued to improve. Soon you will hit a point where adding one more pound will dramatically deaden the sound of your system.
The Heavyhat weights also come in a triplepoint version. Just like the Ultimate Triplepoint Conepoints, the Triplepoint weights yield a major advance in midrange and treble resolution. The reason, of course, is the same: large area flat-to-flat contact always leads to unwanted rattles, resonances and reflections of vibrational energy. This is eliminated by the very high pressure point contacts of the triplepoint design.
INSTALLATION TIPS
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Start with one Heavyhat centered on top of the equipment (electronics or speaker) that you're upgrading. If this gives you better sound, add another weight near the center. Continue until you hit the point where one more weight deadens the system sound; remove that weight.
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Take the remaining weights and spread them across the top of the equipment. Very often, sound will improve with the weights spread out rather than centered. Sliding individual weights around in small steps will lead to fine-tuning improvements.
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As a very loose guideline—equipment in the 5 to 20 pound range (such as entry-level CD players, preamplifiers, D/As and small speakers) require optimum weights in the vicinity of 1 to 5 pounds. Even the heaviest gear such as behemoth amplifiers or subwoofers will rarely require more than 10 pounds total weight.
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When using either Heavyhat regular or Heavyhat Triplepoint weights, make sure that they're not placed on a screwhead or other protuberance.
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