Note: Since the introduction of the Surefeet, we have twice upgraded the design for better sonics without increasing price. This is our third and most radical design revision; again, we are not increasing price. The new v.3 is designed strictly for use on uncarpeted surfaces.

I. PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN

Conepoint supports for speakers, CD players, amps and preamps, etc. improve sound quality markedly by draining vibrational energy out of the component down into the underlying shelf, stand or floor. Years of careful listening experiments have led us to the following conclusions:

• Heavy cones sound better than light cones.

• Tall cones sound better than short, shallow ones.

• Sharp points sound better than round ones.

• Cone material makes a big difference: brass sounds significantly better than aluminum, carbon fiber, titanium, steel or ceramics.

• Adding on damping materials such as lead, sand, putty or absorptive rubber degrades the sound of conepoints.

Conepoints Improve Speakers

Nothing hurts the sound of a speaker more than mounting it unrigidly on a carpet, on rubber feet, on damping pads, on flimsy stands or on shaky shelves. Flexible mounting lets the speaker rock back as the cone moves forward. That means boomy bass with weakened attack and dynamic punch. Similarly, freely vibrating speaker enclosure panels muddy the midrange and treble.

To make a speaker sound its best you must stop it from rocking and you must drain panel vibration efficiently. This requires coupling the speaker, via massive conepoints, directly to the floor or directly to an ultra-rigid stand. You can't get good sound just by placing the speaker's flat bottom on the floor or on a stand. Because of the large area, low-pressure contact, much of the cabinet's vibrational energy is reflected back instead of being drained efficiently and cleanly down into the floor.

Electronics Sound Better With Conepoints

All audio electronic parts—particularly transformers, inductors, capacitors, tubes and transistors—generate significant mechanical vibrations when currents flow through them. These vibrations are efficiently transmitted through circuit boards and cases to all nearby electronic parts. There, they audibly distort the waveform of the audio signals flowing through these nearby parts. You hear the effect as slower, fuzzier transients and a blurring of harmonic detail.

Massive, rigid conepoints drain most of these mechanical vibrations out of your equipment chassis. This yields often-startling improvements in sound, particularly in CD players and amps and power supplies (both solid state and tubes).

If you have a vibration-isolation platform under your electronics, you will greatly enhance its good effect by properly coupling the electronics to the platform with first-rate conepoints.

A Major Design Advance: Heavyfeet

The weakness in conventional conepoints is that the cone's top flat surface does not fully drain vibrations from the component above. Why? Because large area, flat surface contact tends to reflect rather than transmit vibration (as mentioned in the speaker section). The new, proprietary Triplepoint design eliminates this weakness by substituting three sharp points (facing upwards) to replace the flat top of the cone. The difference is a gratifying, newfound clarity of midrange/treble detail and overtones in voices and instruments.

II. INSTALLATION TIPS

• Cones work best on wood or MDF surfaces. They still give excellent sonic improvements on concrete, granite or tile. On glass you will hear the strong high frequency resonance of glass reflected back into the conepoint, that is, you will hear excessive treble brightness.

• To make cones work on a glass shelf, you must use a 2" or 4" maple platform on Isoblocks between cone and shelf. The same approach will seriously improve the effectiveness of cones on concrete, granite, tile or relatively flimsy wooden shelves.

• If you use three cones under a component, they do not need height adjustment. If you use four cones (for added stability), check each one to make sure it is bearing full weight. Typically one of the four will be too short and slightly loose due to slight unevenness of the equipment bottom or the mounting surface below; a loose cone causes audible sonic degradation. For unthreaded cones, use a shim above the loose cone to fill in the needed height. To shim, use 2" x 2" squares cut from standard manila folders (i.e., very hard cardboard). Even better is wood veneer or brass shim stock.

• For initial placement, always put conepoints under the most rigid parts of the chassis. For speakers, this means the outer corner or a cabinet edge. For electronics, this means next to the rubber feet or the case edge (unscrewing or ungluing the rubber feet is a good idea to make room for the cones).

• Always put the single cone under the lightest part of the chassis (i.e. furthest away from the transformers or the speaker magnets); the other two go under the heaviest end.

• ALWAYS LOOK UNDER THE COMPONENT TO MAKE SURE THE CONEPOINTS' TOP SURFACES (OR TRIPLEPOINT TOP POINTS) ARE NOT CONTACTING A SCREWHEAD, A RIDGE OR A HOLE. ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK BY LIGHTLY ROCKING THE COMPONENT TO MAKE SURE THERE'S NO CONEPOINT WOBBLE (WOBBLE DEGRADES SOUND). IF THERE'S WOBBLE, ONE OF THE CONEPOINTS IS NOT SEATED FLAT.

• For threaded cones, unscrew the loose cone until it is the right height. Then force three little shims into the gap above the cone at three equally-spaced points around the circumference of the cone's top. Little brass washers make easy shims. Then tighten the cone hard to lock in the shims. If that closes the gap too much, double up the shims and repeat. The solidly locked cones gives much better sonic results than a cone that is simply supported by the threads of the adjusting screw.

• Under speakers with pre-existing threaded inserts for spikes, make sure the cone is not seated up against the metal insert instead of up against the actual wood base.

• If you're having trouble getting a component, particularly a light one, to balance on Triplepoints, try installing the first one upside down to start with a stably-based cone. You can leave one cone inverted with very slight affect on the sound, or you can flip it after the other two cones are seated.

• We recommend final tweaking of conepoint position by moving each conepoint an inch or two from its initial position and listening for possible improvement.

• Conepoint effectiveness is almost always improved by adding weight on top of the component. Brass weights sound better than weights of lead, iron, bricks, stone or sand (that's why we offer our Heavyhat brass weights). Weights sound best if supported on three sharp points (like our Heavyhat Triplepoints) rather than just resting on their flat bottom surfaces. Increase weight by increments of no more than ¾ to 1½ pounds. You'll eventually reach a total weight where just one extra pound dramatically dulls the sound; "eventually" may be the second weight.

• IF YOU NEED TO PREVENT SHARP POINTS FROM MARRING FURNITURE OR FLOORS, USE OUR FURNITURE SAVERS, A ROUND BRASS CAP THAT FITS OVER THE SHARP POINT. THIS WILL DEGRADE SOUND FAR LESS THAN USING PENNIES, WOOD, BRASS OR LEAD DISCS UNDER THE POINT.

• To greatly increase the sonic improvement you get with conepoints, we strongly recommend using a solid maple (or maple butcherblock) isolation platform between your conepoints and the shelf (or floor) underneath. This works as well or better than $2000 air suspension platforms. See our IsoBlocks write-up for more details.

The widespread idea that conepoints isolate equipment from floor vibration is not supported by our tests.