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Isolation feet/cones for PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC

Hey all,

I am debating between Large DH Cones and Herbies Tenderfeet.
Anyone have experience specifically with this DAC?

Thanks!
itsikhefez
agriculturist
177 posts
 

I am having a very hard time placing my 3 new Golden Sound Jumbo cones in the recommended way under my amp on the Squares.  According to  the GS website the rear  two should be pointed sound down and the front one should be pointed side up.  I find it very hard to achieve this recommended configuration under my rather heavy amp (60+ lbs VAC160iSE integrated), as the cones keep toppling and resulting in other issues, not to say thuds and bangs etc.  Getting all the cones to be pointed side up under the amp is much easier to manage.  And even this way they did sound better than the Herbie's I had before.  Is it a big benefit to moving to the recommended configuration?  And is there a simple way to achieve it?  BTW I just sent off to replace the Jumbo cones with the Super Jumbos.

Thanks


agriculturist
177 posts
 
I see now that Geoff suggests keeping them all pointed down.  This seems very hard for me to manage.  When I get the super jumbos from MusicDirect I might give it another try, but I had a very hard time with the jumbo cones and gave up, leaving them all pointed up which was easier for me.  To get them underneath pointing down, does one slip them under one at a time which is what I tried?  Or is there some other way?  It seems you must have a good bit of maneuvering room around the back of the component, and also two people around to get the job done.  I wonder, am I missing some simpler way to set the cones under the amp?
Thanks
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The thing about two points down and one point up is way out of date. All points should be down. All Points up or any with points up hurts the sound relative to all points down. The cones act like quasi mechanical diodes. If the Amp is heavy you might need two people. Place Jumbos under the amp one at a time, points down. Then place a DH Square under each cone one at a time. It’s probably obvious the dimple in center of the DH Square is what the tip of the Jumbo rests in.
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
@agriculturist to get this to work you need to know how the weight is distributed in your amp. Given the heavy transformers at the back of your amp this is where most of the weight is. In this case you need to place two cones under the rear, and one centered under the front.

The method to do this (which is tried and tested on my 90lb+ VTLs) is as follows -- and which always gives you a stable load to work with (except in step 3)
  1. Lift the back left and maneuver a cone into place -- avoid screws or other obstructions, it may help if you have already removed the amps existing feet if these are bulky and get in the way
  2. Lift the back right and slide in the second cone
  3. And now the trickier part as you will be bearing most of the weight, lift the front (hand just to one side of the center line) and insert the third
  4. Finally adjust the exact positioning of each cone to fine tune the sound, it may make a big difference

I can do this easily in my amps even with limited access so I think you should have no problem especially as from pictures the weight distribution on your amps is symmetrical left to right. The one tricky thing with your amps is that they are deep so reaching to the back is a pain, not sure if you have side access

To ease things you may want to use some dimpled coasters under the spikes, this makes them easier to slide -- this will also change the sound, maybe better, maybe worse. Personally I use Marigo custom slab coasters under my Marigo Mystery Feet, gives most of the benefits of a full Marigo shelf without the expense

agriculturist
177 posts
 
Thank you very much Geoff and @folkfreak for the detailed and very helpful advice.  Will try again in the near future.
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