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Ceramic insulator cone under phono stage shocker!

I have used small ceramic insulator cones underneath my phono stage for quite some time.
Previous phono was a Gold note ph10 and it did not make ANY audible difference I could detect which way up the cones were so I had left them cone upwards.

When I changed my phono to a Manley Chinook I just left the cones same way.
This afternoon I decided to flip them over so cone down just to see.

I honestly could not and cannot believe the difference!
I may have lost a smidge of low bass but everywhere else is improved in spades.
Much more detail, resolution, air, imaging, dynamics.
Just completely shocking how much better a small change has made.

But I am perplexed why such a huge change on the Chinook where I noted nothing on the ph10?

Any theories here?
128x128uberwaltz
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
As fate would have it brass is on the softer end 3-4 of the Mohs Hardness Scale 0-10 and for that reason I’m out. Best results in terms of naturalness, openness and dynamics will almost always be obtained with very hard materials like diamond, tungsten, heat tempered steel and NASA grade ceramics (DH Cones), next hardest material to diamond. Even the Small size DH Cones which are actually quite cost effective, clobber most other cones. I used to buy them by sheet! I don’t do this for my health, you know. Of course, there will be an exception or two that proves the rule. Hey, that rhymes! 🤗

Everything is relative. A. Einstein 😛
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
I just picked up a set of three small DH cones for $35 (including shipping) that I plan to place under my phono stage.  I also bough DH squares to place the cones on as recommended by GS.  I may A/B compare them against some BDR carbon cones and discs that are currently under my BDR Source shelf supporting my TT.  Experimenting is good times ;-)
captaindidactic
79 posts
 
Ok, newbie here, at least in this arena. I am currently stacking my two amps, preamp, CD player and Bluesound Node two on top of each other. I know there is no one perfect answer, but...

Do I need to have a rack first with maple shelves? Can I just insert pen blanks between the components? What about #10 stoppers or ceramic cones? Help!!!!
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