How do iso. cones work and what are the benefits?

The references above are very good. I also agree wtih Imin2u that, in the end, all that matters is whether it sounds better to you. My experience has been that these cones create a very positive lift (no pun intended) with the cd player and a noticeable, but far less dramatic, improvement with the preamp. I've also noticed very significant gains with metal cones under my Thiel 6CS speakers -- these gains were even more dramatic than what I experienced with isolation cones used with the cd player. On the other hand, cones or spikes with my current speakers make very litte difference (they weigh a few hundred pounds each, so that could be why). Try it, you'll like it ;-) If you don't, be sure you're able to return the cones. There is no burn-in period. You'll know right away.

By the way, I'm very pleased with my Stillpoints Universal Resonance Dampers -- I use the base and the "cone".

What about Darumas under the CDP, rather than cones? And 5lb or so of lead shot (or other weight) on top of it?

In short, points, spikes, and cones are meant to create a one-way ticket to expedite the exit or transfer of any air-borne vibrations captured and resonance within the component, speaker, or rack to whatever lies beneath it. Eventually, the vibrations are transferred to the sub-flooring system, the foundation, and finally ground. But we are talking microscopic vibrations not jack-hammer or 200mph racing type of vibrations.

By one-way ticket, meaning these microscopic vibrations may freely exit but not enter.

And brass is supposedly the best metal to accommodate this transfer process.

I received decent improvements when I installed Star Sound's smaller Audio Points underneath each of my components.

Again I received decent improvements when I installed the largest Audio Points on my speakers and custom rack.

But then after mechanical break-in of the larger Audio Points under the speakers and rack, the sonic improvements were nothing short of phenomenal.

One of the best upgrades I've experienced to date.

BTW, cones, points, and spikes are by nature not meant to isolate vibrations, but are hopefully designed to transfer the vibrations away from whatever sits atop of them.

And like anything else, one should never assume all cones, spikes, or points are created equal.

-IMO

Ozfly hit it on the head when he states that you need to eval the quality of the change. I tried some 4in x 6in air filled packing bags under my CDP once just for giggles since they were laying around. Tightened up the bass, improved clarity of mids and detail of voices and mid range instruments and completely removed the upper octave or so. would have been great if that hadn't happened.

Mechanical break in of points???

Piezo, Yup! Hard to believe. I was forewarned of this mechanical break-in period prior to installing them under my rack and speakers.

But I paid no attention to it whatsoever as I found the notion perhaps even silly and forgot about it immediately. But lo and behold, one day soon thereafter, I turned on my system and there were vast improvements. The micro-dynamic improvements were on the order of about 30% and the macro-dynamic improvements were perhaps about 15%. This is assuming that a 5% sonic improvement is barely audible. And those percentages do not take into consideration the initial 5% to 10% improvements immediately after installation.

Of course, after hearing the drastic post break-in improvements, I then remembered the warning of the break-in period.

That's why when somebody says this rack is better than that rack or these points are better than those points, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts, the evaluator never took mechanical break-in into consideration.

And perhaps that is one reason some to many have yet to appreciate the sonic advantages of coupling over decoupling.

-IMO