El, to answer your question about what makes Audiopoints better, here are some explanations.
The material and geometrical shape of the Audiopoints make the difference, based upon what we want to achieve.
Audiopoints do not "drain", nor do they "dampen" by design.
What they do, is provide an evacuation path for the vibrations to do what they naturally "want" to do.
According to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which you are certainly aware of, all energy will seek the ground state via the path of least resistance. Vibrational energy will do so, just like electrical energy will. Ground states can vary, normally based upon mass, with the earth being the most commonly used mass for this destination of the energy.
If a path for this vibrational energy is not provided for the energy to seek the mass of the earth, then it will seek other routes to dissipate the energy, generally running around and around inside the equipment chassis, until it is exhausted.
If a path is provided for it to seek the larger masses of the house/foundation/earth, then it will take that route, as long as it is the least resistant one. This path must be easy for the energy to travel in, and very rapid, for our audio purposes.
Audiopoints use a specially formulated brass material, which is hard, with low lead content, for this purpose. It also uses specialized shape.
These things working together provide an pathway for this energy to transfer to the higher mass earth to be dissipated to the ground state remotely from the equipment.
We never say that vibrations should not be dissipated, but that they should be dissipated somewhere else besides in the equipment or stand, not locally. We also do not claim to eliminate vibration, but only to reduce a large percentage of the unwanted vibrational effects on the equipment.
Now, how do we do this?
We have designed a product which utilizes the reduction of Coulomb's Friction in the system, to improve the speed of the evacuation path. If Coulomb's Friction in the junction between the equipment chassis and the "cone" is reduced, then the ease with which the vibrations can transfer becomes much better. Then, the material and geometry provide an optimized route for the vibrations to travel earthward. A "White Paper" written by mechanical engineers is available on this subject, on our website.
For our products to be best used, no intervening items should be between the equipment chassis, our products, and the floor. Sometimes people put things in there, and it can reduce or defeat the performance of our products. We make various products that are different heights, including racks, so that people can get the benefits of our engineered pathways, at different heights of the shelving, and not have to resort to using other materials and devices between the audio/video equipment and the floor.
That is basically it. All we provide is a path for the energy to travel where it will eventually be dissipated by the earth, not returned into the equipment chassis to be recirculated. All based on solid physics, and borne out in audible performance. The math for the Coulomb's friction proof is shown on the white paper on our website.
The issue here, for us, is not to make some kind of "laboratory grade isolation table". What we do is provide a system which will improve the listening pleasure to the owner of the audio system, by addressing the unwanted vibration effect issue to a signifcant extent enough to make the sound better. We don't claim "perfection" or anything like that. We claim that using our products will improve the sound, in a way that doesn't have "deadening" effects that are common with local damping schemes. And in comparison to most local damping schemes, the sound that results from use of our products is preferred by many users, because dynamics and lifelike sound quality is preserved.
If you have very deep technical questions, I can refer you to our mechanical engineers, who can address these, as they may be beyond my abilities to answer(as a non-engineer).
