Dayton ISO-4G Gold Isolation Cones

[magiccarpetride]

Last year I've purchased these cones and placed them underneath my Magnepan speakers (Maggies). The improvement in the sound quality was nothing short of staggering, and I'm being quite conservative here. In brief, the bass got extended in depth by what feels like almost half an octave, it tightened and became faster, more singing, the mids gained focus and presence, the highs became super silky and shimmering. Lovely.

Encouraged by that improvement, I've ordered a whole bunch more of these cones. They arrived yesterday, and I eagerly placed them under my digital transport, under Caiman DAC, under my preamplifier and under my amplifier.

The result -- disastrous! I couldn't believe how ruinous my system sounded with these cones placed underneath all of the electronic components. I quickly uninstalled them, and things restored back to their sanity.

Now I'm mystified -- why would these cones rob my system of its lovely sound, and make it sound wimpy, lifeless, marshmallowy and mushy? How does the physics even work in this case?

[The Grand Wazoo]

Alex,
The ones under your boxes of electronics : pointing up or down?
I always prefer them pointing down but I'd never go as far as to describe the difference as disastrous or ruinous.

[magiccarpetride]

Alex,
The ones under your boxes of electronics : pointing up or down?
I always prefer them pointing down but I'd never go as far as to describe the difference as disastrous or ruinous.

Pointing down. With the cones installed, for example, when I'm playing Afro-Cuban All Stars song "Distinto Differente", the opening cymbal splash (one of the most spectacularly recorded cymbal splashes I've ever heard) sounds as if the drummer hit the cymbal with a wet noodle. There's just no presence to it, and at least 80% of the sound information is lost. As soon as I remove the cones, that cymbal splash gets restored in all its gorgeousness (it keeps hanging up in the air for a small eternity, slowly dying its beautiful poignant death).

I'm really truly mystified.

[Tarzan]

Over egging the pudding perhaps?