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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Thanks for nice summary. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,453 posts
 
Plus @uberwaltz, even if a rack is isolated from the floor, the rack itself (and it's shelves) may be a source of vibration, feeding into a turntable, digital player, and/or tubes. Isolating each component is still a good idea.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Cones can be unstable for certain things like very tall heavy speakers. I once grabbed a 7 ft. tall narrow Golden Sound speaker just before it went crashing through the window at CES in 2005 after someone accidentally nudged it whilst it was on cones. The solution is to place a 18x18 inch board under the speakers and the cones under the board, thus stabilizing the set up.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Agreed Geoff
My speakers sit on exactly that, 18x18x2 maple wood boards with three cones under each one.
Sure if you really tried you could still knock them over but I try not to play rugby in my music room any more......
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,453 posts
 
Recording engineer Barry Diament has each of his 6' tall Magnepan 3.7i's on a 24" x 24" pieces of plywood, under which he put a set of three roller bearings.
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